NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 keys to Wizards vs. Celtics matchup

3. Please, someone rebound

Heading into their potential bloodbath, both the Wizards and the Celtics are some of the worst rebounding teams left in the playoffs.

Though they are middle-of-the-pack in offensive rebounding rate, the Wiz and C’s are 14th and 16th, respectively, in defensive rebounding rate. If that were stretched across an entire season, they would each finish in the bottom two spots.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that in the regular season series, the winners won the rebounding battle every time. In fact, each team destroyed the other on the boards in at least one of their wins. In both Wizards wins, they nabbed 27 offensive rebounds. Not to be outdone, in both Celtics wins, they snatched 29 offensive boards.

More, both squads lost the rebounding battle in all four of their the four combined losses in the postseason. The Celtics gave up 20 offensive boards in Game 1 against the Chicago Bulls and were outrebounded 53-36. In their two losses, the C’s were outrebounded 97-74.

In their losses, the Wizards weren’t hurt as badly on the glass — shoutout to the heart and hustle of Robin Lopez — the Wizards gave up 11 offensive rebounds in Game 3 and 12 in Game 4. Over that stretch, they were outrebounded 99-88.

This battle will be interesting in seeing who can string together four dominant performances on the glass. It’s well-known that the Celtics are severely lacking in this category — they had 63 total rebounds in both of their losses to the Wizards this season — but they’ve shown they have the ability to at least compete with Washington. And, to be fair, the Wiz aren’t too good themselves.