When was the last time the Boston Celtics faced the Washington Wizards in the NBA Playoffs?
In the history of the NBA Playoffs, we’ve seen teams from the same conference meet each other. Some teams seem to meet each year and other teams see each other barely. In this “last time they met” series, we’re going to look at the current NBA playoff matchups and review the last these two teams met in the playoffs.
Today, we look at the second round matchup of the top-seeded Boston Celtics and the 4th seed Washington Wizards. The last time they saw each other in the playoffs, the Celtics won in 1984 in the first round. They won the series 3-1. The Celtics faced the Washington Bullets, however.
In 1984, the Celtics were once again the 1st seed. The Wizards were 8th. They had a horrible record: 35-47. There were 11 teams in the East, so that’s less than today’s 15 but that’s still a bad record for playoff positioning. Meanwhile, Boston was on the way to an NBA championship that year.
More from Sir Charles In Charge
- Dillon Brooks proved his value to Houston Rockets in the 2023 FIBA World Cup
- NBA Trade Rumors: 1 Player from each team most likely to be traded in-season
- Golden State Warriors: Buy or sell Chris Paul being a day 1 starter
- Does Christian Wood make the Los Angeles Lakers a legit contender?
- NBA Power Rankings: Tiering all 30 projected starting point guards for 2023-24
The Celtics only scored 11 more points than the Bullets in total, and had an average margin of victory of just under 3 points, so it was a somewhat close series. Washington seemed to need to score as their only win in the series was the only time they scored over 100 points. In fact, both teams scored over 100 points once, and it was in that same game 3 win for the Bullets. When the points total was less than 100, Boston won.
In the entire history, these teams have faced each other three times/series in the NBA Playoffs. The Wizards (as the Bullets), won the first battle in 1975. The Celtics came back in 1982 and 1984. So, out of the 15 games, the Celtics have 9 wins and the Wizards have 6.
2017 looks to be interesting. The Celtics had a scare in the 1st round against the Chicago Bulls. If you remember when this “last time they met” series covered the Celtics and Bulls, you know the Celtics still have not lost a playoff series to the Bulls. For the Wizards, they will be looking to tie things up from a series victory standpoint.
The regular season games between these two have had a couple of…game pauses…as things got verbal and physical. If the Wizards really are up to it, and if the Celtics truly are as vulnerable as they seemed in the first round, the Wizards can win this thing. As it stands, I’d actually go with the Wizards. Ah, but this isn’t a playoff preview. It’s a playoff recap.
Must Read: Dwyane Wade Will Have Plenty Of Options This Summer
One final note before I go. The three meetings between these teams are the opposite of how the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs met in the playoffs year after year. See, the Rockets and Spurs met later and later in the playoffs as the years went on. The Wizards and Celtics have met sooner and sooner. I mean, the first meeting was in the Conference Finals. The second meeting was in the second round. And the third meeting was in the first round. I thought that was neat.