Wizards wearing all black for ‘funeral’ game vs. Celtics
Washington Wizards players say they plan to wear all black to Tuesday night's game against the Boston Celtics.
The two teams have been involved in physical play and trash talk during recent meetings. During their Jan. 11 game, Celtics forward Jae Crowder and Wizards guard John Wall continued their verbal sparring at the buzzer, which led to the teams having to be separated.
Wall was fined $15,000 for “attempting to escalate” a confrontation and Crowder received a $25,000 fine for his role in the incident.
When asked what the Wizards attire would be for the upcoming game, Wall, who went 4 for 21 and scored a season-low nine points in that 117–108 loss, said, "All black everything. A funeral."
Hearing about the idea at practice, Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas called the idea “cute.”
“That’s cute that they're wearing all black. It's not a Game 7. It's not the playoffs,” Thomas said. “I saw the the funeral and all black thing last night and I just laughed about it.”
The idea to arrive to the game wearing all black was reportedly suggested by guard Bradley Beal, according to the Washington Post.
“We’re wearing all black to the game,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “So you know where we’re going with that. … We're wearing all black to the game. It's a memo that the team is giving away. We're ready for whatever, man. Round three, let's get it."
Sure enough, the Wizards showed up in all-black get-ups.
Several Wizards, including forward Otto Porter, Jr., accused the Celtics of playing dirty during the Jan. 11 game.
"[Porter's comments] went through this ear and out the other because we don't play dirty, we know that," Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas said. "I think a lot of teams around this league know we don't play dirty, we just play very hard. Like I said before, it may seem dirty because we play so hard, but we're not a dirty team."
Boston enters the game in third place in the Eastern Conference, and Washington currently has the fifth-best record in the East.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the team would wear black jerseys. The Wizards will wear their red "Baltimore Pride" uniforms on Tuesday.
- Scooby Axson
