The Washington Wizards will take on the Boston Celtics this Thursday at Capital One Arena.

Boston, winners of seven out of ten, will look to continue their streak of solid play. However, Boston isn't the only team in this game who's been playing some solid basketball as of late.

Washington has won two of their last four games, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday and the Atlanta Hawks by 30 points last Tuesday.

The two sides are playing an inspired brand of basketball, but which team will be the ones to keep it up?

In the last ten days, Washington has more wins than they had for the first month and a half of the season.

This Washington team is slowly figuring out how to play with each other and the coaching staff is playing the right players, which has led to wins as of late. If Washington wants to pick up another win against a playoff caliber basketball team, they need to do a handful of things correctly. 

No. 1: Defend the Three Point Line

In Washington's first matchup with Boston this season, the opposing team drained 16 three pointers compared to Washington's nine. Boston is a three point reliant team, as they take 42.8 shots from behind the arc a game. However, Boston ranks 17th in three point percentage but rank 5th in three pointers made per game. Boston has sharpshooters like Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons, Sam Hauser and Derrick White who all attempt more than five three pointers a game. If Washington can successfully control the game from beyond the arc, then they have a good chance at picking up a win at home, once again. 

No. 2: Take Care of the Ball 

In the first meeting between these two teams, Washington lost in the turnover battle, as Boston only turned the ball over seven times compared to Washington's 19. Boston capitalized off Washington's lack of ball security, scoring 30 points off of turnovers. Washington should have no reason to lose the turnover battle again, especially since Boston will be without their best player in Jaylen Brown (illness). Players like CJ McCollum, Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George need to take care of the ball tonight and limit turnovers. 

Washington, once again, will be significantly short staffed tonight:

OUT FOR TONIGHT'S GAME VS BOSTON:

Bilal Coulibaly (oblique strain)

Alex Sarr (adductor soreness)

Tre Johnson (hip)

Corey Kispert (thumb)

Sharife Cooper (calf)

Washington has missed the presence of Alex Sarr recently, but this team has been playing some promising basketball with him on the sidelines. Backup big man Marvin Bagley has stepped up in a big way with Sarr injured. In his last two games, Bagley is averaging 17.5 points, 8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks on 63.6% shooting from the field in 28 minutes per game. The emergence of Bagley has given Washington enough comfort at the center position to not rush Alex Sarr back from injury.  

Washington will be short handed in this one, but so will Boston. Washington looks to pick up their third win in five games as Boston looks to win their third game in a row.