Celtics-Wizards Game 6: Washington can do something no team has done this playoffs

What you need to know about Friday's Game 6

The Eastern Conference semifinals head back to Washington for Friday's Game 6. The Celtics will try to become the first road team to win a game during the series, while the Wizards look to avoid elimination and force a Game 7 back in Boston.

Here's what you need to know about Game 6.

HOME IS NOT WHERE THE HEART HAS BEEN

Teams are 0-10 in elimination games at home in these playoffs. Think about that. Not one team has taken the series back to the other team's place when faced with the edge of oblivion. It's hard to believe that will continue to be the case, but sometimes the playoffs do follow certain trends. And just as momentum seemed to shift when the Spurs found a way to win Game 5 against the Rockets in miraculous fashion, the Celtics' blowout victory in Game 5 might have taken the Wizards to a place where they just don't feel they can win. Energy is a funny mechanism, and it's largely inexplicable. If Washington doesn't come out and absolutely blow the doors off Boston in the first half, it's not going to get out of this one. Boston is going to smell blood in the water.

AL HORFORD TORCHING EVERYTHING

In this series, you're seeing what made Al Horford worth that big contract for the Celtics. It's going to make it that much more frustrating when, should the Celtics advance, he vanishes in a cloud of smoke against the Cavaliers. But Horford has been dominant, and the Wizards don't have an answer. If Markieff Morris checks him, Horford goes to the post. If they keep Marcin Gortat or Ian Mahinmi on him, he's spreading them out and launching from deep. 

One of those "this is just how the playoffs go" things: Al Horford shot 35.5 percent from 3-point range this season. In the playoffs he's shooting 56.7 percent at age 30. If you're the Wizards, what do you even do with that? An Al Horford 3-pointer isn't a good thing to give up, but it should be lower on your list of concerns -- and yet, there it is, burning them to a crisp. 

More concerning, the Wizards don't have a matchup adjustment. They can't double because he's too good of a passer and they do not have a big mobile enough to counter Horford. Unless he just starts regressing, he could be the difference in this series.  

LITTLE EDGES EVERYWHERE

The Celtics have a higher percentage of points from 3-point range (33.4) than the Wizards (25.3). Same for free throws (17.3 percent to 15.9 percent) while the Wizards have more at the rim and in the mid-range. They're just not as efficient. The Wizards are actually shooting a higher percentage from 3-point range in this series, but not shooting as many. The Wizards have more offensive rebounds and second-chance points, but not enough to make a big difference -- same with points off turnovers. 

The Wizards have been a more efficient team in this series overall, have won a lot of the battles they needed to, but not by enough, given how their offense is designed. 

CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY

When the Wizard have thrown their best punch, the Celtics have had no answer. When the Celtics have thrown their best punch, the Wizards responded in two of the three games (with Game 5 the outlier). But Washington just does not bring its best defensive game, quarter by quarter. They have spurts, and then lose it. Some of that's the bench and its terribleness, but some of it is just a lack of focus from starters. Washington has to establish itself in Game 6 and, more important, it has to stay at that level. That's on John Wall and Bradley Beal; they have to set the tone, or they're going home.