Washington's starting line-up:Gilbert ArenasAntonio DanielsCaron ButlerAntawn JamisonBrendan HaywoodKey Rotation Guysonell TaylorMichael RuffinScouting Report:-This team is very talented, especially on paper, but they haven't seemed to find the missing piece to get themselves past mediocrity. They are extremely talented offensively, but there defense could use some work. The injury bug has bitten Washington as well, as key contributors Jarvis Hayes and Jared Jeffries are expected to miss tonight's game. Defensive lapses in the middle of games, as well as occasional droughts allow teams to get back into the game after in early lead (sound familiar?), so no one's a clear cut winner until the very end. They're on a bit of a slide, but they caught themselves with a win over the Kngs the other day. Should be a good, close game.-Their leader is Gilbert Arenas, a lightning quick scorer in a PG's body. He's very good at getting to the line (if you watched the last 3 seconds of these team's previous games, you'd know). He is one of the faster guys in the league, and he make his opponents pay for it. He's good at exploiting match-ups, and taking slower defnders off the dribble, although at times he deferrs to the jumpshot. His weakness is inconsistency.-Antawn Jamison is pretty good at spreading the floor with his outside shot, but he's very athletic, so he can play inside-out and post up. Ryan Gomes seems like a pretty good match-up for Jamison. He's quicker than most other PF's, so he can hang with Jamison on the perimeter. Expect Al to play alot tonight, as Jamison cannot play defense. Big Al would dominate him on the blocks.-Caron Butler is normally a very good player, but he doesn't seem to score as much against the Celtics. It could be because he is occupied with guarding Paul, or it could just be a coincidence, but he has shown great rebounding ability and defense. Paul should still roll as usual, but he might have to put more effort into his points tonight.How to play them:-We need to attack. This team doesn't have much depth, especially with all the injuries. If we can get their players in foul trouble (notably the big three and Haywood), we should be able to beat them. -We should exploit Antonio Daniels on the blocks w/ Wally. He will be forced to play some 2-guard tonight, and Wally has an overwhelming size advantage. It should be like him vs. Portland, when Jaun Dixon was guarding him. Wally must not force the issue, but we should look for him throughout the game.-Let Paul do his thing. We have to get him the ball early. With how he is playing, I shouldn't even have to write this down. It's a given.-Let someone other than Gilbert Arenas beat us. They don't have an overwhelming amount of shooters, although we do have to look out for AJ. We need to collapse big time on Gilbert as he drives, and hope they're having an off-night shooting. I don't expect home court to be too much of a problem, but a couple of wide open 3's could hurt. Our rotations need to be picture perfect tonight.Key Match-upGilbert Arenas vs. Paul PierceThey won't be guarding eachother, but there's no doubt they wll be the most important factors in the game. Both have been on a scoring rampage, and don't expect either to slow down tonight. I smell a shootout. Breakout players:BOS- Al Jefferson. If he's guarded by Jamison, he'll have a complete field day. This could be the match-up that gives us the win. Possibly 18+ points for Al, depending on PTWAS-Brendan Haywood. He was a beast on the boards last time we played, and that's when we had Perk. With fewer big bodies inside for Boston, he should be a rebounding machine. Expect 15+ boards tonight.Final Prediction:IF Delonte is playing, BOS-106 WAS-104IF Delonte's out BOS-91 WAS-103
Thoughts at the half:-Delonte is in fact out w/ a strained groin. He might be out for a week.-Ryan Gomes was the steal of the draft. 21 first-half points! including a 3-pointer to end it. He's keeping us in this thing.-We shold keep going to Wally on the blocks. He is using his size advantage very nicely. And for the most part, he's not forcing the issue.-VERY good sign. Paul isn't carrying us, and we're winning. Good things to come.-I must've forgotten what a complete <Censored> Antonio Daniels is. I've counted 3 flops already. -Paul, put the clamps on Caron Butler!!-These refs have GOT to start calling some reaching fouls, particularly on Caron Butler.-Tony, when will you realize that you are NOT good on offense??-Scabs did alright on the break, but he's trying to do too much.
I've missed almost all the game, but damn 21 points at half for Ryan! That is like way beyond what I ever thought he would be doing. Hows Orien been handling the point?Edit: This is turning itno a game, tied at 99 with 2:30 left.
Recap:-What a gmae, what a game! Brilliant comeback by the Cs; they were down by 13 one point in the 2nd half, but they made a run led by Al Jefferson. Washington should have kept Ruffin on Al, bc when they put Jamison on is when he really heated up. At the end of the game, it was the same situation as before (twice); Last possesion, Gilbert Arenas gets the ball. This time, there couldn't have possibly been a foul called, and Arenas misses the go-ahead game winner. In OT, after the Cs scored the first bucket, Washington went on a 5-0 run. Gilbert Arenas got the benefit of the worst call in the game. Orien fouled him at literally the top of the key, the very top, and he takes three steps afterwards towards the basket and gets the continuation. I got so mad, my dad almost grounded me. But then Paul took over. He scored the Cs last 7 points in OT (9 total--Ryan Gomes scored the only other bucket by a Celtic). On the Cs second to last posession, my dad called a three, and I said "they better not shoot a three". Well, thank God they did. It was drain-o, with 28 seconds left. On the other end, Gilbert Arenas hit a clutch jumper w/ Paul guarding him off a switch. But with 14 seconds left. Teh Cs called a timeout. They imbounded the ball to Orien,. who immediately passed it to Paul. Paul waited at the top for a little bit. Raef came to set the screen. Paul got doubled (no surprise), and he had nowhere to go, i mean NOWHERE. He goes back to his left, goes towards the corner, gets a triple, shoots a fadeaway w/ his foot on the line as the buzzer sounded, NOTHING BUT NET!!
If this isn't a sign to keep Gomes in the starting lineup for a long time I don't know what is, what a win by the C's tonight. They had 25 turnovers and somehow stayed in this game. I can't believe Pierce hit that last shot, he was having a very bad game shooting the ball until that point, (7-19) before the last shot. He always makes up for it with his ability to get to the foul line, 12 of his 31 came from the line. Classic Pierce right there. Also, Raef made some great plays down the stretch, he made some key rebounds and passes in the fourth quarter. I know this was a great win but I still have to complain about Doc's decision making down the stretch of that game. Scalabrine and Olowakandi were on the floor for wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to long and gomes got put back in with like 3 minutes to go. What is up with that? I really think Danny just wants to see white guys on the floor or something. It's insane, Gomes should have been playing more time in the fourth quarter, Scalabrine sucks. Orien made some great plays in the game, he had a very nice night. That steal he made on Jamison in the fourth quarter was a great save, both pierce and gomes lost the ball and he snatched it right back. That was a key play.
OH, my player of the game has to go between Gomes and Raef for sure. although Pierce hit the winning shot, Raef was the reason we even had a chance to win. That blcok on Ruffin, then the offensive rebound capped off by the two FTs tied the game for us.Orien had some plays that almost blew it too. When he passed out of bounds in OT i thought it was over. He did make up for it with his defense.Did anyone see Jamison's face when he turned it over? That look even made me a little depressed.
Yeah, that was really dumb on Jamison's part, after being lucky enough that the Gomes's lay up rimmed out, he gets the rebound and dribbles the ball between his legs?? Man that was stupidPierce's shot put him over 30 points for the night, remarkably he set the record to be the first Celtics to score 30 or more points in 6 straight games....beating out Bird and himself at 5, havlicek had 4....pretty sick, Paul is edgin his way into being one of the Celtic greats
Can Pierce get any more clutch?He hits the 3 pointer to give them the lead with 20 seconds left.Then he hits the game winning 3 pointer on an awkward shot to beat the buzzer.He also scored Boston's last 7 points :worthy:
Aright, aright, we'll give you guys this one. But I admit, the Wizards definitely had no poise coming into that game. Gave up double-digit leads, got killed on the boards, and created dumb turnovers. I tip my hat to Paul Pierce the most, making a difficult fadeway with 2 defenders on him is just crazy. Scalabrine sucks though. PS Nice rookies in Greene and Gomes, G-Money was really clumsy out there, (no offense) commited annoying fouls, wasnt particularly accurate on defense.
yeah, Gerald is really looking sloppy out there. He needs to just relax.But don't talk to me about TO's, the Cs had 25 against you guys!
