<div align="center">@ <font color="Navy">The Washington Wizards (20-39</font>@<font color="Green">The Boston Celtics (26-36)</font> Time: 7:30 Place: The FleetCenter TV: NC8, NBALP</div> Starting Lineups Gilbert Arenas/Chucky Atkins Juan Dixon/Paul Pierce Jarvis Hayes/Jiri Welsch Kwame Brown/Brandon Hunter Brendan Haywood/Mark Blount Sixth Men Etan Thomas/Ricky Davis Injury Report <u>Washington-</u> Jerry Stackhouse Larry Hughes Chris Whitney <u>Boston-</u> Raef Lafrentz <div align="center">Key Players Arenas: 18.9 points a game, 5 assists a game, and 5.2 rebounds a game Pierce: 22.9 points a game, 5.1 assists a game, 6.4 rebounds a game</div> Keys to the Game <u>Washington-</u> Feed the big men Smart decisions Execute on offense Control Turnovers 2nd unit <u>Boston-</u> Pierce needs to be rolling Get Offensive boards Defense Keep Gilbert in check...he has been on a roll Ricky Davis needs to be big off the bench Prediction Washington has won 2 in a row, 4 out of 5 and look really good right now, especially Kwame and Arenas, I think they can take this one by 5+
It has been long frustrating seasons for both franchises, so if I could pick one out of the two, I'd go with Boston by 6.
Wizards lose by 4, Turnovers were the story today with the Wiz commiting 22 and Boston 19. Key Stats: Boston shot 46%, and the Wizards shot 39%. Boston has 15 steals to the Wizards 7, and 23 assists to the Wixards 18. The Wizards won the battle of the baords 48-38, but that wasn't enough to knock off the Celtics who needed this win to keep themselves in the battle of the finals East playoff spots. Pierce was just launching up bricks today, man thats some bad shooting (7-23, 30.4%). Apart from that, great game by him 24 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals. Did I say Gilbert is on fire? Arenas had a nice game again, shooting 45% and scoring 26 points while gathering 6 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists. Box Score
I can't believe the Wizards choked in this one, this was looking like it had the makings of a huge blowout in the first half.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Boston Celtics would have lost a game like this two weeks ago. Paul Pierce fell just shy of a triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as the Celtics rallied from a 12-point deficit for a 94-90 victory over the Washington Wizards. Boston has recovered from its midseason struggles, winning four consecutive games after losing 17 of their previous 20. After three relatively easy wins, the Celtics had to mount a comeback against the Wizards. </div> Ehh, we always blow leads in the 3rd so the lead is close in the 4th, we need to learn how to protect leads but that will come with experience, this team is very young. Recap Box Score
