Boston 100, Washington 94

[recap] [box score]

At least we can still beat the Wizards.

It wasn't as easy as you'd hope -- the Celtics coughed up all of a 15-point third quarter. But in an early Sunday game, on the road, missing two starters for much of the game, and given the team's early-season struggles, any win is a good win.

And yes, I said missing "starters," plural. Rajon R-ndo sat for the second straight game with his injured wrist, and Ray Allen left in the second quarter with an injury that the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn kept referring to as a "jammed" ankle, whatever the hell that is.

This game was won on the back of Paul Pierce, who matched his uniform number and obliterated his season-high with 34 points. This is the third time the Celtics have played the Wizards this season, and in the second matchup, Pierce was struggling offensively until early in the second quarter, when Washington coach Flip Saunders put Chris Singleton on him. Pierce looked offended that someone would dare put a rookie on him, no matter how strong that particularly rookie's defensive reputation happens to be.

Singleton has since moved into the starting lineup (and deservedly so; the kid is the most versatile defender I've ever seen at the college level and should be a really nice player for them), and Pierce wasted little time going to work. Eventually, Nick Young and Jordan Crawford entered the torture chamber and had similarly little success in stopping Pierce's familiar array of drives and clever maneuvering for mid-range jumpers. The Captain was coolly efficient, accumulating his bounty on just 15 shots, making 12 of 15 free throws, and dishing out ten assists. He ended Sunday's game just two rebounds shy of a triple-double.

Pierce was the leader, but he had a little help. Kevin Garnett missed his first three shots, but went 7-for-7 from the second quarter on, including two huge buckets down the stretch. On both of those, Garnett craftily used a ball fake to shake his defender, perhaps taking advantage of his reputation as someone who passes more than he should. Both hoops (a thunderous dunk and a 21-foot jumper) pushed a three-point Boston lead to five, helping ensure that the Wizards never took possession of the basketball with a chance to tie for the final 4:46.

KG finished with 17 points, and joining him in double figures were Mickael Pietrus (14 points) and Brandon Bass (13) off the bench. Bass had what has become a fairly typical game for him in a Boston uniform, hitting about half of the jumpers he takes and grabbing a bunch of rebounds. Pietrus, who probably would move into the starting lineup if Allen has to miss any further time, took as many two-point field goals as three-point field goals, the first game in seven as a Celtic in which his threes haven't outnumbered his twos. (Thirty-four of his 44 shot attempts this season have been from behind the arc.) It's good to see a little depth in his offensive game -- we need him to be more than just a shooter.

Avery Bradley took several steps backward after his solid performance on Friday, going 1-for-8 with six turnovers in more than 41 minutes of court time. (He did have seven assists, but I don't remember him doing a lot of creating for others -- sometimes guys just get assists by swinging the ball to open shooters.) He also did little to stop John Wall, who nearly matched Pierce's numbers with 27 points, ten rebounds, and seven assists. Stopping Wall is no easy task, but Bradley earns his paycheck on the defensive end of the court and he didn't seem to bother Wall at all. His backup, E'Twaun Moore, wasn't any more effective -- or any less ineffective, I should say -- than he's been all season, and so point guard is going to remain a concern for as long as R-ndo and Keyon Dooling are out with injuries.

It's a tough week for the Celtics, with the Magic visiting Monday, a return date in Orlando on Thursday, back home for the Pacers on Friday, and then the Cavs in the Garden on Sunday. The Magic haven't played since beating the Lakers on Friday, but they've got five games this week, including a four-in-five stretch, with Boston being the front end of both back-to-backs, so we'll see if Stan Van Gundy manages his guys' minutes bit this week.

Chris Wilcox's availability is rarely noteworthy, but against Dwight Howard, Boston will need as many bodies and fouls as possible. Wilcox hasn't played since January 13th due to a sore calf. I have no idea if Wilcox will be available at all this week, but I'd be surprised if Greg Stiemsma could guard Howard for more than eight minutes of game time without fouling out.

Washington 85, Boston 83

The Celtics followed up an inspired blowout of Utah on Friday night with an embarrassing loss to the Washington Wizards.

[recap] [box score]

After an easy first period in which the Cs raced out to a 35-20 lead, the ball simply stopped going in the basket for Boston. If you watched the game or are any good at math, you'll already have figured out that after that first quarter, Boston scored just 48 points the rest of the way. Jumpers stopped falling, the bench didn't really contribute, and by and large the whole team just looked disinterested.

For their part, the Wizards didn't look much better. The matchup everyone was excited to see coming into the game was John Wall vs. Rajon Rondo, Wall being the top overall pick in last year's draft who didn't play due to injury in Washington's trip to Boston on November 17 (a 31-point Celtics win). Wall stole the headlines by banking in a three-pointer with less than a minute left to put the Wizards up three, but that seems to be because sportswriters don't seem to want to admit what a lucky shot that was. (To his credit, Wall recognized what they didn't: "I knew it was going to hit backboard, but I thought it was going to be a hard brick. It could've broken the backboard. Luckily, it went in.")

Other than that prayer, Wall's biggest play was a layup in transition with 2:34 to play that gave the Wizards their first lead of the game, after coming up empty on no fewer than eight fourth-quarter possessions with the score tied or Washington down a single point. Rondo wasn't spectacular, but he was quite a bit better than Wall all night. Had Paul Pierce been able to knock down the game-winner over Andray Blatche, all anyone would be talking about today was Rondo's strip of Wall on Washington's last possession that gave Pierce the chance to win the game. Don't get me wrong, Wall is going places and I really like the way he handles himself. I just want to temper everyone's reaction to the game by pointing out that Rondo more or less kicked his butt all night.

Shaquille O'Neal sat out after injuring his hip on Friday night against the Jazz, a game in which he played just six minutes. The injury may be related to when Shaq fell on some ice around Christmastime. With Jermaine O'Neal out for the next month or so to strengthen his legs and hopefully be able to play down the stretch, Semih Erden got the start. Doc, at least, doesn't think Shaq's injury is serious, but with the Lakers looming at the end of the week, it's something to keep an eye on.

Glen Davis got the most minutes of any Boston frontcourt player -- give Doc credit for not riding Kevin Garnett too much, which would have been easy under the circumstances -- and seemed to fall back into his habit of relying on jumpers. It seems that this becomes Davis' MO when Shaq is out and he feels he needs to be a bigger part of the offense. Hopefully, he can be broken of that habit.

The Next Lamb: The Washington Wizards

Game 11: Washington (3-6) at Boston (8-2)

Wednesday, November 17

7:30 pm Eastern

TV: NBA League Pass (but note, Washington, DC, readers, that it should be on a local station!)

The Washington Wizards are 2-6 when John Wall plays, and 1-0 when he doesn't. Told you that guy wasn't that good.

OK, so I was mostly wrong about Wall. Sure, he's leading the league in turnovers, like I predicted he would, but it was an easy prediction to make, him being a rookie point guard and all. Other than that statistic -- which is really not a big deal; you have to go pretty far down the list of the league leaders in turnovers to find a guy you don't want on your team -- Wall's been pretty spectacular. His jumper, a presumed area of weakness, has been fine; he's obviously capable of getting to the rim and scoring; he's finding his teammates; and he's wreaking havoc on defense (he also leads the league in steals).

He's also hurt. He sprained his foot on Saturday against Chicago, came back to finish that game, then showed up in a walking boot afterwards. He was in the Verizon Center Tuesday night as the Wizards hammered the Raptors, but he was wearing street clothes and using crutches. While Washington hasn't yet ruled Wall out for Wednesday against Boston, I'd be very surprised if the young buck suits up for what in theory is an electrifying point guard matchup between him and Rajon Rondo.

The Wizards have a decent replacement for Wall in Gilbert Arenas, though Arenas of course is hardly the player he once was. With Wall and Kirk Hinrich around, Arenas -- always a shoot-first player at the point -- can play off-guard, where his gunning is a less-bitter pill to swallow. Arenas' recent history of leg injuries might suggest that he'd struggle on the second night of a back-to-back, especially early in the season, but he did drop 30 points on the Bulls on Saturday the night after playing 32 minutes against Charlotte, so maybe not.

Without Wall, there isn't too much about Washington to talk about. Andray Blatche had a couple of big games against Boston last year, and if I recall correctly, always plays with a certain swagger against the Celtics -- going up against Kevin Garnett seems to bring that out of him. Hinrich, when he was with Chicago, always did a nice job guarding Pierce despite giving up four inches and 45 pounds. But without Wall, Hinrich will almost certainly be tasked with trying to stop Rajon Rondo. The Wizards also have JaVale McGee, a RwH favorite since his days at Nevada.

This should be an easy win for the Celtics. But followers of the team the last couple of seasons know that Boston doesn't always win the easy ones. Blowing out bad teams may be a key to post-season success, however, so Boston would do well to take the Wizards -- who definitely qualify as a bad team, even with Wall -- seriously.

Links of the Day (November 2, 2010)

• The Memphis Grizzlies gave Mike Conley II a big contract extension, which means Hardwood Paroxysm's Matt Moore -- a Grizz fan -- is not happy (make sure you scroll down to start reading from the bottom).
• Beckley Mason of Hoop Speak offers his two cents to teams trying to guard Rajon Rondo. Henry Abbott of TrueHoop also offers his thoughts. The Thorpe quote at the end of that article, by the way, is something I've always believed.
• Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook is critical of Philadelphia coach Doug Collins' decision to foul up three late against Washington on Tuesday night. Personally, I like the strategy, though I agree with Pruiti that it's not wise to foul when the other team doesn't look like it's going to get a clean look at a three. (Though it may be too much to ask of players to recognize this and adjust the strategy accordingly.) But the real problem was that Philly, having fouled once, didn't foul a second time after the teams exchanged free throws. I don't know if Collins called for it and Andre Iguodala just couldn't get there in time, but it makes little sense to use the strategy once and then abandon it.
• TrueHoop has some statistical tidbits regarding John Wall's near quadruple-double (29 points, 13 assists, nine steals, eight turnovers). There's a nice little nugget in there about Rajon Rondo, too.
• Wall greeted the DC crowd in the Wizards home opener with this dance. He's earning something of a reputation for this. His performance at Kentucky's Midnight Madness during his lone season in Lexington spawned this hilarious video.

Links of the Day (October 21, 2010)

• Mike Miller, perhaps the top player on a thin Miami Heat bench, injured his thumb and could be out six weeks or more.
• John Wall preseason highlight reel. I'm not as high on him as most are, but he's been impressive and at the very least, he'll be fun to watch. Until further notice, if he's in your city, buy a ticket and watch him play. (A/S Truth About It)
• Cool interview with Tommy Heinsohn from Red's Army.
• Oh, Shaq.
• The league has expanded the use of replay this season. It doesn't look like this will change much, other than to expand the time during which officials can use replay beyond the last two minutes. Let's hope it doesn't result in a significant increase in the length of games.
• The latest development in the looming labor dispute.