Washington
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Gilbert Arenas matched his career high with 43 points and Antawn Jamison came back from injury to pour in 30 points but the 73 points from the Wizards All-Stars were not enough to beat the Celtics last night as the Wizards fell 116-108and failed to secure home court advantage in the playoffs. They are tied with Chicago, who also lost last night, in terms of the record so far but the Bulls own the tiebreaker.
Washington came back from an early deficit to take a small lead in the fourth quarter but the Celtics offensive juggernaut went to work as seven Celtics scored in double figures. Other than Arenas and Jamison, the third highest scoring Wizard was Etan Thomas with 12. No other Wizard reached double figures.
The offensive output of Larry Hughes was probably most sorely missed. Though Hughes took the court and got a game-high four steals and dished out a team-high five assists, his elbow has probably continued to bother him, as he was only able to connect on 3-of-16 from the field for 9 points.
Arenas took 25 free throws and made 21 of them, both career highs. He single-handedly had more free throw attempts than nearly the entire Boston team. Overall, the Wizards shot 48 times from the line, compared to just 30 for Boston.
NEXT GAME
The Wizards (41-32, second in the Southeast) head off to the Central division to play Detroit and Indiana on the road before coming home again. They first face the Pistons (46-27, first in the Central) TONIGHT. The game starts at 7:30pm Eastern and will be broadcast on NC8 and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
The Wizards have justfive home games remainingbefore the regular season concludes. Click here to get your tickets online!Washington's next home game is Saturday, April 9thwhen the team hosts the Philadelphia 76ers.
INJURY UPDATE
Anthony Peeler(knee),Jarvis Hayes(knee), andBrendan Haywood (thumb fracture) are all on the injured list.
Michael Lee ofThe Washington Postwrites: The Washington Wizards' captain returned last night, putting his right knee at risk after missing the past three weeks, to remind his teammates of the importance of the final stretch of the season.Their starting point guard relentlessly threw his body toward the rim, absorbing punishment and taking frequent trips to the free throw line. The starting shooting guard gave all he had, although he was playing with just one good arm. But those individual efforts were lost on a Wizards team that still has an opportunity to claim home-court advantage in the playoffs but looked like a team that had little grasp of the opportunity at hand. Showing little commitment on defense and an inability to put the ball in the basket, the Wizards lost to the Boston Celtics, 116-108, at MCI Center.
Michael Wilbon ofThe Washington Postwrites: What stands out most about the job Eddie Jordan has done this season is how calm he remains in the immediate aftermath of a loss like the one last night at MCI Center to the Boston Celtics, one of those losses that can drive a coach into a rant, drive him to lose patience with his team, and in some cases lose the team itself. Jordan always finds restraint.He can criticize, even publicly, but sound professorial in doing so.
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Timeswrites: The NBA today announced the Wizards' game April 13 against the Chicago Bulls at MCI Center has been picked up by ESPN at 8 p.m. That's going to be a big week for the Wizards, who will have their game against Cleveland two nights later -- also at MCI Center -- televised at 8 p.m. on ESPN. That brings the Wizards' number of nationally televised games this season to three.The Wizards' 107-96 victory over Seattle on Jan. 6 at MCI Center was shown on TNT.
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Timeswrites: Many of the 14,902 in attendance focused their hostility on Kwame Brown, who came off the bench and scored just two points in 24 minutes.During one particularly ugly stretch in the third quarter, Brown flubbed two free throws after a failed drive to the basket, was whistled for a defensive three-second violation resulting in a technical foul and then bobbled away the ball on what seemed a sure layup. The fans ripped into him with a progressively louder chorus of boos after each transgression. It was so bad Jordan walked the sideline trying to signal the fans to back off.