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Wizards 133, C's 132 (2OT): Boston can't finish off rally

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Evan Turner scrambled to the corner for a desperation, overtime-forcing 3-pointer.
Well, that was entertaining.

Evan Turner hit a desperation, second-chance 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime, but couldn't connect with a chance to win the game in a second extra session as the Washington Wizards escaped with a 133-132 triumph over the Boston Celtics at the Verizon Center.

The Celtics rallied from 16 down at the start of the fourth quarter and forced the first extra session when a scrambling Turner got an offensive rebound and raced to the corner for the game-tying triple (give an assist to Jeff Green, whose hustle on the offensive glass helped Turner corral the ball).

Boston leaned hard on the bench unit that sparked the rally, but watched a seven-point lead evaporate in the final three minutes of each overtime session. Turner's pull-up jumper at the end of the game was too strong and Marcus Smart couldn't get off a putback while crashing the glass.

John Wall was the hero for Washington, converting an old-fashioned three-point play with 44 seconds remaining in the second overtime. Paul Pierce finished with a team-high 28 points for the Wizards, while Wall added 26 points and 17 assists.

• Free Basketball, Part I: Despite trailing by as much as 23 and 16 to start the fourth quarter, the Celtics rallied behind a bench unit helmed by Turner and Smart. Turner's straightaway 3-pointer with 3:27 to go pushed Boston out front by a point, but the Wizards recovered and were up 4 with 45 seconds to go. A missed free throw by old friend Kris Humphries came back to haunt Washington when Turner hit the game-tying 3.

• Free Basketball, Part II: Smart hit a 3-pointer to open the overtime session and Boston built a seven-point lead with 2:04 to go. The Wizards started attacking before Pierce drilled a straightaway 3-pointer with 38 seconds to play to tie the game at 121. Brandon Bass nearly won it on a breakout in the final seconds, but his layup kissed too strong off the window forcing a second overtime.

• Pierce's milestone: Pierce leapfrogged Reggie Miller while moving into 16th place on the NBA all-time leading scorer list. Pierce now sits at 25,300 points for his career. The next target is Alex English (25,613) and then old friend Kevin Garnett (25,740) as Pierce works his way towards the top 10.

• Loose balls: The Celtics stuck with the same 10-man rotation from the game before, meaning Phil Pressey, Gerald Wallace, and James Young were healthy DNPs. ... Rajon Rondo did not play again after checking out with 5:21 to play in the third quarter as Boston leaned heavy on the bench unit that sparked its rally. ... Kelly Olynyk fouled out in the second overtime. He finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds over 41:26. ... Smart had some moments he'd like to have back -- including a rushed 3-point attempt in the final moments of double overtime -- but finished with 23 points over 35 minutes and really spearheaded Boston's fourth-quarter rally.

• What it means: The Celtics fall to 7-12 and have their season-best three-game winning streak snapped. Washington moves to 14-6. Boston will take Tuesday off before visiting the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night to wrap up a brief two-game road trip.

112288

Am I the only one that felt the 2nd OT was rife with rather questionable decisions?


KJ

Great game to watch. Great intensity in the entire second half and also in both overtimes.

A loss, but still a very entertaining game.

Wonder why Rondo never re-entered the game? I am sure that there will be lots said tomorrow.

wide clyde wrote:
Wonder why Rondo never re-entered the game?  I am sure that there will be lots said tomorrow.

That crossed my mind, too. I couldn't for the life of me understand why a bunch of isolation plays were drawn up instead.


KJ

What a great game!
I give Stevens credit for keeping the 2nd unit in for most of the 2nd half and the overtimes. They earned their shot to win the game after coming back from being down over 20 points.
Yes, this is a painful loss for Boston, but I am sure this game helped Boston's young guys build a tremendous amount of experience and confidence.
Yes, they lost the battle tonight, but this will help them win the figurative battle in the future.

I think Brad (1) wanted to give the bench some run, especially once they started looking good, (2) wanted more firepower down the stretch than Rondo would reliably be likely to provide, (3) wanted to keep Smart on Wall defensively.  He was rewarded by 82 points from the bench, which had never been equaled by the Russell teams, the Cowens teams, the Bird teams, the KG teams, or any other team in Boston Celtics history.  But he may have been more rewarded by having a bench (plus Jeff) that coalesced in one game more than in the totality of the rest of the season to date.  They played well together.  They each played their roles and utilized their specialties beautifully.  For the most part, they took good shots.  They defended well until the Wiz kept picking Smart off so Wall could go wild.

Sam

Sam

I didn't tune in until at least half way through the 4th quarter. But from that point on very little, or no, minutes for Sully, Bradley and Rondo. Probably a case of staying with those bench players who got you back in it?

When you look at the box score it is glaring how few minutes those three played, and how many Smart and Turner did. Just wondering if this will affect Rondo's psyche and or morale in any way?

Jeff Green is playing at an all time high level right now, the light bulb finally went on how to play and Marcus Smart is gonna wreak alot of havoc as an all around player with a physical deposition. He could be the most physical PG in the league, but hes a combo guard and the way he battles in the paint is something to behold that any team would want. He was really crafty too for a strong physical player, we've got some great playing time battles going on....as they say Let the Games Begin. We should be seeing more of Smart and Turner with Green.

After getting his third foul Rondo stopped playing hard defense. Then he fell back into his old habit of pounding the ball at the top of the key waiting for a cutter. Defense was not good. Offense was stagnant. We were behind by 20 points. Stevens pulled him for the rest of the game and with Turner and especially Smart we took off and didn't land in defeat until the last 10 seconds of double overtime. For much of the third quarter and part of the fourth there was not one starter on the floor until Stevens inserted Green into the lineup.

So is the answer: we start our bench and bench our starters?
The bench played great defense (including KO, who had a great game) and for the most part pushed the ball. Great, great game. Will it force Brad to consider some radical changes? Open new perspectives? Or was it just a fluke?
Stay tuned, it's going to get interesting.
Love watching this team!

This must have been a fun game to watch.  Just looking at the box score it looks like Kelly had a helluva game:  19 points on 6-12, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals.  The box score doesn't say anything about defense, of course.

There's no shame when a young team like ours loses in 2OT to a veteran team on their court.  After beating them the night before this shouldn't have been this close.  The Wiz are a playoff-bound team and we just done real good against them.


bob



.

"Brandon Bass nearly won it on a breakout in the final seconds, but his layup kissed too strong off the window forcing a second overtime."

In an alternate universe, the ref calls the foul on that play and the Celtics win the game after the 1st overtime when Bass hits both free throws.

Just sayin'

gyso

one of the best games I've seen in a while. what a comeback (for once WE did it!).

two OT's and our young guys not only didn't give up, but they fought like hell the whole 10 minutes AND on the ROAD!

our defense really rose up and our overall ball movement improved once Rondo was benched for the game. now that doesn't mean anything , except Rondo had a bad game AND Brad wasn't afraid to sit him.

however it might be a glimmer of what this team could be IF rondo does get moved. it might not be the end of the world after all.

Kelly and Bass together played very good defense in the final 20 minutes or so, which was one of the reasons Sully was on the bench IMO.

who knew Smart could shoot the ball?

keep that up young fella and Brad & Danny will have some tough choices to make.

did we lose this game?

oh well, you can't have everything I guess.

KJ

I questioned Steven for not putting Zeller in to replace KO who fouled out. I think his height would have prevented so many drives to the basket by Wall and with Zeller becoming a scoring threat, we could have pounded the paint because of his size verses iso situations with Green.

112288

Great Game. That was a lot of fun to watch.

Stevens keeping the bench in was very Popovich-esque. Loved it.

gyso wrote:"Brandon Bass nearly won it on a breakout in the final seconds, but his layup kissed too strong off the window forcing a second overtime."

In an alternate universe, the ref calls the foul on that play and the Celtics win the game after the 1st overtime when Bass hits both free throws.

Just sayin'

gyso

More so, John Wall slapped the backboard while the ball was still on the rim - THAT is a goaltend all day. But you cant review that.

After watching last night's game again this morning, I think that 'something' may have clicked for the Celtics last night that if carried onward will make the re-build shorter than most of us probably thought.

Yes, there were points to pick out that were not always positive such as what 112288 just mentioned with the substitution of Bradley when Olynyk fouled out and some very weak/poor turnovers in both over time periods, but there were just so many great points of 100% effort, togetherness, toughness and hustle that could all turn out to be more important than even losing this one game.

There was 'something' different last night and in a game that most all of us probably were not too surprised that the Wizards broke out to such a big early lead.  We all most likely would not have been too surprised if the Celtics had lost by anywhere from 15 to 25 points.  Young teams with losing records very often fall apart in the second game of back to backs when playing a good team especially when so much emotion was needed in the first game of this back to back setting.

Perhaps it was better coaching, a very different lineup down the stretch, or something else, but there was a very strong "glimmer" (sorry, Sam but I am hopefully going off only one game and not letting a trend show up) that I hope to see in many, many more games this year.  I have not seen every game this year, but last night was a big step up over most of the other games that I have seen.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall (or at least seated near the bench) to see more of what made the intensity rise so much last night.   Might be a couple of guys got everyone going?  Could "that guy" the team needs finally coming forward?

The game was very positive for this young Celtic team....I hope there is not a let down tomorrow in Char.

Steven's key is to keep everyone positive and a winning mind set unlike say the NY Knicks where there are some real moral problems setting in.

112288

Think what I enjoyed seeing was Stevens letting the guys finish that got us back in it. And also how those on the bench supported all the plays made by those on the floor................

perhaps a message was sent to them. Play hard and you will play.

And Bass's layup that just rolled of and the minor contact from PP on the play..............if it was reversed would Bass have been called for a foul? Bron? Kobe?

beat

As others have said, it was a good move by Stevens to let the group that brought us back finish it up.

It's also just about mandatory to play Smart in these situations to see what he can do in case Rondo doesn't come back. I would bet that's the main reason Brad had him in there. I think Rondo is intelligent enough to understand that without getting his ego bruised.

A very entertaining game even if it resulted in a loss.

Detailed accounts of this game will be available on every street corner.  I prefer to focus on the "feel" of the game and some possible implications.

Those who missed the first half didn't miss a thing.  Desultory play by Sully, Rondo, and Bradley offset some pretty good offensive activity by Green, Turner and Zeller; but the Celts trailed by only 30-29 at the end of the first.  Eventually, the trio of Sully, Rondo and Bradley would have a combined line for the entire game (in a collective 62 minutes on the floor) of 5-17 shooting, 12 points (zero for Rondo), 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 turnovers.

In the second quarter, the five of Turner, Smart, Zeller, Olynyk and Bass kept the Celts in the game.  A driving dunk by Turner made the score 45-43 in favor of Washington after 8 minutes of the second quarter.  Enter Sully, Bradley and Rondo to complement Green and Zeller, and the Wiz ripped off a 13-2 run in the last 5 minutes to lead by 13 (58-45) at half time.

Green, Zeller, Bradley, Sully and Rondo started the third quarter.  With 5 minutes left in the quarter, the Celtics were down by 23 (80-57) after a 28-12 run by the Wiz.  At that point, Brad benched Sully, Bradley and Rondo for what would become the rest of the game, and the fivesome of Green, Turner, Bass, Olynyk and Smart went on their own run of 19-12 to make the score Wia 92 - Celts 76 (18 points down) entering what looked like it would be a dreary mopup time in the fourth.

Wrong!

In the 4th quarter, Brad used only 6 players: Smart, Turner, Olynyk, Bass and Thornton from the bench and Green from the starting ranks.  I could have sworn that rotation had been playing together for years.  Seemingly on nearly offensive every possession, a different guy would come up big.  The primary scorers were Turner (10), who scored on virtually every possible way except free throws and Bass (.  But Smart chipped in with 7 (including an outlandish three), Kelly with 4, Thornton with 3 and Green with 2.  A 32 point clutch fourth quarter effort crowned by a sequence in the last few seconds in which Jeff Green kept an offensive rebound alive, the ball found Turner, Evan rushed to the corner, and tossed in a game-tying three that was reminiscent of Jeff Green's turnaround three to beat the Heat in last season's opener.  Meanwhile, a very stiff Celtics defense held the Wizards to 18 points in the quarter.  There can be no question that Marcus Smart was the defensive dynamo although he was credit with forcing only one turnover when he took a charge from Gortat.  (Marcus fears no one, but we all knew that.)  The Wiz committed another 4 turnovers in that quarter including two steals by Bass.  Brandon also accounted for two offensive rebounds and four defensive boards in the quarter, and Smart had 3 rebounds.  The ironic thing is that, although the Celtics often resembled a well oiled machine in that quarter, they recorded only two assists in the comeback.  A lot of guys created their own shot.

So there was an overtime.  Then there were two overtimes.  The same 6-man rotation played all of both overtimes until Kelly fouled out very near the end and was replaced by

Smart started off the first overtime with another gutsy three, followed by two Olynyk freebies and a Smart drive for a 7-0 lead.  Unfortunately, the Wiz went on a 9-2 run the rest of the overtime.  The Celts had a great chance in the last second when a Bass steal and difficult breakaway layup opportunity just barely rolled off the far side of the rim.  In the first overtime, Green had 4 points and Kelly had three offensive rebounds.  Turner scored no points, but he did record two defensive rebounds and two assists.  This one was truly a team effort.

For a while, the second overtime seemed to be a repeat of the first.  Smart hit a three; and, after two scores by Bass and one by Kelly (sandwiched around a Humphries jumper), the Celts once again enjoyed a 7 point lead.  However, the enjoyment was short-lived, as the only additional Celtics score was on a jumper by Turner; while, at the other end, the Wiz went exclusively at Smart with a series of crushing screens by Gortat that freed up Wall to score 10 points for the one point win by the Wiz.

But before I talk about those, I want to mention another point that I personally believe was the single most overlooked yet significant element in the way the Celtics offense functioned with bench players + Green on the court.  Kelly Olynyk put on a veritable clinic in how to set effective, hard screens, with Jeff Green constantly being the beneficiary.  Again and again, Kelly would be on the left side of the court, and Jeff would use Kelly's pick to free himself for any of the vast arsenal of moves he possesses—scoring or drawing fouls on a high percentage of those plays.  For one night, at least, Kelly was the anti-Vitor out there.

And another observation I'd like to make is to conjecture as to who is now the Celtics' most consistent player.  Anyone who answers a player other than Jeff Green has to be deliberately ignoring evidence.  It's not just that he has scored in double digits in every game, is flirting with the 20 ppg mark (by far the highest of his career), and is playing some pretty good defense lately.  What I like more is that he begins each game being aggressive, continues being aggressive, and ends each game being aggressive.  From start to finish, he's the most consistently aggressive Celtic.

Yet another observation is the fact that Evan Turner will probably never be an error-free player (unlike all the other error-free players in history).  But he seems to have revived the rebirth we saw in him at the beginning of the season, he's finding a variety of ways to contribute, and he's definitely comfortable in taking the big shot.

And still another observation.  Two words.  Marcus Smart!  Fill in the blanks yourself.  I just hope this game will be a springboard for a great career for Marcus.  I still would rather not have seen him on Wall in the second overtime.  I actually would have had Smart guarding Gortat (who was constantly on the perimeter setting picks for Wall) and Bradley guarding Wall.  Then, if Bradley got picked off by Gortat, Smart could have switched onto Wall.  As it was, it was always a big who had to switch onto Wall.  Yes, I know Gortat's taller and heavier than Smart, but I'd bet on Smart to be able to seal Marcin outside if he had thoughts of rolling—at least long enough to have a big switch to get into Marcin's way.

And my final observation (until I think up another one).  Yesterday, this team did what the Russell Celtics never did; the Cowens Celtics never did; the Bird Celtics never did; the KG Celtics never did; in fact, no Celtics team has ever done.  The bench scored 82 points.  The bench (with was collectively +15 last night.  The starters were -16.  And, in the majority of their minutes, the bench was competing not with the Wiz' bench but with the Wiz' starters.  And Green's figures are technically included with the starters' stats, when in reality he did much of his damage with the bench. 

My game ball goes to Kelly for his ability to rise above whatever has been the problem and perform well against a very good opposing center.

If this game (despite the loss) doesn't refresh the green blood in all of us, nothing will.  The Celts have played two consecutive games that I view as potentially pivotal. Their recent play is right up there with the very most one could expect in the gradual development of a very good team.  I believe a lot of players manufactured a season's worth of adrenalin.  And some guys hopefully got the wakeup call I believe Brad was making.

Go Celtics!

Sam

We know that Washington can score.......but can they really play lock down defense?

Perhaps Danny can sell Washington on taking Wallace off our hands as Washington seeks the Eastern Division crown and better improve their defense.

112288

Sam you meant 20 for Jeff, not 10.....he is playing really good, seems hes relishing challenges where before he was shying away from them.

Thanks Cow.  That was a typo.  I've changed it.  Actually, his current average is 19.8 ppg.

Sam