Box score.
Game flow.
Post recap.
Times recap.
Les Bullez.
Red's Army is scared.
Celtics Blog is not.
LOY's Place.
You know the Wizards won by 14, right?.
Celtics 17.
"Meanwhile, also lost in Arenas's absence was the development of all of the Wizards' role players."  Well said.
Arenas to continue as sixth man.

Highest plus/minus: Caron Butler (+16).
Lowest plus/minus: Andray Blatche (+2).

I don't particularly want to speculate about whether we have "Boston's number."  It's a cliche, but the playoffs really are a completely different mindset, and regular-season success is rarely an indicator of playoff success, unless you're talking about two very even teams (which the Wizards and Celtics certainly are not).  

Instead, I want to reiterate how unstoppable our offense can be.  I really don't think Boston played bad defense in that game.  They dominated the glass, forced Butler into seven turnovers and just 10 shots, and mostly forced Gilbert Arenas into perimeter shots that he just wasn't hitting.  On the ball, they did their usual thing.  

It was off the ball, however, where this game was won.  Our offense struggles when nobody moves without the ball, which forces someone like Arenas or Jamison into a very bad shot.  Invariably, Arenas is the one who gets blamed, when some of that blame should go to his teammates who aren't moving.  You have no choice but to go one-on-one when nobody is presenting himself to be a passing option.  

Today, though, I was really impressed with how quickly everyone moved within the framework of the offense.  Darius Songaila was huge in this regard, but Jamison was probably the one who exhibited this most.  He was excellent in the two-man game with Arenas, and he was going to different spots besides the post and the three-point line.  Boston's bigs were doing a really bad job of covering our bigs off the ball, and we really exploited that within the framework of the Princeton.

Gilbert's final line (5-14, 1-5 from three, only a +7) doesn't look oustanding, and he definitely forced some bad shots, but I thought his first entrance into the game was a turning point.  It opened up the offense, to the point where it tailors to Jamison and Songaila's strengths moving without the basketball.  Plus, there were those two steals where he dropped it off to Butler and Blatche, respectively, instead of taking the layup himself.   Those plays spoke volumes about what he at least is trying to do now that he's come back to a team that has found a formula for relative success without him.

I'm still concerned about the defense, because even though we only gave up 95, we got lucky in that Boston missed so many threes.  Take away Pierce's 6-9, and Boston was just 7-21 from deep, and they had a lot of open looks.  I'm also really concerned about our pick and roll defense when Haywood is in the game.  Boston is so dangerous because they can run so many different players in a pick and roll, so they were able to get Haywood away from the basket by screening with Kendrick Perkins.  It's a formula I expect to see a lot if we play Cleveland and Anderson Varejao is in the game.  Haywood is an excellent interior defender, but as Truth pointed out a couple of times in the game blog, he really struggles with his pick and roll defense.  Our best option besides Haywood is Songaila, who's too small to rely on too heavily down the stretch.  

Ultimately, there's a lot of good to take away from this game.  Offensively, this might have been our best game of the season.  We didn't score as many points as we might have been able to do, but we got across-the-board contributions, hit all types of shots, got to the free-throw line 29 times, and even added a fast-break element now that Gilbert is back.  If the defense can be tinkered just a bit, we might well be more dangerous than even we think.

Eddie Jordan was asked about his MVP vote before the game on Comcast SportsNite, a loaded media question. Coyly, he said that he hadn’t thought about it…naming the likes of Chris Paul and Kobe before saying, "Tonight, it’s K.G." Politically correct they called it….hardly. The out of the box answer would be to simply say Garnett and move on. At least Jordan was honest in not being up front with his opinion.

Also….we know that Gilbert has been silent with the media since the Bucks game. From Eddie Jordan’s pre-game comments, he doesn’t mind that approach so much.

Let’s ride ….

Quarter One

11:34: A Paul Pierce 3 comes early as Antonio Daniels can’t get around the big Perkins screen….of course, there was no real help from Brendan Haywood, who didn’t make it out to hedge. Not sure what Haywood has been instructed to do....but I would assume that it’s to get his ass out there when Kendrick Perkins is setting picks for 3 point shooters.

10:17: And speaking of Haywood….his first offensive attempt, a seemingly strong right foot drop step on K.G, gets sent right back to him.

9:38: This time…Brendan loses Garnett chasing Pierce coming off the pick…..Paul flips back to KG for the Dunk. 5-5 game.

8:55: At last a good deed, BTH picks up a block on Perkins.

8:29: Pierce hits a second three….it’s in transition and DeShawn just doesn’t make it out there in time. 8-8 game.

7:50: I really have no clue what Haywood is doing…he comes out high to help on a pick…lazily saunters into the lane as the ball is swung to the opposite corner…and then he just leaves Garnett open a step inside his the top o' the key sweet spot. 10-8 Celtics.

7:08: Pierce transition 3….Yea, stop Rondo and the ball, but keep an eye on the trailer. 13-8 Boston.

6:33: Pierce goes baseline as Butler and Haywood watch….dunk. 15-9 Boston.

6:23: Caron takes Pierce to school, draws KG’s help, and dishes to BTH for the dunk.

6:08: Pierce is lost again at the 3 point line….he was so open that I lost him too. 18-11 Boston.

5:35: First Timeout: Pierce is 5-5 (4 of those open 3s) with 14 points, Butler has 6 points and 3 assists. On ESPN, Pierce talks about changing practice habits because of KG. In my Q&A with Jeff of the CelticsBlog, he avoided cheating by not calling Kevin Garnett the Celtic’s glue guy, opting for Posey instead. I agree, Garnett is closer to the base on which things are glued.

4:37: Haywood hits a hook as someone yells 3 seconds…he did good to hold his position against Perkins. 18-15 Celtics.

4:00: Jamison hits a 3 to tie the game at 18 as Gilbert waits on the sidelines. When you notice the NBA, it’s absolutely amazing how often teams start doing well after timeouts resulting from poor play. There has to be some sort of stat.

3:43: Arenas joins Jamison, D-Song, Butler and Stevenson…..D-Song will have the task of guarding KG. Hey, if that guy can battle with Dwight Howard (and 'Meka), I give him a punchers chance here.

3:24: Gilbert makes a strong drive to the basket and scores as he draws contact from Perkins…no foul call. 21-18 Wizards.

3:03: Offensive rebound by Ray Allen. Am I wrong to assume that guards should block out as well? Stevenson put no body on Jesus Shuttlesworth.

ESPN shows the stats from Arenas’ the 60 point game. Gil only had 17 FGs and 5 threes that game….21-27 on free throws.

2:06: This time Butler bullies Pierce under the hoop as he rebounds a Songaila miss and drops the put-back. 23-20 Wizards.

1:48: Gilbert steal from behind and lay-up….yup, no dunking please.

0:34: The Potomac Rainmaker checks in the game.

1:14: Songaila is on a hustle high….offensive rebound and bucket. 27-22 Wizards.

0:00: 30-25 Washington as the quarter ends. Strong play from the first seven Wizards (Mason and Blatche didn’t get enough run to show anything). Washington survived the Paul Pierce 3-point barrage and after the timeout where a Coach of the Year candidate coached his team, the Wizards went on a 17-7 run. Key Stat: 6 turnovers for Boston, 3 for the Wizards.

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109 points against the best defense in the league.  Six players in double figures, and two more with 9 and 8, respectively.  At least 25 points in every quarter.  A renewed fast break, thanks to Gil's presence, which by itself increases the offense's explosiveness.  A half-court offense that is impossible to jam (Boston did it for a stretch in the second quarter, but that was it).  A deep bench that now goes nine deep with solid players, thanks to Blatche's re-emergence.  

When our offense is on like that, there is nobody that can stop it.  Our bigs move too well without the ball for most frontlines to stop them.  Our guards (Stevenson and Mason) are too good at hitting open shots.  Our two warrior forwards are too versatile for anyone to defend, because they can go inside or outside.  Then, there's Gilbert, who gives us a guy who can create shots for himself and for others when anything breaks down, and simultaneously makes it so that we have that quick-strike ability.

This victory should eradicate any doubts over whether Gilbert could fit in to the so-called "new" offensive system.  Gilbert's no dummy.  He's played in the Princeton for four years, and he's seen how well this team executed its halfcourt offense.  Ever since the Milwaukee game, he's played under control, distributed the ball, and made everyone else happy.  When he gets his legs, the scoring will come.

The million dollar question is on the other end, but that's a post for another time.  For now, bask in a season series win of the undisputed best team in the regular season.

Sorry for the lack of posting in the last couple days.  It's been a bit of a struggle recently, but nothing that is going to affect posting in the future.

I'm putting this up so you can make your picks and begin the discussion.  I'm working on a long thing that I'll attach to this game thread when it's done.

Lines are Wizards by 3.5 and 194 on the total points.

Game's on ESPN, and Jamison will be back.  For the scoreboard watchers out there, Cleveland hosts New Jersey, Philly hosts the Pistons, and the Raptors host Milwaukee.

UPDATE: Also, make sure you check out TAI's interview with Jeff from Celtics Blog as well as the rest of his game preview.