The Boston Celtics didn’t know what to expect from their third encounter this season with the Washington Wizards. The first two games were won by the Wizards and it seemed that the “Celtic pride” was going to make the team step it up for this one.
Both teams had a pretty good run over the past few games, the Celtics with a seven-game winning streak, not to mention the season’s best record in the NBA and the Wizards also had two wins.
Antawn Jamison, recently returned from a shoulder injury had 27 points, amongst which a highlight one-hand dunk on Kevin Garnett, with a 8-17 shooting spree and 11 rebounds.
Gilbert Arenas, also adjusting after his knee injury, had a rather low-key display in his 24 minutes played, scoring 13 points and fans have to understand and wait for his condition to be fully taken care of in order to return to his past spectacular plays.
Caron Butler also had a very impressive game, adding 13 point to the board, ten assists, seven rebounds and seven turnovers.
For the Celtics, their “big three” also had a pretty good night but were unable to finish ahead. Paul Pierce had 28 points; Kevin Garnett had 22 points and 14 rebounds. Rajon Rondo had to leave the game in the third quarter, with just four points scored, due to a stomach flu caused by a hamburger eaten earlier that day.
The game ended with a 109 – 95 win for the Wizards, who made it clear that in a possible matchup with the Celtics in the upcoming playoffs they are going to bring it hard.