NBA Game Summary - Washington at Boston
(Wednesday, November 7th)
Final Score: Boston 100, Washington 94 (OT)
Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Behind double-doubles and stifling defense late
from Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo, the Boston Celtics defeated
the Washington Wizards in overtime, 100-94, at TD Garden to complete a home-
and-home sweep.
Garnett, who tallied 20 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks and a steal, grabbed a
huge board off a Chris Singleton miss in overtime and outletted to Rondo, who
found Brandon Bass underneath the basket for an uncontested dunk to all but
seal the victory.
Rondo posted his fourth-straight double-double with 18 points and 14 assists,
while Pierce totaled 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who have
beaten the Wizards in the last six meetings.
Martell Webster and Kevin Seraphin scored 16 points apiece for the Wizards,
but each had costly turnovers late in the fourth quarter.
"We gotta learn to play down the stretch of games," said Washington coach
Randy Wittman.
Rookie Bradley Beal also contributed 16 points in the loss for the
Wizards, who are still in search of their first win through three games.
Down 83-82 following a Beal three, Garnett stole the ball from Seraphin, who
then fouled him with Washington in the penalty. The players appeared to get
tangled up on the play, and Garnett was called for a technical foul.
Webster knocked down the free throw for Washington, but Garnett converted both
of his attempts to tie the game at 84-84 with 1:08 to play.
Garnett blanketed Seraphin again on the next Wizards' possession, but this
time Pierce snuck in and stole the ball from the forward. Seraphin again
committed a foul to send Pierce to the line, but he only made 1-of-2.
Pierce made up for the missed attempt, however, when he came up with another
steal, this time stripping Webster of the ball.
Webster grabbed Rondo to send him to the line, but he too only converted just
1-of-2 free throws, giving Boston a two-point lead.
Singleton buried two free throws to tie the game after he was fouled by
Pierce, but after a Boston timeout, Rondo drained a jumper near the top of the
key to give the Celtics the lead back at 88-86 with 26 seconds left.
Singleton again tied the game for Washington when he penetrated the lane on
the following possession and threw down a ferocious dunk.
The Celtics called timeout again to advance the ball to halfcourt with 9.4
seconds remaining, but Rondo's three missed as time expired, sending the game
to overtime.
"You knew coming into this night, no matter who you're playing, when you're
play a team back-to-back games, you give them three days, you knew it'd be a
tough game," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "But we made it so much harder."
Boston did not have much difficulty in the extra period, as they doubled the
Wizards scoring output. Bass scored on a layup to put the Celtics up 95-92
with 1:51 to play in OT and his fast break dunk with 37 seconds to go put the
game out of reach.
"We got stops when we needed to," said Rondo. "Overall it's all about the win
and that's what we did."
Rondo hit 3-of-4 shots and Garnett pulled down nine rebounds in the first
quarter to help set the tone early, as the Celtics took a 21-16 advantage
heading into the second.
However, sparked by 21 points from their bench in the second quarter, the
Wizards took a 42-37 edge going into halftime.
Jannero Pargo tied the game at 28-28 midway through the second, draining a
three for Washington, which went on to take the lead two minutes later
following a 3-pointer from Webster. The Wizards led by as many as seven after
Singleton scored on a layup with 1:47 remaining.
Following a pair of Pierce free throws, the Celtics took a one-point lead
with 5:17 to go in the third. From six feet behind the arc, A.J. Price buried
a 3-pointer to give the Wizards the lead back, but the Celtics created some
separation shortly thereafter.
Boston closed out the third on a 12-0 run, which was bookended by a pair of
Jason Terry jump shots to give the Celtics a 66-58 lead. Chris Wilcox, who
completed a three-point play after being fouled on a layup, scored five during
the stretch.
Price and Seraphin scored baskets on consecutive possessions with 3:36 left in
the fourth to tie the game and Washington grabbed the lead less than two
minutes later when Beal drained a long three to put the Wizards ahead 83-82.
Game Notes
Rondo extended his streak to 28 straight games with at least 10 assists ...
Webster hit 3-of-6 from three-point range. He needs just one more to reach 500
for his career ... There were 39 combined turnovers in the game. Washington
had 20.
11/07 23:56:10 ET

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