Celtics Take Down Wizards
The Wizards got off to a very slow start, shooting 3-22 in the first quarter, but did manage to fight their way back into the game in the second half. However, they did not have enough to overcome the large deficit and fell, 88-76, to the Boston Celtics on Sunday night at TD Garden.
One bright spot was Kevin Seraphin, who tallied another double-double (15p, 11r), making the start in place of the injured Nene, who sat out with back spasms.
Jordan Crawford led the Wizards in scoring with 20, marking his fifth consecutive game with at least 20 points.
John Wall had 12 points to go along with his nine assists, while Trevor Booker pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds.
The Wizards finish off this three games in three nights stretch on Monday night back in DC when they take on the Detroit Pistons (7pm).
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Postgame
WIZARDS CENTER NENE:
On his back:
“Last 2 days I started feeling it a little bit, but yesterday, before the game it was tight, but after the game I feel like old man. My back was really sore in the locker room. It was pretty tight, and this morning it was shut down. I did massage, I did physical therapy, and when I got here I did a couple exercises, and it was really hard for me.”
What about tomorrow:
“Day by Day. Let’s see tomorrow how I feel, How I wake up. You know back is a little different. You don’t feel good, solid, a little different, it could be worse. So we just try to prevent a little bit.”
WIZARDS GUARD JOHN WALL:
On Avery Bradley:
“If he can get 13 easy points off cutting back door and making 2 idle jump shots, give him credit. That’s the easy way to get your self going. You see the ball go in the basket, that’s what he did. So he found a rhythm and they kept finding him cutting and making open shots.”
On the start of the game:
“They just started off with great defense. We just didn’t do a great job of moving the ball as a team. Taking bad shots. They executed, getting whatever they wanted offensively. They just got a big lead.”
On 2nd half comeback, then lost it: “They’re a veteran team. They stopped the bleeding. We tried to keep it going, but we started missing shots, and kind of went back to the way we played the first half. They went back to how they played and they got their lead back up.”
WIZARDS HEAD COACH RANDY WITTMAN:
Start of game:
“That’s a great question. One that I probably don’t have a very good answer for, call it whatever you want, that’s not who we’ve been for a very long time. It was just disappointing to see that, but I challenged them at half time. We couldn’t play the scoreboard, let’s just get back to the level we need to play at; that we have been playing at. The second half was better.
On second half:
“I mean we fought. There was no fight in the first five minutes of that game. That was lay-up drill with no defense. I don’t know why it happened. We responded in the second half. We can’t afford to give up starts like that. We brought it to eight with the ball, I think. That’s a positive. Obviously losing and the way we started the game was definitely not a positive.