It was a hot start for the 19-20 Washington Wizards who handled the 22-19 Boston Celtics early on last night at the Verizon Center. Wizards point guard John Wall ignited his team with three’s and jumpers, putting them ahead until Boston came back to slip a nail-biting win in the final seconds, resulting in a final score of 119-117.
There was a last minute attempt to tie the game by the Wizards who were trailing by two points with no available time outs. Wall, who is one of the fastest guys in the NBA, took an inbound pass and tried to race down the court and beat the game clock with a quick left-handed layup. But he actually missed a shot that he usually could make in his sleep. Washington center NeNe answered with a quick dunk but ran out of time. The referees ruled it a “no basket” and the Wizards blew a game they should have won.
It was an emotional loss, not just for Washington but for every face in the crowd.
Wall can’t be blamed for the loss even though he lacked the legs for the final shot. He was relentless, playing almost the entire game with 44 minutes logged and scoring a season-high 36 points, seven rebounds, 13 assists, seven steals and his 22nd double-double.
“I should have dunked the ball but I didn’t have enough energy to do that,” Wall said after the game.
The Wizards went on a 14-4 run in the first quarter and maintained their lead, 61-54, at the half. They kept the turnovers down to five while the forcing the Celtics to commit 10 by the end of the second quarter. NeNe and center Marcin Gortat worked as a tag team on Boston point guard Isaiah Thomas. The Wizards had 14 fast-break points to the Celtics’ nine and had five players in double figures: Gortat’s 15 points, forward Jared Dudley’s 15, guard Garrett Temple’s 12 and 10 points apiece for forward Kelly Oubre, Jr. and guard Gary Neal.
It looked as if Washington was about to clench their fifth straight win at one point. This would have pushed them above .500 and nailed down a win at home after losing to the Celtics twice earlier season in Boston. This was a game they were supposed to win. Instead they came out in the third quarter without a solid game plan and gave way to Boston again.
The Celtics made a run for it in the third quarter while Washington came out slow. Recognizing Washington’s shaky start, Boston capitalized and started to chip away at the Wizards lead in the third. Boston kept Washington on the run for the rest of the game. The Celtics had five players in double figures with Thomas’ 32 points and forward Jae Crowder’s 22 from back-to-back three’s. The team dominated the Wizards on their home court, going on a 14-5 run and cutting into the Wizards lead. Boston stayed strong with in-your-face defense and closed in on the Wizards in the second half, forcing Washington to commit nine more turnovers and extending the Celtics lead.
Fortunately, Washington battled back with Wall stealing the ball and scoring, bringing the game to a one-point difference, 110-111. After a series of back-and-forth fouls, Washington tied the score 117-117 with 13 seconds left in the game after Temple made both of his free throws.
The final blow came at the end when Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens tricked Washington with an unexpected pass from point guard Marcus Smart to Crowder under the basket for a reverse layup, bringing Boston’s lead to 119-117.
With no timeouts left, Wall had the race of his life in front of him with the game clock winding down. He ran the ball down to the other side of the court, managed to avoid defenders and laid the ball up to the basket with his left hand in just three seconds. As the ball hung in the air, spinning off Wall’s fingertips, everyone knew it was in. One of the fastest guy’s in the league, Wall makes this shot a thousand times… surely this one would be routine. All he had to do was be speedy and clutch at the same time.
But just as in life and in sports, our greatest weapon can turn on us. Hence, the aforementioned final score: 119-117, Celtics.