Deja vu: Wizards pull upset

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

BOSTON — Forty eight hours after winning their biggest game of the season, the Washington Wizards topped that, beating the best team in the league for the second time in as many games — this time on its homecourt.

The Wizards, four games above .500 for the first time this season, handed Boston an 88-83 loss and its first consecutive defeats of the season, outscoring the Celtics 25-6 in the final 6:22.

"We just dug down and relied on our defense," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "We pushed up and closed people out at the perimeter. Just the fact that we wanted to put our head down and close people out defensively, rebound and get after it was big. In the end, we didn't rely on jump shots."

Caron Butler led the Wizards (20-16) with 21 points — 11 of them in that crucial stretch in the fourth quarter. Antawn Jamison added 20 points and 10 rebounds for his 24th double-double.

After Washington's win Saturday, Butler knew beating the Celtics (30-6) in front of a sold-out crowd (18,624) would be tough.

"We knew it was going to be a dogfight," he said. "[Kevin Garnett] had the crowd pumped up when they got up on us. But we were like, 'Man, there are still four minutes to go, and we can come back.' It's a big confidence booster."

DeShawn Stevenson finished with 16 points (4-for-7 from 3-point range), and Brendan Haywood added 14 points and seven rebounds.

In the fourth quarter, Haywood's defense was crucial against Garnett, who had 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists. But he shot just 1-for-6 in the final quarter.

"We didn't hit shots when we needed to. It's as simple as that," Garnett said. "They got some stops."

After a succession of key stops, Butler gave the Wizards their first lead of the second half when he converted a three-point play for an 82-81 advantage.