Washington game, more Toronto comments

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Tonight's game at home against Washington is another important game
against a fellow playoff hopeful. Washington looks like it's at full
strength now with a starting five of Austin, Smith, Howard, Richmond
and Strickland. I would think that Griffin did all that he could 
yesterday to ensure that he remains in the starting lineup so our
starters should be the same.

We can't expect another 20 point outburst from McCarty or even 52 
points from Walker and Pierce so other players are going to have to
step up offensively, like Cheaney, Potapenko, Battie, and Anderson.
On defense, Kenny is going to have his hands full with Strickland.
The Wizards also have a fairly strong rebounding frontcourt so 
protecting the defensive boards is going to be essential again.
I wonder if we'll see the press tonight since it is the second game
of a back-to-back for the Wizards also. 

I read some articles from Toronto papers and this loss has evidently
sent them into a bit of a panic, which shows that Boston is not the
only place that wildly overreacts to the outcome of a single game.
I noticed that they are squabbling over minutes in a similar way to
how the Celtics squabbled for shots last year. It's like they are a 
year behind the Celtics - they have a promising year after being a 
dismal franchise and build up great expectations. They add to their
team over the offseason and look great on paper. But then chemistry
becomes an issue. We'll see whether they can overcome this.

I've clipped ESPN's game preview below.

Alex

---

BOSTON (Ticker) -- An unlikely 2-0 team will emerge when the Boston 
Celtics host the Washington Wizards tonight at the Fleet Center. 
 
Boston and Washington finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in
the Atlantic Division during the lockout-shortened campaign, but
both are coming off stirring season-opening victories on Tuesday. 

Paul Pierce scored 30 points and Walter McCarty made 6-of-6 3-pointers
off the bench as the Celtics surprised Toronto, 103-90, to avenge
last year's season-opening loss to the Raptors. 

Pierce, a second-year guard who finished second to Toronto's Vince
Carter in 1999 Rookie of the Year voting, also had eight rebounds
and five assists. 

Coach Gar Heard's coaching debut with the Wizards was a success as
Juwan Howard scored 21 points to lead five players in double figures
in a 94-87 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. 

Heard, who played for the Seattle SuperSonics from 1970-72, used all
12 of his players in a game that featured 52 fouls. This is his first
season with a permanent head coaching position, having gone 9-44 for
Dallas in the 1993-94 season and serving many years as an assistant. 

Washington limped out of the gate at 1-4 last year and hopes to snap
a three-game losing streak against the Celtics tonight. 

The Wizards took the first encounter between these clubs last
season, 86-75 at Washington. But Boston outscored the Wizards by 53
points in taking the next three games.