Celtics/Wizards game 4/4/04 2nd quarter

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ricky Davis was thinking offense as the quarter started, throwing down an 
alley-oop from Pierce then zipping in for a layup on consecutive possessions.

Brown missed and Pierce got the rebound--amazing how much more Pierce 
rebounds of late, hm?--but Blount's shot attempt was stuffed by Thomas.

Pierce then stole the ball, and fed it to Davis, but Ricky missed.  Mihm 
took the rebound, but was fouled by Brown as he went back up.  Mihm made 
both as Pierce took a seat in favor of Jiri Welsch.

Then Ricky Davis showed he was working on his free throws when Thomas 
fouled him.   Moments later, Marcus Banks stole the ball and hit warp speed 
the length of the court for two more.  Timeout was called with 8:48 left in 
the half and Boston leading 36-31.

The C's hit a rough patch coming out of the break as they missed shots, 
made turnovers and committed fouls.    But Welsch and Banks got the C's 
back on track with baskets and free throws of their own.

Mihm tried another of those one-handed semidunks and got stuffed by 
Brown.  WHEN will he learn to use BOTH hands??  Thomas added insult to 
injury by hitting an alley-oop dunk.

Timeout was called by the Wiz with 5:53 left in the half and the C's still 
ahead 42-39.

After the break, Pierce and Waltah! came in respectively for Welsch and Blount.

Mihm promptly stole the ball and moments later, Banks had scored two more 
points.  I suspect that Banks might get more defensive attention if he 
keeps that up!

Arenas and Banks traded jumpers on the following possessions before Waltah! 
cut in to rebound a Missed Thomas shot, and sent the pumpkin to Pierce, who 
by this time was getting windburn going to the hoop.

Then Pierce got another assist as he got the ball to Banks for a 
layup.  Marcus wasn't resting on defense as he promptly stole the 
ball.  Pierce ended up with another layup.  Then Marcus banks--once 
again--got the rebound off the Arenas miss.

Hayes objected to this by fouling, and a timeout was called with 2:20 left 
in the half and the C's having stretched the lead to 52-43.

Following the timeout, Pierce went to the line to atone for earlier misses, 
making both.

Alas, even Banks wasn't perfect, getting called for a foul as Jeffries made 
a jump shot.

Pierce's next shot missed, and Waltah! was called for a foul.  Pierce was 
upset at something and was assessed a "T".  Hayes missed the "T" free 
throw, but made the other two.  But this allowed the Wiz to get 
uncomfortably close.

Ricky Davis eased some of the concerns with consecutive hoops, one a 
layup.  But then he was called for a foul of Hughes on a three attempt, 
sending Hughes to the line, where he went 2-3.

Arenas made it tougher on the C's by stealing the ball from Pierce, then 
going to the line when Paul fouled him.  He went 1-2, and Pierce did get 
the rebound of the missed second free throw, but his jump attempt with 01 
second left didn't go, and the half ended with the Celtics still ahead, 58-53.

HALFTIME:

So far as I could tell, the C's were running.  But either the C's defense 
wasn't running so well, or the Wiz learned how to shoot the ball. Also, the 
Celtics players--and to some extent, their coach--need to learn to shut up 
and play occasionally.  These silly technical fouls can be really 
aggravating in a game that's closer than it should be.

In the second half, the C's need to step it up even more--I liked that many 
of the shots were inside--and shore up the defense.

And just play. Forget the refs, we KNOW they're generally 
incompetent.  Keep the lead big enough that it won't matter.