Celtics/wizards game 4/4/04 1st quarter

[snoopy1@xxxxxxx]

Once more, a well-deserved "Bleah!" to the scheduling people who made sure 
that an EC game with major playoff implications won't be seen by anyone 
except the 30 people at the game in Washington DC.

If the C's win this game, they can put the squeeze on a faltering Cleveland 
team, and move that much closer to locking up the 7th spot in the playoffs.

A lot depends on how well the C's play at both ends--the Wizards have just 
enough offense to keep defenses honest, and  the C's can't afford to stand 
around on offense.  A halfcourt game will lose the C's this game.  I know I 
sound like Tommy Heinsohn here, but the C's need to RUN!!


1st quarter:

There was a 20 minute delay on NBA.com before I could get in, but here we go!!

The c's won the jump as Blount faced off against Haywood, and the GoodGuys 
quickly went toPaul Pierce, who missed his first shot.  But Mark Blount got 
the rebound and kicked it back out to Welsh who made a three.

The C's still were having rebounding trouble as they let the Wizards beat 
them several times, leading to a Haywood dunk.

Chucky Atkins made a jumper on the break, only to see Haywood lay it back 
in nearly as fast at the other end.

Then Welsch fed Blount for a runner--after which Jiri stole the ball from 
Arenas and made a shot of his own.

Atkins turned a rebound into a pass to Pierce, who slammed it through the 
hoop.  See?  Rebounds are GOOD!

Blount was loitering under the hoop for another layup, at which the Wiz 
called time with 8:38 left in the quarter and the C's up 13-4.

The Wiz combined bad and good by making a shot out of the timeout, then 
sending Pierce to the line--inexplicably, Paul missed BOTH!!

The teams traded some poor offensive possessions before Jiri put the ball 
in the hoop off a Pierce pass.

The teams then exchanged a few jump shots before Jiri was a bit careless 
with the ball, and committed a foul on top of that.  This brought ricky 
Davis in for Jiri as Hughes made his free throws.

Pierce showed he was going to the hoop with a driving dunk, but then Blount 
lost the ball to Arenas, and Hughes turned it into two points.

Waltah! committed a foul and the C's called timeout with 2:18left in the 
quarter and the score now much closer, at 21-17.

Things didn't improve after the timeout as Atkins was called and sent 
Arenas to the line for two more points.  There wasn't a whole lot more 
scoring--for the C's, at any rate--as the Wiz caught up to end the first 
quarter with the score tied at 26.