Completely agree about Deshawn. He's turned into one of those reliable players that I'm glad to see on the floor at the end of close games regardless of his shooting percentage up to that point.
I was at the game last night and my favorite moment (besides AD's 3) was at the end of the game, G-man was handing Kleenex after Kleenex to a guy in a Celtics jersey.

I really liked the 7:30 start -- let me see a lot more of the game after I got the kids to bed. I saw a lot of the first half and the entire fourth quarter. Here are some observations:

1) The Wizards intensity and effort level was sky-high. I am totally jacked to see that our response to playing the best team in the league was to be totally prepared mentally and totally invested emotionally and physically. The intensity was reflected in the defensive effort the Wiz put forth and the incredible rebounding effort they gave.

On defense, the Wiz forced a boatload of turnovers. When the Celts kept coughing it up in the first half, I thought the Wiz were applying nice pressure, but it was more a result of the Celtics' carelessness and that Boston would stop making such mistakes with the game on the line. No such luck. The Wiz kept the heat turned up right until the end. I was wondering what had happened in the third quarter that left Blatche in the game over Haywood for much of the fourth (Blatche I guess is a little quicker laterally, to stay with KG), but then Haywood came in and stripped KG and pulled down a big offensive rebound. In addition to the great pressure, the Wiz made a bunch of nice rotations and gave up very few easy shots. The Celts helped out by missing a couple makeable shots down the stretch, but at that point, when you've been harassed all game, even easy shots become a little tougher.

Washington's domination on the glass was a thing of beauty. A couple of the Wizards' offensive boards were the result of a lucky bounce, but even then, as in the case of Nick Young in the fourth quarter, we knew what to do with it (Laser calmly drilled a 10-foot jumper). But most of the Wizards' rebounding advantage came from smart, hustling play. I can't say enough about Jamison's rebounding lately. By NBA standards, he's not big or strong, not does he jump especially high, but he's got great timing and great hands, and he maximizes his chances with hard work and smart positioning. Just imagine someone with Kwame Brown's physical gifts doing that (although I think good hands are a natural talent too, and Kwame's got a pair of bricks).

The effort and intensity were so great that the Wiz were able to overcome low-scoring and off-shooting nights from Butler and Jamison, 11-percent three-point shooting and 37-percent FG shooting overall, and high turnovers.

2. The Celtics' defense is terrific. Anchored by KG, the C's just do not give up easy shots. This was probably the best look I've had of them this season, and I was just very impressed by how well they rotate and defend on both the perimeter and inside. Pierce's late mistake of fouling a three-point shooter (props to DeShawn for nailing all 3 FTs) was glaring, since they really didn't make many defensive miscues. It's obvious that Tom Thibodeau was so highly sought after for good reason during the off-season. (That said, I'm very happy with Randy Ayres' work for us.)

3. Ordinarily, I am against poking the bear (see Michael Jordan's destruction of LaBradford Smith), but I support DeShawn's postgame trashtalkery in this case. He's absolutely right that KG would be saying the same thing if the positions were reversed, and we're totally playing with the house money anyway when we visit Beantown tomorrow.