Wizards Visit For Regular Season Finale

19-62 @ 61-20
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
8:00 pm ET
TD BankNorth Garden (Boston, MA)

Eighty-one games down, one to go. The final night of the 2008-09 regular season is finally upon us. I think I speak for Celtic Nation, and perhaps a large portion of NBA fans around the world, when I say "it's about time."

The green will cap off their schedule tonight at the Garden against the Washington Wizards, otherwise known as the worst team in the Eastern Conference this season (19-62); as far as the standings are concerned, anyway. Boston has already clinched the East's second seed while Washington clinched the conference's worst record a while ago.

Neither club is necessarily playing for a W in this one. The Cs will be focusing on resting the big guns (Garnett, Pierce, perhaps others) and the Wizards fan base is actually pulling for a loss. Don't laugh, we all had those same thoughts in 2006-07. Ed Tapscott's group is currently tied with the L.A. Clippers for the league's second-worst overall record, and "the other L.A. team" will host the Oklahoma City Thunder for a very winnable finale.

More losses means more lottery balls. Been there, done that. Should both Washington and L.A. lose tonight, the rights to the second-best lottery chances would be decided via coin flip, which could obviously go either way. Again, been there, done that (see: 2006, Minnesota).

Win or lose, let's get some of the young guys on the floor (cough cough, Billy Walker) and stay injury-free for just 48 more minutes.

Projected Starters
G G F F C

Team Leaders
PPG: Antawn Jamison (22.2)
RPG: Antawn Jamison (8.9)
APG: Gilbert Arenas (10.0)
SPG: Caron Butler (1.6)
BPG: Brendan Haywood (2.5)

Projected Starters
G G F F C

Team Leaders
PPG: Paul Pierce (20.5)
RPG: Kevin Garnett (8.5)
APG: Rajon Rondo (8.3)
SPG: Rajon Rondo (1.9)
BPG: Kendrick Perkins (2.0)

Key Matchup

Injury Report
Gilbert Arenas (sore knee – out)
Antawn Jamison (sprained ankle – out)
DeShawn Stevenson (lower back issues – out)
Andray Blatche (sore left knee – questionable)
Mike James (broken right pinky – out)
Etan Thomas (torn left knee ligaments – out)
Kevin Garnett (sore knee/rest – out)
Paul Pierce (rest – out)
Brian Scalabrine (post-concussion syndrome – out)