Wizards Prep for Battle of Big Threes

BOSTON, Nov. 1 -- It's been nearly impossible in recent weeks to walk past a newsstand or flip on a sports channel without being reminded that, over the summer, the Boston Celtics added Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to a roster that already included Paul Pierce.

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The trio of perennial all-stars has already drawn comparisons to championship teams of Celtics past, and fans in this sports-crazed city are buzzing in a way they haven't since Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish formed the original "Big Three" in the 1980s.

While a national television audience checks out the new-look Celtics on Friday night, the Wizards will try to improve to 1-1 before returning to Washington for Saturday's home opener against the Orlando Magic.

"They're hot right now," Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson said of the Celtics. "They're on ESPN, Sports Illustrated and just about everything else. So as a winner and a competitor, you want to go out there and see where you stack up against a team like that. A lot of people are calling them the best team in the East right now, so we can see how we compare. But at the same time, we also just want to go out and get that first win."

In other words, the Wizards will be far more concerned with themselves than with the revamped Celtics.

Specifically, they will be focused on correcting some of the mistakes they made Wednesday night when poor outside shooting, missed free throws and defensive breakdowns contributed to a 119-110 loss to an Indiana team that played without starters Jermaine O'Neal and Troy Murphy.

Coach Eddie Jordan used Thursday's practice to key in on things that went wrong in the opener. He said he was going to design a game plan tailored to the Celtics after practice.

In practice, Jordan emphasized transition defense, defensive rebounding and handling the pick-and-roll that Pacers point guard Jamaal Tinsley burned the Wizards with Wednesday night.

Tinsley nearly posted a triple-double (20 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists), and his ability to drive past his man or split double-teams off the dribble created open shots for teammates. The Pacers made 13 three-pointers, including three while outscoring the Wizards 16-7 in overtime.

"We know those guys [Garnett, Allen and Pierce], but because it's so early in the season, you kind of concentrate on your basic principles and concepts and try to get your guys locked in to what we're doing," Jordan said. "We'll come up with a game plan for the Celtics, but we spent a lot of time on [Wednesday's] game in practice."

It will also help if Washington's version of the "Big Three" can make some of the shots they missed in the opener. Gilbert Arenas finished with 34 points and forced overtime by making a three-pointer as time expired in regulation, but he missed his seven other three-point attempts and shot 10 of 25 overall.

Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison combined to make 14 of 42 shots, and the Wizards squandered an opportunity to blow the game open early in the third quarter when they either missed shots or turned the ball over on five straight possessions. The Wizards also missed 13 free throws, including seven in the fourth quarter.

The good news to emerge from the loss was that Arenas woke up feeling no soreness in his left knee Thursday morning and will be at full speed for the Celtics and their young, talented point guard Rajon Rondo, who like Tinsley can create problems off the dribble.

Arenas, who had not played a regular season game since injuring the knee last April, said he fought cramps in both legs during the fourth quarter Wednesday night.

"My body wasn't used to going that hard," said Arenas, who played in five of eight preseason games. "You don't know what you're facing until you go up against players you don't know, bodies you don't know, until you're going up and down for four or five trips without stopping and getting hit constantly, so that's something I just have to fight through. But the knee is fine. We've got Boston and after Boston, we have Orlando. Ain't nothing we can do. We gotta go now."