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BOSTON -- Bradley Beal stood at his locker near the middle of a noisy Washington locker room and expressed a thought that Wizards players havent felt for a few years. "I was sitting here after the game and talking to Glen (Rice) saying, Its a great feeling knowing youre going to keep playing," Beal said after scoring 27 points to help the Wizards grab the Eastern Conferences No. 5 seed with a 118-102 win over Boston on Wednesday night. "You dont have to go home now and not know what youre doing," he said. "Its a great thing for us to be in the situation were in. For me being my second year, a lot of guys havent been through it." The Wizards, who closed the regular season by winning seven of their last 10 games, will be facing Chicago in their first playoff appearance since 2008. "I just thought the way we ended it, thats what we talked about," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. "We didnt want to worry about whos chasing who." The Wizards jumped over Brooklyn and into fifth place after the Nets lost in Cleveland. Trevor Booker scored 20 points, Marcin Gortat had 15 with 10 rebounds, and John Wall 15 points for Washington, which finished the regular season 44-38. Its the most wins for the franchise since 45 in 2004-05. "I thought we had a pretty good season," Washington forward Trevor Ariza said. "We had our ups and we had downs, but for the most part its definitely been a step in the right direction." Boston sat injured guards Rajon Rondo and Jerryd Bayless, and injured forwards Kris Humphries and Jared Sullinger, finishing with a 25-57 record. It was the clubs worst since going 24-58 in 2006-07, the year before acquiring Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and winning its 17th NBA title. "Im not concerned that we arent going to strive to get better," Boston first-year coach Brad Stevens said. "I think we will work. I think their work ethics are good, and I think their coach-ability is pretty good." One player that may be wondering if hell be back is Rondo. When asked if he wants to be with the club next season, he said: "Next question." The point guard will be in the final year of his contract. Rookie Kelly Olynyk led Boston with 24 points and seven boards. Jeff Green scored 20 points and Avery Bradley 18. The Celtics closed the season, filled with fans talking a lot of "tanking" and "pingpong balls," by losing 11 of their last 13. Stevens wants his players that return to come ready to fight for more playing time next season. "So, theres a couple of different ways to look at it: Are you going to get better in your role, or are you going to expand your role?" he said. "What I mean by that is: Are you going to get better at what you do well, or are you going to get better at some other things that make you, give you the chance instead of being the eighth guy to be the fifth? Or instead of being the fifth to be the third?" Washington, which never trailed, led by 12 at halftime before the Celtics opened the third with a 14-6 run, closing it to 74-70 on Brandon Bass jumper from the left wing. But -- behind Gortats eight points -- the Wizards answered by scoring 13 of the next 16 to move ahead 87-73. Washington led by 16 entering the final quarter and coasted to the win. Behind Wall scoring their initial six points, the Wizards had opened a double-digit lead (23-11) on Gortats jumper midway into the opening quarter. They shot 66.7 per cent (18 of 27) and led 38-24 at the break. Both teams had a hot shooting second quarter, with neither below 55 per cent as the Wizards lead ranged between five and 15 points en route to a 68-56 halftime edge. NOTES: Wall started all 82 regular season games after missing the start of last season with a left knee injury. "Coming off a tough year, last year injury-wise, to be able to play all 82 games is a heck of an accomplishment," Wittman said before the game. "You look at all the really good players that have played the game and they play all 82." ... Bass won the teams Red Auerbach Award thats given to the player or coach who best exemplifies the spirit of what it means to be a Celtic through performance on and off the court. ... Sullinger spoke to the crowd from midcourt before the game, saying: "We want to thank you for your endless support and passion throughout the whole season. Hopefully well come back better next year." Zapatillas España Baratas . Former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds made his longshot request of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld Bonds conviction in September. Zapatillas España Baratas Online . Second-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States made lighter work of her day as she beat 2009 champion and Swiss wild card Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3. Two seeds fell: No. 4 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium lost to Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-2, and No. http://www.barataszapatillas.es/ . With the union re-formed, negotiations with owners will resume Friday on the remaining issues that would be in the collective bargaining agreement, according to a person familiar with the plans. Comprar Zapatillas Online Baratas .The Toronto Raptors guard, who will represent the Eastern Conference at the All-Star Game in New Orleans on Sunday, says he doesnt complain in the face of adversity "because I know this little girl is just happy for anything. Zapatillas Baratas España . Interestingly, the culprits were not rookies, but well paid, experienced pros. The first gaffe came in the 24th minute of arguably the biggest early season MLS game in history between Seattle and Toronto. Sounder newcomer Marco Pappa, (with over 100 MLS games, and 39 Guatemalan Caps to his name) attempted a back pass to one of his central defenders. ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NFL officiating department will help referees rule on instant replay reviews starting next season. League owners passed a rule Tuesday allowing referees to consult with director of officiating Dean Blandino and his staff to help determine whether a call should be upheld or overturned. NFL officials said the change should speed up the process. Blandino and other staff will be monitoring the games from league offices in New York, and they will immediately begin reviewing challenges before the referee even gets to his monitor. They can make recommendations on what replays to look at, but the referee still will make the final decision. Rich McKay, Falcons president and co-chairman of the influential competition committee, called it "kind of a proof of concept to see how this works. We feel pretty comfortable with it, though." "What we do like is we take the true experts in replay, those in New York, to be able to communicate with the referees who have the ultimate decision," McKay said. "We just think we get a more consistent decision-making process." Blandino said the new process will be faster and make more eyes available to help in the reviews. "Well be reviewing all the angles the network is providing, in essence finding what is the best reviewable aspect, and getting a baseline for the referee," he said. "Then we will begin the communication process with the referee once he is done speaking to the coach and announcing the challenge. "Consistency is what we are striving for in officiating and this will definitely help us in that area." One coach, Cincinnatis Marvin Lewis, a member of the competition committee, believes the entire procedure has been upgraded. "By consulting with New York, they can speed up the review process while they talk to the referee," Lewis said. "They can tell the rreferee: Here are the shots all set for you to look at.dddddddddddd" Blandino wasnt sure this change would lead to more challenges, noting that coaches will still lose a timeout for an incorrect challenge. Players no longer will be allowed to dunk the football over the crossbar of the goalposts in celebration. Blandino said the NFL is making a clarification of the rules for mutual respect and sportsmanship. "We put a rule in several years ago about not using props on the football field: the football, the pylon," he said. "This is just expanding upon that rule to include the crossbar of the goalpost. We had the situation with (Saints tight end) Jimmy Graham knocking the uprights off kilter last season and it delayed the game. "We have a potential rule change where we could raise the uprights, so you may have more issues with that if guys are dunking." The owners also banned roll-up blocks to the side of a player. In the past, the rule only barred such blocks from behind. "We saw some plays on tape that we just felt like we needed to expand that protection," McKay said. Commissioner Roger Goodell believes small changes like that one, along with other recent rule changes, have made the game safer. "We went through that (data) in greater detail with the outside firm thats been tracking that for us and its very clear that the rule changes we have made had the positive impact that we intended," Goodell said Monday. "While there are some that say it has had a negative (impact) -- as an example, ACL injuries being up -- thats not the case. What weve seen is that players have adjusted to the rules and they are finding that target zone and it is a safer, better game because of it." A dozen other proposals for rules or bylaw changes were being considered by the owners, with votes on them expected Wednesday. ' ' '