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BOSTON (AP) -- Rick Pitino won't deliver a winner this season.

Mitch Richmond's 19-foot jump shot with two-tenths of a second left gave the Washington Wizards a 104-102 win over Boston Friday night, the Celtics' sixth straight loss.

Boston's record fell to 30-42, assuring the team its third losing record in three seasons under Pitino. Before its current slide, Boston had moved back into the playoff hunt with seven wins in eight games.

"It was a very tough way to lose," Pitino said. "But the guys are continually playing hard, battling. We just have to hope they will continue to do that and not get discouraged."

Boston suffered its third close loss in its current slide. In the first two games, Anthony Peeler's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Minnesota a 109-106 win, and Aaron McKie's basket with no time left in the first overtime sparked Philadelphia to a 117-115 victory.

The Wizards, at 26-47 the only Atlantic Division team with a worse record than the Celtics, have won six of eight.

"We still try to play with a lot of energy," Juwan Howard said.

Richmond led Washington with 30 points and Richard Hamilton had 20, while Aaron Williams had 16 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks.

Antoine Walker had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Paul Pierce added 18 points for Boston.

After a free throw by Don Reid put the Wizards ahead 102-100, Vitaly Potapenko tied the game with a turnaround jumper with 14 seconds to play.

Chris Whitney then brought the ball upcourt for Washington as Richmond sprinted around to get free. He got the ball on the left side and lofted the winning shot over the raised left arm of 6-foot-11 Tony Battie, who is six inches taller.

"I was forced to put the shot up higher than I wanted," Richmond said, "but I had a good look at the basket."

"If (Battie) had played any better defense, he would have fouled him, so he did the best he could," Boston's Kenny Anderson said.

The Celtics inbounded the ball, but the buzzer sounded before Pierce could attempt a shot.

"We've been winning with our defense on the road," Wizards coach Darrell Walker said, "but they (the Celtics) took us out of it by scoring 62 points in the first half."

In the second half, said Antoine Walker, "it was our defense that was letting them get a few second shots that we weren't giving them in the first half."

Boston rebounded somewhat from its worst loss of the season, 122-87 in Orlando on Tuesday night, a setback marred by on-court bickering among some of its players. Pitino said he would make "major suspensions" but took no punitive action.

The Celtics never trailed Friday until Williams converted an offensive rebound for a 95-94 Wizards lead with 5:55 remaining.

After trailing 97-96 with 4:34 left, the Celtics went ahead 100-97 on baskets by Antoine Walker and Battie. Then Howard hit a foul-line jumper and a driving bank shot, putting the Wizards in front 101-100 with 51 seconds remaining.

Boston had taken an 83-82 lead into the fourth quarter and went ahead 94-91 on Dana Barros' 3-pointer. Then Washington took its first lead on consecutive baskets by Reid and Williams.

Game notes
Boston had won five of its previous six home games. ... After Richmond's winning basket, Boston's first inbounds pass hit the backboard without anyone touching it. The officials conferred at midcourt as the Wizards headed for their locker room, and referee Bennett Salvatore waved them back for a do-over. ... The Wizards hit 50 percent of their shots after making only 36 percent in a 101-93 loss to Denver on Wednesday night.