WASHINGTON – Even in a game that went to overtime, the most interesting spectacle was the quartet of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo sitting on the Boston Celtics’ bench.

The Celtics were making a statement: The Miami Heat can have second place. It wasn’t worth fighting for anymore. Coach Doc Rivers decreed that a few days of rest for his veteran starters would be a bigger priority than trying to climb one rung in the standings in the season’s final days.

Boston’s leftovers made a game of it, losing 95-94 Monday night to the lottery-bound Washington Wizards. The result, along with Miami’s 98-90 win over the Atlanta Hawks, guaranteed that the Heat will be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference while the Celtics will be No. 3, drawing a first-round playoff matchup with the sixth-seeded New York Knicks.

Rivers called it a difficult decision to sit his stars, one that involved everyone from General Manager Danny Ainge on down, and one that surely will leave him open to second-guessing if the results fall a certain way.

“I usually don’t seek it out — it comes from me all the time — but this was one where I asked a lot of questions to some players, all our coaches, to Danny, so this was a tough one, but this was the right one,” Rivers said. “At the end of the day for us, it’s got to be right for our team and whatever’s best for our team, even over seeding.”

Rivers said his mind was made up after the Celtics were blown out 100-77 by the Heat on Sunday, a loss that put Boston behind Miami in the race for second. The coach will also sit the bulk of his top players in Wednesday’s regular-season finale against the Knicks, giving his veterans a three-day mental break to set them up for three good days of practices Thursday through Saturday before the playoffs start.

The beneficiaries were the Wizards, who were able to claim a successful home finale in another losing season. John Wall led the way with 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

“We kind of took it as that they was trying to disrespect us and not trying to play the other guys,” Wall said, “so we wanted to come out and fight.”

Jordan Crawford scored 17 points, including the jumper that sent the game to overtime and the 3-pointer that gave Washington the lead for good in the extra period.

“There’s no question when they take out a couple of their guys, you kind of relax,” Washington Coach Flip Saunders said. “I told our guys: ‘We’re not going to feel sorry because we’ve got six guys sitting in suits over there.”‘

Jeff Green scored 20 points and tied his career high with 15 rebounds in his first Celtics start. Glen Davis also had 20 points. Jermaine O’Neal, who needed the playing time after missing much of the season with a sore knee, had seasons highs in points (15), rebounds (13) and minutes (37).

The extra period had some laughable sequences, the most absurd coming when Boston’s Von Wafer missed a wide-open dunk down the middle of the lane. Wafer celebrated by posing for the crowd — he thought the ball went in — and then bumped into O’Neal, causing O’Neal to commit a blatant double-dribble after grabbing the rebound.