Wizards now more pitiful than Redskins

Mark ButerbaughDec 12, 2009

The Washington Wizards fell to 7-14 tonight, finding a new way to lose a basketball game as they fell at home 114-113 to the Indiana Pacers, who were playing their second game in two nights.

The Wizards shot 55% from the field and held Indiana to 42% shooting. However, it was at the foul line where the big shots were hit and missed and the Pacers won that battle in a rout. The Wizards shot only 65% from the line, whereas the Pacers shot 93% from the line — and one of Indiana’s missed free throws was intentional.

The Wizards led by four points with less than a minute to play when a Brendan Haywood foul sent Pacers PF Tyler Hansbrough to the line. Hansbrough hit the first shot, intentionally missed the second and then the Pacers got two more foul shots when a foul was called on Antawn Jamison on the rebound. The Pacers hit those two free throws to cut the lead to one point. Gilbert Arenas was fouled on the Wizards’ next possession, but promptly did what has come to be expected of him — missed both free throws, essentially creating a turnover and giving the ball back to Indiana. The Pacers’ TJ Ford raced down the court and put up a wild shot just before the buzzer. The shot missed and the Wizards thought they had won the game. The refs looked at the replay and determined that 0.5 seconds remained on the clock. The Pacers threw the ball in to Mike Dunleavy, who was fouled by Brendan Haywood with o.1 seconds left. Dunleavy calmly sank both free throw shots and the game belonged to Indiana.

The last called foul was pretty questionable. It was hard to see how the refs decided that the foul occurred before time expired and then it was pretty hard to see how they came up with 0.1 seconds left for the Wizards. The whole segment looked as if the refs were winging it with blinders on, but the call was made and the Wizards allowed themselves to be in a position where a questionable call or two by the refs allowed the game to be taken away. The Wizards are just a dumb team, particularly in the 4th quarter. [Excepting Earl Boykins, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the 4th quarter and really led the team into a position to win the game.]

The Big Three combined for 76 points, with each going over 20 points for the game. Gilbert Arenas had a triple-double, his first since 2004, scoring 22 points, dishing 10 assists and grabbing 10 rebounds. All of that was undone, however, by Gilbert’s continuing incompetence and choking at the free throw line. That’s now two games in a row [both at home] that Gilbert has thrown away at the free throw line. After the game, Coach Flip Saunders made it clear that Gilbert has to convert those opportunities and said he would continue to trust him in those situations. I don’t know if that’s just something Saunders believes he has to say. Gilbert is clearly in the middle of a mental/psychological crisis of some kind and I wouldn’t blame Saunders if he removed Arenas from the end of games so that he can’t harm the team with his choking from the free throw line. The more the team is in the hands of Earl Boykins, the better.

Caron Butler scored 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting and hit all 5 of his free throws. Antawn Jamison led all scorers with 31 points on 13 of 18 shooting. Jamison, however, missed 4 of 5 free throws and has really become part of the problem for the team at the free throw line.