Gilbert Arenas dribbled around just inside halfcourt, the clock winding down; he rose for a long jumper with less than two seconds left, unleashed a beauty, turned and raised his arms before the ball slipped through the net.
Sound familiar?
So should this: He torched a team with 50-plus points.
Arenas’ 25-foot, buzzer-beating jumper gave Washington a 114-111 win over visiting Utah on Monday afternoon. Arenas finished with 51 points, tying former Wizard Michael Jordan’s Verizon Center single-game scoring record. Arenas scored 14 points in the final three minutes, 11 seconds.
Unlike his jumper to beat Milwaukee on Jan. 3, Arenas did not completely turn his back to the basket before the shot was made. But he did turn away early.
“Because I knew it was the game winner,” Arenas said. “I was feeling it. … I was already celebrating pre-make.”
Said Wizards forward Caron Butler, “It was déjà vu all over again.”
An ailing shoulder bothered Arenas the previous four games, and nearly forced him to miss Saturday’s loss in San Antonio. He entered having made just 23 of his last 71 field goals. On Monday, he made 14 of 29 — and went 16 of 17 from the line.
“I talked to DeShawn Stevenson before the game and he said, ‘Derek Fisher is sticking you,’”Arenas said. “I said, ‘Tonight, it’ll be 37 and a game-winner.’”
So he was off by 14 points.
“What can you say about what he’s doing?” guard Antonio Daniels said. “No one [in the league] is doing what he’s doing now. … He is putting this team on his back.”
Arenas’ last-second heroics becoming routine
They know what’s coming. They just haven’t figured out how to prevent it. Gilbert Arenas has drained 11 baskets at the ends of quarters this season.
And yet teams employ the same strategy each time, hoping to stop him with one defender.
“As long as I have one guy on me,” Arenas said, “I can do that all year.”
But Monday afternoon, the Wizards knew Utah would not run a second defender at Arenas and force him to pass. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan is considered old-school; and old-school dictates stoppinga player with one man. But Jazz guard Deron Williams couldn’t stop Arenas. No one has in that situation.
The problem is, Arenas had teammates Antawn Jamison and Jarvis Hayes on the wings and Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels down low. All are capable shooters — especially if left open.
“Gil has made the right reads where he’s double-teamed,” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. “But right now no one is double-teaming him … I’ve seen Allen Iverson win a lot of games going one-on-one, whether he’s pulling up or driving. And you say, ‘You’ve got to run a guy at him.’ Then the situation happens and you want to live with a contested shot.” — John Keim
