Hours after Pollin dies, Washington tops Philly
The weight of expectation was heavy and the anticipation was high well before the Washington Wizards learned Tuesday afternoon of the passing of their legendary owner, Abe Pollin.
“What he would want us to do is, he would want us to celebrate his life and not mourn his death because that’s just the individual he was,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders before the game. “But when you’re here going through it, it’s not that easy.”
Thus, with heavy hearts added to the challenge of turning around a team that had lost eight of its last nine games and was facing their former head coach, Eddie Jordan, on the one-year anniversary of his firing, the Wizards still managed to hold off Philadelphia, 108-107.
Antawn Jamison led Washington (4-9) with 32 points and 14 rebounds, his third double-double in four games.
Louis Williams paced the Sixers (5-9) with 26 points but missed a game-winning three-point attempt on the game’s final possession. Thaddeus Young added 23 points.
Down one at halftime, the Wizards came back to build a 15-point advantage as Jamison and Nick Young combined for 30 points in the third period. But Philadelphia slowly chipped away with six 3-pointers over the final quarter.
Nick Young, who had been inactive in Washington’s previous game three days before in San Antonio, finished with 20 points in his second start of the year. Gilbert Arenas had 17 points and eight assists, and Andray Blatche added 14 points off the bench.
Young was pressed into action as the Wizards played without two injured starters. Caron Butler missed his second game of the season with right ankle injury that had kept him out of practice since Saturday, and Mike Miller missed his first game after suffering a left calf strain last weekend in San Antonio that is expected to sideline him for 3-6 weeks.
