The disappointing fourth quarter was familiar. The swirling blizzard of controversy added a new wrinkle.
Doing their best to stay focused in the face of emerging details of an investigation by the NBA, D.C. police and federal authorities into a locker room dispute involving firearms between Wizards players Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, Washington hung with San Antonio for three periods before suffering their fourth straight defeat, 97-86, in front of 19,025 at Verizon Center.
“My concern is only on the basketball court,” said Arenas. “We’re not performing the way we should. We played a great game tonight. I felt we played great defense. If we played like the way we did tonight, we’ll beat a lot of teams out there.”
Arenas had 23 points and 8 assists, including a signature half-court bank shot at the first quarter buzzer, but reporters were interested in hearing about it afterward.
“I agree,” Arenas responded when asked if storing guns in the Wizards locker room was a poor decision. “That’s bad judgment on my part, storing them here, and I take responsibility for that.”
Arenas, who said he was to speak with authorities on Monday, did not reveal details of the quarrel between himself and Crittenton, who has been injured all season and was not in the arena on Saturday night.
Caron Butler scored seven of his game-high 24 points in the final period, in which the Wizards (10-21) were outscored, 27-15.
Tim Duncan also had seven of his 23 points in the fourth for the Spurs (20-11), who were buoyed by a season-high 20 points from former Wizard and Washington-area native Roger Mason Jr.
“The sense of urgency has gone up, and we got to get some wins,” said Butler. “Our backs are against the wall. Guys are really leaving it out there, trying to get the production that we need and whatever we need to do to get wins. I thought it was a great step moving forward today against a real good team.”
San Antonio jumped out to an 11-point advantage in the first quarter, but Butler scored consecutive baskets to complete an 11-3 Wizards run early in the second that gave them their first lead of the game, 43-40.
“I thought that Caron played hard,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders, who put his team through two intense practices focused almost solely on defense following his team’s lackluster showing in a loss to Oklahoma City four nights earlier. “It’s the hardest he played over a 48-minute game, defensively and doing things.”
Saunders had promised to consider major changes to his starting lineup but only made one move, inserting 6-foot-11 Andray Blatche for 6-4 Randy Foye to give the Wizards more size and their 12th different starting lineup of the year.
“I think the team responded well,” said Saunders when asked about the distractions his players were facing off the court.
“Going down to San Antonio, I think we lost by a thousand,” said Butler of the Wizards’ 106-84 blowout defeat in Texas on Nov. 21. “Then coming here and playing the way we played, that shows a lot of improvement.”
