Three thoughts about the Wizards’ familiar struggles in their 97-95 loss at the L.A. Clippers, their fifth defeat in a row and a troubling start to their four-game road swing out West this week:
About that 17-point lead… Tell me if you’ve heard of this one before: the Wizards (7-15) fell flat on multiple occasions, and then blew it late. In the second quarter, they missed 13 of their first 15 shots in the period. (Wow, that only happened two days ago!) At least this time around, the Clippers (10-13) were equally messy and incapable of taking a lead by any more than six points. Washington finished the half hitting six of its last nine during a 13-0 run, and then added to a five-point halftime lead with a 20-8 run to open the third quarter.
I’m sure I even saw a hockey assist when Gilbert Arenas fed Antawn Jamison who in turn dished to Caron Butler for the bucket and the foul, making it 62-47.
But the starters, who were responsible for the big lead, started to look gassed, and the bench had no rhythm whatsoever (13 points and an average +/- rating of -9.7 across six players). The end result: the Clips responded with their own 24-5 run, tying the game at 71 with their first two baskets of the fourth.
At least Arenas made his free throws. Ditching the three ball orbits around his waist in his free throw routine, Arenas made 7 of his final 8 from the line. He also had 16 points, 4 steals and picked up his ninth assist on a Butler basket to make the score, 64-47. But he finished the night with 6 turnovers and fouled out with 2:51 to play…
… at which point Butler (20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals) became a new man. As if he were invigorated by Arenas being gone, Butler scored nine of Washington’s final 11 points, including a three-pointer to make it 96-95 with 11.8 seconds to play. Too bad Earl Boykins couldn’t find him on the final possession, instead dribbling the ball off his leg.
Huge nights again for Jamison (32 points, 11 rebounds) and Brendan Haywood (12 points, 12 rebounds) as the Wizards seem to be getting closer — or further. Yeah, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but Washington has now lost its last five by a combined 11 points, that has to be the sign of something, right? In addition, the Big Three and Haywood were superior on the floor for most of the night, but the Clippers were the ones with the go-to players. With Baron Davis (14 points, 12 assists) feeding him at will, Chris Kaman scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half, Eric Gordon (29 points) was always a threat, and even Rasual Butler, who had 12 points in the first half against Washington’s reserves, hit a huge three-pointer late in the fourth.
That was supposed to be the Wizards’ role. After all, head coach Flip Saunders said he’s never had this many weapons.
Right now, those weapons simply don’t work at crunch time.
