Gilbert Arenas drove the lane, flicked up an off-balance shot after the buzzer, and Golden State should have celebrated a win. Except that a foul was called. And then a technical.
And then it was Washington exiting with fists raised, to a rousing ovation, not to mention a win.
“That was very different,” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. “They call Don Nelson the great innovator. That was a new way to end the game.”
Indeed, in Washington’s 107-106 win over visiting Golden State, the Warriors found an odd way to lose. With the Wizards trailing by one with 2.9 seconds left, Arenas drove the lane.
But a foul was called on Mickael Pietrus with one-tenth of a second remaining. Nelson, the Warriors’ coach, stormed on the floor and made an expletive comment at the official. Nelson said the technical was called because he went onthe court.
“That [ending] was bizarre,” said Arenas, who finished with 32 points. “Thank the refs for that one. … That’s why you call it home court advantage.”
But Arenas still had to make the free throws. Several Warriors (26-35) tried to rattle him with verbal taunts.
Arenas had a ready response.
“I was just telling them they need to go to the locker room,” said Arenas, who waved at the Warriors’ bench after he made the third free throw. “This wasn’t Cleveland in the playoffs.”
This time, he saved the Wizards (33-25) from a tough loss by making all three free throws. Now they have a two-game winning streak.
The Warriors had taken the lead when Al Harrington made two free throws after a questionable foul call on Caron Butler.
“If the one called on Caron was a foul, then [the last play] was definitely a foul,” said Wizards forward Antawn Jamison (18 points, 11 rebounds).
Washington now has its first back-to-back one-point wins since Dec. 10 and 12 in 1986.
