Something felt off, causing him to hesitate. It’s not how Wizards forward Antawn Jamison likes to shoot. But in the opening game of Washington’s playoff series with Cleveland on Saturday, on several occasions, he paused for a split second before lofting a jumper.
And the ball missed its target, continuing a sluggish two-week stretch for Jamison.
“When my team needed me most, it was hard for me to get it going,” Jamison said.
But they needed him Tuesday, as well. And he got it going.
With 3 minutes, 6 seconds left in the third quarter of the 89-84 win, Jamison, with the Wizards trailing by seven and losing momentum, buried a three-pointer — and was fouled. His four-point play served as a catalyst for himself and his teammates.
In the fourth quarter, he scored 11 of his 21 points, making three of five field goals and all four free throw attempts. Jamison buried a late three-pointer for an 82-77 lead.
“It was big for me,” Jamison said of the four-point play. “For some reason I just couldn’t get it going. That shot got me into a rhythm; it got the juices flowing.”
Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said, “He and Gil [Arenas] had an exchange and Gil said, ‘You’ve got to let it fly.’ And he did.”
With forward Caron Butler in foul trouble — and scoring only eight points after halftime — Arenas needed help from one of the other Big Three. Jamison obliged, which he hadn’t done as much in the previous eight games. In that stretch, Jamison scored 16 points or less five times and shot 39.8 percent from the floor.
It’s not as bad as his December, when he averaged 15 points and shot poorly from the field and free-throw line. But it was a struggle.
“My rhythm hasn’t been there,” he said. “I haven’t worried about it at all because there are other things I can do to contribute. But it’s been hard the last couple of weeks because I really had that rhythm for the last month or two.”
