Through five games this season after missing most of the last two years with a knee injury, Gilbert Arenas has given no indication of any lingering physical limitations to keep him from making the plays down the stretch that will get the Washington Wizards back into the playoffs.
But while his body didn’t let him down with two chances to lead or tie in the final 25 seconds against Miami on Wednesday at Verizon Center, both Arenas’ decisions and execution did. It was one of a number blows the Wizards endured after coming back from a 19-point first-quarter deficit in a 93-89 loss to the Heat.
“What happens sometimes, I say the basketball gods will get you,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “You can’t really cheat the game in a lot of situations. Down the stretch, we tried to be aggressive.”
Arenas’ first chance came out of a timeout with Miami ahead, 91-89, with 24.6 seconds remaining. Rather than wait for the shot clock to dwindle, he quickly drove hard to the basket, looking for a foul. But he lost the ball in midair, and no whistle came.
After Dwyane Wade added the final point of his game-high 40 for a three-point advantage, Arenas again got the ball on the left wing with 15.9 seconds on the clock. He turned the corner, and instead of finishing at the rim, he tried to find Brendan Haywood (16 points, 11 rebounds) for an alley oop, but his low-arcing pass caromed off the rim.
“He was trying to make a smart play, throw the ball up high, trying to get it to Haywood, and it ended up hitting the basketball rim,” said Caron Butler. “That’s the nature of the beast.”
“It didn’t work,” said Arenas (32 points, 3 assists), who wasn’t the only one culpable.
Less than 30 seconds earlier, DeShawn Stevenson was fouled on the break after Butler (13 points, 10 rebounds) had poked the ball loose from Wade. But he missed both of his free throws.
“I don’t know man,” said Stevenson. “I just missed it. It’s tough because we fought so hard to get back, and especially playing defense on a great all-star like that, to come down to free throws and miss is heartbreaking.”
The Wizards also lost their third starter this season to a casualty when Mike Miller (8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists) suffered a left shoulder sprain that Saunders said will sideline him for 7-10 days.
Miller got the injury early one minute into the third quarter but returned to the game with 3:50 left in the period. Clearly favoring his arm, Miller still dished out two assists and may have aggravated the knock after getting clobbered by Joel Anthony on a three-point play that he completed at the free throw line.
“Yeah, that hurt,” said Miller, who left the game with 8:35 remaining.
Washington opened the night in front of 17,413 at Verizon Center with its best impression of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had spotted the Wizards (2-3) an 18-point lead the night before sending them to a 102-90 defeat.
But the Wizards did the Cavs one better, allowing the Heat (4-1) to open a 19-point advantage by committing seven turnovers during a first quarter in which Wade had an effortless 13 points. When Quentin Richardson (19 points) hit the second of back-to-back three-pointers – he was perfect (5 for 5) in the half — Miami found itself with a 27-8 lead.
Like Cleveland, Washington also clawed its way back in the second quarter, with Randy Foye and Andray Blatche (10 points) helping spark a 17-2 run that cut the visitors’ lead to 37-36 before Wade and Richardson hit another trio of jumpers from behind the arc en route to a 50-41 halftime margin.
“We’re just trying to keep the boat going until everybody gets healthy,” said Arenas. “Once everybody gets healthy, we’ll do what we have to do.”
