This has been a season of discovery for Roger Mason. In his sixth year of professional basketball, including two overseas, the Wizards guard has finally found his place in the NBA.
Monday night at the Verizon Center, Mason produced on a night that the Wizards needed him badly. With three of their top four threats out of the lineup, Mason came off the bench to score 31 points, propelling Washington to a 117-110 victory over Indiana which knocked the Pacers from playoff contention.
Immediately after the game, however, the Wizards got to the locker room in time to see Cleveland pull out a 91-90, last-second victory over Philadelphia and clinch the No. 4 seed and the home-court advantage in the opening-round series with Washington.
“It was definitely disappointing because I thought we had it,” said center Brendan Haywood (11 points). “We don’t have home court. We have to go to Cleveland. We’re fine. Basketball gets played in Cleveland, the same way it gets played in D.C.”
With All-Stars Caron Butler (bruised knee) and Gilbert Arenas (knee) held out of Monday’s game and DeShawn Stevenson (back) retiring to the locker room in the opening seconds of the third period, Washington (43-38) was lacking firepower. But Mason filled the void, hitting 10 of 16 shots from the floor, including 7 of 9 from 3-point range. His output was a point shy of his career high.
Even without instant-offense sixth-man Arenas, the Wizards got a season-high 70 points from their suddenly productive bench. Guard Nick Young registered 14 points in 19 minutes. Forward Andray Blatche had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Dominic McGuire had nine points and 10 rebounds and knocked down the clinching free throws with 16 seconds left after Indiana pulled to within three points.
