New Jersey pulls away in final minutes
When asked this week if he welcomed an opening game match-up with the rebuilding New Jersey Nets, Eddie Jordan shuttered, then said he would never look forward to facing All-Star Vince Carter.
Wednesday night at Verizon Center, Jordan’s words were prophetic as Carter hit three step-back jumpers in the final 6 minutes to lead the young Nets to a 95-85 win over the Wizards before a sellout crowd of 20,173.
Carter (21 points) scored his biggest basket right in front of Jordan and the Wizards’ bench, with 61 seconds left, giving the Nets a 90-82 lead.
“Vince Carter controlled the game with his post-ups, pick-and-rolls, drives and isolations,” said Jordan. “You just can’t defend him with one guy.”
Playing in Chinatown agreed with newly acquired Net Yi Jianliang (17 points), a Chinese national team player coming off a rough rookie year in Milwaukee. Former Wizard Jarvis Hayes (14 points) came off the bench and answered boos of his former fans with 6 of 9 shooting from the floor.
“I’m healthy for probably the first time since early in my second year,” said Hayes, who hit three fadeaway jumpers in the final 9 minutes. “I love those guys (Wizards). I had some of the best years of my life in Washington.”
The uninspired Wizards, who hit only 37 percent of their shots from the floor and 20 of 30 free throws, got balanced scoring, but not enough of it. Antawn Jamison (14 points), Caron Butler (13 points, 11 rebounds), and DeShawn Stevenson (14 points) combined to hit just 14 of 42 shots. Jamison was 1 of 8 from 3-point range.
“Too many jumpers. I’d love to post up a little bit more,” said Jamison. “Offensively I didn’t play particularly well at all.”
The game was tight until the closing minutes. Neither team led by more than six points until the Nets made their closing run. The Wizards led 75-74 with 8:17 left and seemed energized when rookie center JaVale McGee and Jamison blocked shots on back-to-back New Jersey possessions.
But Hayes hit a fadeaway to give the Nets the lead for good and Yi followed with an interception of a bad pass by Stevenson and a breakaway dunk. Over the final 8:04, the Nets out-scored the Wizards 21-10, hit 8 of 12 shots, and forced four turnovers.
“You have a lot of nervous energy, home opener, you want to come out and play well,” said Wizards guard Antonio Daniels. “There’s a formula for winning in this league and it’s not shooting 37 percent (floor) and 67 percent (free throws) and making 15 turnovers.”
If there was a positive for the Wizards, it was the play of center Etan Thomas (10 points, 8 rebounds) who got solid numbers in 18 minutes. Jordan, however, was not in the mood for silver linings.
“Encouraging, that’s not the word I’m looking at,” said Jordan. “I’m disappointed we lost the game. We didn’t play well. They had something to do with it. We just didn’t have the positive energy we needed. Sometimes your bench has to give you that. But it’s got to come from your leaders too.”
Note » To get to the 12-man limit for the game, the Wizards de-activated Oleksiy Pecherov, opting to reward McGee for his strong preseason.
