Butler, Jamison Lead Wizards Past Knicks
For the past two days the media have been wondering why no one double teams Gilbert Arenas when he has the ball. So the Knicks tried it last night to great effect. Agent Zero was held to 16 points on 4-14 shooting, but got the ball in the hands of his teammates consistently, which enabled the Wizards to take down the Knicks 99-98.
Yes, it was another wild finish at the Verizon Center last night, but this time Arenas stepped aside and Caron Butler stepped up to seal the win. The 16,503 on hand last night witnessed four lead changes in the final 31 seconds. Stephon Marbury gave the Knicks a one point lead at that point with with a driving lay-up that Antawn Jamison answered 11 seconds later after a few hairy moments when Brendan Haywood couldn't get anyone the ball after receiving the ensuing the inbounds. Stephon Marbury was draped all over Arenas, so Jamison cut across the lane to take a handoff from Haywood, took two dribbles and went directly to the rim for a lay in to give the Wizards a one point lead with 20 seconds left.
Jamal Crawford, who was 2-11 from the field at this point, came right back and scored on Arenas early in the shot clock on a difficult up-and-under move that left 12 seconds for the Wizards to work with. This proved to be a big mistake.
The Wiz got the ball to Arenas after a time-out and worked the ball around the perimeter when the Knicks double-teamed him. DeShawn Stevenson got the ball in the corner and passed up a baseline jumper in order to drive the lane, laying off a nice pass in traffic for Caron Butler who slammed it home with two seconds left. It was a dazzling piece of teamwork that was just as impressive as Agent Zero's recent crunch time heroics, if not more so. Crawford's full court heave at the buzzer was short and the Wizards and their fans both celebrated the team's ninth straight home win. Washington has lost just three times at home all season.
Photo by Kyle Gustafson. More photos here.
"We were just scrambling," former Wizard and current Knick Jared Jeffries said of the final play. "Brendan and Caron were on the backline and I tried to split the difference between the two and they found Caron for a quick dunk." Jeffries finished with six points and four boards in 20 minutes.
Arenas didn't seem to bothered with his performance. "The hibachi grill didn't get turned on tonight. I'm not going to go out there and try and beat the double team all night," Arenas said. "That's pointless." He was prepared for the extra attention from the Knicks, however. "They've been doing it to alot of scorers out there. They did it to Ray Allen the other night. So just watching them, I knew they were going to try it. For them, it's hard because I have the ball. So they're going to be out of place all night."
With the Knicks throwing all sort of bodies at Arenas, Jamison and Butler made them pay, scoring 21 and 27 points respectively. Jarvis Hayes added 11 points in the first half and 13 for the game, helping offset Quentin Richardson's hot hand. QRich scored 25 in the first half and 35 for the game, shooting 7 of 12 from downtown.
Butler was obviously in a good mood in the locker room after the game. "My swag has been phenomenal for a long time. I just have a presence about myself that I walk around with," he joked.