Things were going according to plan for the Wizards last night when disaster struck. Almost. Comfortably up 17 points with just over eight minutes remaining against the visiting Sacramento Kings, the Wiz saw their lead diminish rapidly due to turnovers, sloppy play and a red hot Mike Bibby. Bibby, who many thought would be wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey before the end of the day, celebrated staying with his current club by hitting four three pointers in the 4th quarter and almost leading the Kings back from the brink. With the Wizards up three with just .7 seconds remaining, Kings center Brad Miller inbounded the ball by throwing a baseball style pass that would have made Reston native Grant Hill proud, hitting John Salmons just above the opposite three point line.
Salmons, who was being double teamed, caught the ball, took a step back and launched a three pointer that had a very vocal Verizon Center crowd holding their breath. You could hear the air go out of the building when the shot swished through the hoop and everyone sat in stunned silence as the Kings rushed the court, thinking they had tied the game. NBA rules state any game winning or tying shots at the buzzer must be reviewed by replay and upon further review, the officials ruled the shot a two pointer and awarded Washington the victory. That changed soon after when further scrutiny revealed the shot to be a three pointer that wasn’t released before time expired, hence the 109-106 final. If it sounds confusing here, just think how everyone at the game felt.
A visibly upset Eric Musselmen, head coach of the Kings, said flatly “I don’t want to talk about it,” after the game. Salmons had no problem discussing his objection to the final ruling. “When I made it, I figured it was a three. Everyone told me my foot was behind the line,” he said. “I was thinking we were going to overtime but then they just called the game. We came in and saw the replay and I was definitely way behind the line, but the time was close. I don’t know if it’s the right thing to call the game or not.”
“It’s tough,” he continued, “we fought back like that and lost on a controversial call. Anytime you lose on a controversial call it’s tough because you feel like they took it out of your hands. The way we fought back, we showed character.”
Photo by Kyle Gustafson
