Washington loses heartbreaker to PhoenixBy NBA.com staff / March 15th, 2006vs. Phoenix (18-5) | L 110-119 (OT)Wizards fans, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news goes without saying. The good news? Read on.
A day after drilling the Lakers in LA, the Wizards would return home in a highly anticipated matchup against the league's best team. Phoenix has it all - perimeter scoring, a dominant big man, solid depth, and veteran leadership. Washington would need a huge lift from its role players tonight.
With the help of a raucous home crowd, Washington opened the game strong, outscoring Phoenix 33-20 in Q1. By the end of the first half, Marko Jaric already had his biggest game of the season with 20 points, including 4 3-pointers. Fueled by Jaric's sharpshooting, the Wizards took a 58-45 lead into the half.
Mike D'Antoni had been in this situation before. With a plethora of talent at his disposal, the '04-05 coach of the year made all the right moves in the second half. The Suns throttled the Wizards' offense and outscored them 27-17 in Q3. Steve Nash and Joe Johnson embodied D'Antoni's "7 seconds or less" offense, and Amare Stoudemire was there to clean up any misses. After trailing by 17 in Q2, the Suns' lightning-fast comeback had put them on top by 3 heading into Q4. Phoenix extended their lead to 8 with 3 minutes remaining, but Jaric hadn't stopped pouring it in from deep, and the rest of the Wizards regained form to make one final push:
Warning: NSFWizardsThe Wizards left it all on the floor in the final minute, but a few mishaps pushed the game to OT. The refs missed Shawn Marion stepping on the line (1:06 in the video), Brendan Haywood missed 2 FTs, and Joe Johnson nailed a contested, off-balance 3-pointer to tie the game with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Undoubtedly disheartened by a lost opportunity, the Wizards began to fall apart in OT. Jaric went cold, Arenas committed 2 TOs, and the Suns kept the momentum on their side.
Joe Johnson led the Suns with 27 points, including a dominating performance in Q4 and OT. Steve Nash followed with 25 points and 9 assists. Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion each recorded double-doubles with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 14 points, 12 bounds respectively. Marko Jaric had his long-awaited breakout game as a Wizard with 36 points, including 8 3-pointers. All Wizards starters and backup PF Ethan Thomas scored in double figures. Arenas posted a double-double with 17 points, 11 assists, as did Jamison with 15 points, 16 rebounds.
Player of the Game: Steve Nash
Box ScoreNext Game: Mar 18 vs. Atlanta
Off the CourtOf course Jaric would wait for our first loss in 5 games to have a monster game. Even when he wins, we lose!
I was really looking forward to this game, and it didn't disappoint. I actually beat Phoenix by 20 the first time, then discovered I had set the difficulty to All-Star for the dunk contest and hadn't switched it back. I set it back to Superstar, restored a save from before the game, and re-played it properly. Now that's dedication! Also, I'm liking those shooting percentages after the slider adjustments. Right around where that team was IRL.