October 11, 2005
Preseason Opening Thriller
Washington Wizards slip by the Knicks
VS
-Washington 90 - - - - - - New York 89
[
Box Score ]
Washington, DC - Most of the the NBA teams finished training camp just 3 days ago, but here already are playing the preseason friendlies. Today Washington hosted the New York Knicks at the MCI Center. Even though the beginning was quite one sided we got to see a tight competition to last seconds.
The Wizards won the jump-off on went on to control the beginning of the game. Arenas' three and Jamison's dominance down low put the Wizards ahead 11-2 within two minutes. That forced Larry Brown to call his men together. Beyond that point the Knick took charge of the game. Thanks to cleaning the boards New York caught up 13-12 in three and a half minutes and went by during their next possession. Eddie Jordan tried to bring back order in the Wizards' defense by making some subs, but that didn't help. The Knick continued to knock their shots down and won the quarter 26-19. They dominated the boards 13-6.
Even though Jamison kept on delivering the game was at the other end. The New York Knickerbockers, led by Crawford's 11 points, shot 12/16 from the field though-out the second period and went on to win the half 57-43. The key players at the half were Jamal Crawford with 17 and Antawn Jamison with 16 points.
Coach Eddie Jordan must have said a lot during the halftime, because the Wizards brought their magic in the second half. Jamison and Arenas combined 12 points in the third, but furthermore Washington boxed out the other team on the glass and held them to just a 14-point quarter. Knicks' best were Richardson and Crawford with four points each. Wizards won the period 27-14 and were back in the game, trailing 71-70.
Wizards took the lead in the fourth but The Knicks spurted right away. They wanted to smother their opponent early in period but that didn't turn out good. New York led 82-75 just 6 minutes before the end. That's when back-up point guard Chucky Atkins stepped up. He lead three consecutive fast breaks and dished arenas for and easy two and the wizards led again by one. Neither team managed to take the advantage and it was a one point game till the end. 18 seconds on the clock, Washington rebounded the ball after a miss by Marbury and called a timeout for the final play. They took their time after the inbound pass and finally got it down low to Caron Butler who took them ahead 90-89 with 2.1 seconds till the end. New York couldn't deliver on their final play and had to accept with a defeat.
“I was disappointed with the boys in the first half,” said Jordan. “We concentrated on defense in the training camp and this was an disaster. Thankfully put our heads together and came out on the top. I'm pretty happy with the fact that we held Stephon just to 7 points, and the whole Knicks to 32 in the second half.”
GAME NOTES:
- Knicks shot 75% from the field in 2nd quarter.
- Stephon Marbury was held to 7 points.
- Arenas and Jamison combined 11 TO-s.
- Caron Butler had only 11 points.
- Arenas was the only man on court to get a double-double.
Ingame Photos
Jamison led the Wizards during the first half and collected 24 points and 9 rebounds in total.
Video Highlights
The excitement of the last 18 seconds.
Download Video (5.93MB)
