April 2, 2008- It would be the most jaw dropping display of athletic disappointment I’ve experienced since (well,
last Sunday’s game against the Lakers) as the Wizards lose 110-109 to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Cruising with a 106-101
lead over the Milwaukee Bucks, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan decides to take out two of his most productive players in the paint.
One of them being Andre Blatch.
Andre dominated the inside with point, after point, under the basket, over the opposition
and helped give the Wizards a formidable lead over Milwaukee going in to the fourth quarter.
However a Wizards turn
over, and a throw away by Gil Arenas, gave possession back to Milwaukee.
The Wizards would rally, and Gil would get
fouled by the rookie,
Ramon Sessions, sending him to the free-throw line with less than twenty seconds on the clock.
Oh, how the crowd was on their feet
(myself included) as Gil attempted to make both free throws, sure signs that he would clinch the win for the Wizards.
“Here
he comes to save the day!”, I began to sing. After seeing both shots go in, I knew we had a win as the score board showed
Wizards 109, Milwaukee 108.
I was thinking to myself “I’m dusting off my Agent Zero T-shirt and readying
myself to wear it again.”
Then here comes Sessions (again), like a gnat or fly that keeps buzzing at you, and
won’t go away. He and Caron Butler go after the ball, both scuffling on the floor. The officials call a jump ball. The
Wizards would win the jump ball, but would eventually lose it in a pass from Antawn Jamison to Antonio Daniels.
Milwaukee
would call a time out with 1.1 seconds on the clock. I’m like yeah, they can’t do anything now with 1.1 on the
clock.
Wrong!
The Bucks got possession of the ball, and on a pass from Milwaukee’s center, Andrew Bogut,
to a very open and waiting Sessions on the wing, Sessions nailed the jumper as the clock ran out.
So unbelievable was
this shot that the officials reviewed the play, and replayed the instant replay, for accuracy.
Could this really have
happened?
Yep. It did. Milwaukee, the team that
lost twelve of their last fourteen games in the month of March, got a win over our Washington Wizards.
And with that, the magic
that was, faded.
“I want my money back, and I’m never coming back to the Verizon Center again”, said
a Wizards fan sitting next to me.
Oh well, as the song goes, "these are the breaks”.
______________
Game
notes:
Game injuries: DeShawn Stevenson, sprained right ankle; Antawn Jamison, right shoulder sprain.
Did
you know that Milwaukee Bucks’ forward,
Bobbie Simmons, is the brother of this
successful business man? I had the pleasure of meeting them both at a book convention here in DC a few years ago.
Gil had 17 points in his
comeback game of the season, after sitting out 66 games due to a
knee injury sustained almost one year ago.
See game highlights and scores, after the commercial.
