Chachie
March-6th-2005, 09:49 AM
Profit's Late Tip Rescues Washington
Wizards 86, Bobcats 84
By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 6, 2005; Page E01
CHARLOTTE, March 5 -- As the ball left Washington Wizards guard Juan Dixon's hand, reserve forward Laron Profit hesitated near the foul line for half a second and thought, "Should I stay or should I go?" Profit heard screams from the Wizards' bench to get back on defense but he noticed that no one on the Charlotte Bobcats was boxing him out, so he followed his instincts.
"Go get it!" Profit said he told himself. Profit soared high above the rim to tip in Dixon's miss with 3.1 seconds left and give the Wizards an 86-84 victory at Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday night. "I felt like [football star] Randy Moss on the deep route," Profit said with a laugh. "I just jumped as high as I can."
Charlotte Bobcats guard Jason Hart, left, battles Washington Wizards guard Larry Hughes for a loose ball. The two teams fought until the end when Laron Profit's tip-in gave the Wizards the win.
Forward Antawn Jamison had made just 18 of 60 field goal attempts in the four games prior to Saturday night, and had attempted just 11 free throws combined in those games. "It's not about play calling. It's not about putting him in position to do that. He runs the floor, he has post-ups. He has opportunities to drive. He's got to create the situation where he is forced to go on the line," Coach Eddie Jordan said. "Gilbert's a perimeter player that gets to the line, how come Antawn, at 6-9, can't get to the line?" . . .
Point guard Steve Blake was dumbfounded about his first career ejection Friday night. Blake was tossed with 2 minutes 18 seconds left against Golden State when he was called for an offensive foul and threw the ball at an official. Official Joey Crawford gave Blake a technical and threw him out of the game. "I just grabbed the ball," Blake said. The official "was running, so I tossed it toward the ref, to give him the ball. What else can I do?"
Profit, a seldom-used forward who hadn't played in three of the previous five games, wasn't exactly the player Coach Eddie Jordan anticipated he would have on the floor for the final possession. But with all-star forward Antawn Jamison going down with a sore right knee in the third quarter -- further depleting an already banged-up roster -- Jordan had no choice but to put Profit in the game and leave him on the floor.
"I'm glad we have Laron. He was big tonight," Jordan said about Profit, who provided all six of the Wizards' points off the bench. "That last play was certainly huge."
When Bobcats guard Keith Bogans's half-court heave hit the backboard as the buzzer sounded, the Wizards (33-25) stormed the court and celebrated with Profit, hugging and slapping five with their unlikely hero.
"Coach on the opposite team said, 'Act like you won before.' He doesn't realize we lost six in a row" on the road, point guard Gilbert Arenas said after the Wizards won away from MCI Center for the first time since their Jan. 24 game in Cleveland. "We had to find a way to get this win and we did. It was a big win for us."
Especially considering the circumstances. The Wizards overcame a poor shooting performance (37.3 percent), a 14-point first-half deficit, and the loss of Jamison, a Charlotte native, who left the game with 9 minutes 50 seconds left in the third quarter after scoring just two points -- his lowest point total since scoring two points on March 17, 2004 as a reserve with Dallas. It was unknown if Jamison, who has the longest active streak of consecutive games played (385), would be available Tuesday in New York. "His knee was sore," Jordan said. "Too sore to continue. That's all we know right now."
With Jamison out, the Wizards' roster was reduced to just nine available players, with reserve center Etan Thomas unable to travel with the team because of the flu and forward Jared Jeffries missing his fourth consecutive game with a bruised right knee. The remaining players were also nursing injuries; Arenas woke up Saturday morning with a throbbing pain in his left knee. He wore a patch on his leg to combat the soreness but he had no lift on his shot as he front-rimmed several jumpers, finishing 5 of 18 from the floor. Hughes, playing his third game since returning from a broken right thumb, managed to score 19 points despite 3-of-15 shooting. Dixon played just 10 minutes after missing the previous five games with a sprained right ankle.
If not for the post presence of 7-footers Brendan Haywood and Kwame Brown -- who combined to score 38 points on 16-of-28 shooting -- the Wizards might have been blown out of the building. Haywood tied his season high with a team-leading 22 points. Brown, in his fourth start of the season, tied his season highs with 16 points and 12 rebounds. "I think we were aggressive in the post, we were very decisive with our moves and we actually got a chance to get the ball inside," Haywood said. "Good things worked out when we got it."
Haywood (four blocks) came up huge on the Wizards' last defensive stand. After Bobcats point guard Jason Hart scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, Hughes switched with Arenas to guard him. Hughes forced Hart into passing the ball to Jason Kapono (19 points), who missed a 20-foot jumper with 28 seconds left. Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace rebounded the ball, but had his layup attempt swatted by Haywood, leading to a shot clock violation.
"As a team, sometimes you go through different stretches and right now, we're going through a stretch where we're faced with some adversity," Profit said. "Guys are not healthy. Last night, we lost to a [Golden State] team that isn't going to playoffs. We really needed to establish something. We had to gut this one out."
-Michael Lee
Antawn's knee could be the key to his inconsistent performances lately. I think Gilbert looks exhausted. This team is wearing down.
Wizards 86, Bobcats 84
By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 6, 2005; Page E01
CHARLOTTE, March 5 -- As the ball left Washington Wizards guard Juan Dixon's hand, reserve forward Laron Profit hesitated near the foul line for half a second and thought, "Should I stay or should I go?" Profit heard screams from the Wizards' bench to get back on defense but he noticed that no one on the Charlotte Bobcats was boxing him out, so he followed his instincts.
"Go get it!" Profit said he told himself. Profit soared high above the rim to tip in Dixon's miss with 3.1 seconds left and give the Wizards an 86-84 victory at Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday night. "I felt like [football star] Randy Moss on the deep route," Profit said with a laugh. "I just jumped as high as I can."
Charlotte Bobcats guard Jason Hart, left, battles Washington Wizards guard Larry Hughes for a loose ball. The two teams fought until the end when Laron Profit's tip-in gave the Wizards the win.
Forward Antawn Jamison had made just 18 of 60 field goal attempts in the four games prior to Saturday night, and had attempted just 11 free throws combined in those games. "It's not about play calling. It's not about putting him in position to do that. He runs the floor, he has post-ups. He has opportunities to drive. He's got to create the situation where he is forced to go on the line," Coach Eddie Jordan said. "Gilbert's a perimeter player that gets to the line, how come Antawn, at 6-9, can't get to the line?" . . .
Point guard Steve Blake was dumbfounded about his first career ejection Friday night. Blake was tossed with 2 minutes 18 seconds left against Golden State when he was called for an offensive foul and threw the ball at an official. Official Joey Crawford gave Blake a technical and threw him out of the game. "I just grabbed the ball," Blake said. The official "was running, so I tossed it toward the ref, to give him the ball. What else can I do?"
Profit, a seldom-used forward who hadn't played in three of the previous five games, wasn't exactly the player Coach Eddie Jordan anticipated he would have on the floor for the final possession. But with all-star forward Antawn Jamison going down with a sore right knee in the third quarter -- further depleting an already banged-up roster -- Jordan had no choice but to put Profit in the game and leave him on the floor.
"I'm glad we have Laron. He was big tonight," Jordan said about Profit, who provided all six of the Wizards' points off the bench. "That last play was certainly huge."
When Bobcats guard Keith Bogans's half-court heave hit the backboard as the buzzer sounded, the Wizards (33-25) stormed the court and celebrated with Profit, hugging and slapping five with their unlikely hero.
"Coach on the opposite team said, 'Act like you won before.' He doesn't realize we lost six in a row" on the road, point guard Gilbert Arenas said after the Wizards won away from MCI Center for the first time since their Jan. 24 game in Cleveland. "We had to find a way to get this win and we did. It was a big win for us."
Especially considering the circumstances. The Wizards overcame a poor shooting performance (37.3 percent), a 14-point first-half deficit, and the loss of Jamison, a Charlotte native, who left the game with 9 minutes 50 seconds left in the third quarter after scoring just two points -- his lowest point total since scoring two points on March 17, 2004 as a reserve with Dallas. It was unknown if Jamison, who has the longest active streak of consecutive games played (385), would be available Tuesday in New York. "His knee was sore," Jordan said. "Too sore to continue. That's all we know right now."
With Jamison out, the Wizards' roster was reduced to just nine available players, with reserve center Etan Thomas unable to travel with the team because of the flu and forward Jared Jeffries missing his fourth consecutive game with a bruised right knee. The remaining players were also nursing injuries; Arenas woke up Saturday morning with a throbbing pain in his left knee. He wore a patch on his leg to combat the soreness but he had no lift on his shot as he front-rimmed several jumpers, finishing 5 of 18 from the floor. Hughes, playing his third game since returning from a broken right thumb, managed to score 19 points despite 3-of-15 shooting. Dixon played just 10 minutes after missing the previous five games with a sprained right ankle.
If not for the post presence of 7-footers Brendan Haywood and Kwame Brown -- who combined to score 38 points on 16-of-28 shooting -- the Wizards might have been blown out of the building. Haywood tied his season high with a team-leading 22 points. Brown, in his fourth start of the season, tied his season highs with 16 points and 12 rebounds. "I think we were aggressive in the post, we were very decisive with our moves and we actually got a chance to get the ball inside," Haywood said. "Good things worked out when we got it."
Haywood (four blocks) came up huge on the Wizards' last defensive stand. After Bobcats point guard Jason Hart scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, Hughes switched with Arenas to guard him. Hughes forced Hart into passing the ball to Jason Kapono (19 points), who missed a 20-foot jumper with 28 seconds left. Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace rebounded the ball, but had his layup attempt swatted by Haywood, leading to a shot clock violation.
"As a team, sometimes you go through different stretches and right now, we're going through a stretch where we're faced with some adversity," Profit said. "Guys are not healthy. Last night, we lost to a [Golden State] team that isn't going to playoffs. We really needed to establish something. We had to gut this one out."
-Michael Lee
Antawn's knee could be the key to his inconsistent performances lately. I think Gilbert looks exhausted. This team is wearing down.