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2014 NBA playoffs: Wizards lose 19-point lead, fall to Paul George and Pacers 2014 NBA playoffs: Wizards lose 19-point lead, fall to Paul George and Pacers
(about 1 hour later)
When the Indiana Pacers’ Roy Hibbert made a jump hook over Nene, ran down the floor and held his arms out wide to give his team a three-point lead with roughly one minute left, fans at Verizon Center didn’t know if they should weep or boo. Instead, they just sat silently after watching the Washington Wizards blow a 19-point, second-half lead in a muddy puddle of terrible shots, nervous passes and shoddy defense. John Wall was wide open at the three-point line, the Verizon Center crowd screaming for him to shoot, his teammates joining the chorus on the bench. Wall hesitated, pulled back and passed. With another chance to tie, Trevor Ariza tossed a wild inbounds pass out of the reach of Bradley Beal, putting the second-year shooting guard on a foot race for the ball that he eventually lost to Indiana Pacers forward Paul George.
In what might be their final home game of the season, the Wizards lost, 95-92, after Paul George and the former Georgetown star Hibbert teamed up to crush the spirits of 15 players and more than 20,000 red, white and blue towel-waving fans. George scored a game-high 39 points — 28 coming in the second half — to help the Pacers take a 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven series. The Washington Wizards had been a steady, confident bunch for most of this postseason, but in losing a 19-point lead Sunday night in a muddy puddle of terrible shots, nervous passes and shoddy defense, they went from feeling shocked to unsure to ultimately dejected. Unraveling in front of a stunned sellout audience, the Wizards were finally left with a devastating 95-92 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series. Washington’s biggest meltdown of the season left it trailing three games to one in the best-of-seven series, one loss from having its season end.
The Wizards had a chance to tie in the closing seconds but Trevor Ariza threw a pass well out of the reach of Bradley Beal that George picked off in front of his bench. Ariza put his hands on his head and stared at the ground, struggling to grapple with the devastating defeat. Only eight of the 194 teams that have fallen behind 3-1 have come back to advance to the next round. “It’s tough. We really did put ourselves in position to win,” veteran forward Al Harrington said after the game. “We felt we were in position where we could control this series. We’ve given that up that this point. We’re in a tough spot.”
Washington has rallied from a deficit only once in franchise history, when the Bullets came back to defeat the San Antonio Spurs in the Eastern Conference finals in 1978, when the team captured its only championship. In what might be their last home game of the season, the upstart Wizards crumbled as George and former Georgetown star Roy Hibbert teamed up to crush the spirits of 15 players and 20,356 fans. George led all players with 39 points, 28 in the second half, and 12 rebounds.
Mostly untested in their first-round series against Chicago, the Wizards are now one game from elimination against a Pacers team that has won five of its past six playoff games after starting out 2-3. Hibbert finished with 17 points and nine rebounds and made Wizards center Marcin Gortat so ineffective that Coach Randy Wittman didn’t use him in the fourth quarter. Only eight of the 194 teams that have fallen behind 3-1 have come back to advance to the next round. Washington rallied from such a deficit in 1978, when the Bullets came back to defeat the San Antonio Spurs in the Eastern Conference finals on the way to the franchise’s only championship.
Beal scored a team-high 20 points but only had three in the fourth quarter, as George was stellar on both ends of the floor and resembled the player who was in the conversation for league’s most valuable player in the early part of the season. The Wizards had 18 fast-break points in the first half but had none in the second, when Indiana outscored them, 57-37. “Already in this playoffs, we’ve proven we can win three games in a row,” Coach Randy Wittman said. “We did it against Chicago, winning three games in a row. We’ve got to take it one game at a time. We’ve got to go back to Indy, we’ve got to worry about one game and then we’ll worry about Game 6 after Game 5. Three of the four games have been a dogfight. We’re in the fight, now we just got to win that fight.”
John Wall had been waiting for a breakout game in this series, but he continued to be stifled by Pacers point guard George Hill, who limited his drives to the basket and sneakily reached in for steals or knocked the ball away from behind. The offense was more fluid with backup Andre Miller at the helm, as Wall mostly looked to drive and kick while the Pacers waited to disrupt or intercept his passes. Wall finished with just 12 points and seven assists and again was unable to find the answer to a season-long problem. Mostly untested in their first-round series against Chicago, the Wizards are now one game from elimination against a Pacers team that has won five of its past six playoff games after starting out 2-3. The Wizards had 18 fast-break points in the first half but had none in the second half, when Indiana outscored them, 57-37.
With the Wizards in their most desperate state — needing a victory that not only guarantee at least one more home game at Verizon Center but also give them a chance to beat the Pacers in the series — Wittman called on a trio of aging veterans. Al Harrington, Drew Gooden and Miller combined to score 32 of the Wizards’ points. Hibbert finished with 17 points and nine rebounds and made Wizards center Marcin Gortat so ineffective that Wittman didn’t use him in the fourth quarter.
Harrington spent much of the season dealing with a right knee injury that could eventually force him to retire after this season. Gooden was unemployed until late February, when the Wizards added him to the lineup as Nene insurance. And Miller was sent home by the Denver Nuggets, away from the game for nearly seven weeks, when the Wizards finally rescued the veteran at the trade deadline. Beal scored a team-high 20 points but only had three in the fourth quarter, as George was stellar on both ends of the floor and resembled the player who was in the conversation for league MVP in the early part of the season.
Miller (seven points and four assists) made two free throws to give the Wizards an 85-76 lead in the fourth quarter and fans chanted, “An-dre Mil-ler! An-dre Mil-ller!” Wall had been waiting for a breakout game in this series, but he continued to be stifled by Pacers point guard George Hill, who limited his drives to the basket and sneakily reached in for steals or knocked the ball away from behind. Washington’s offense was more fluid with backup Andre Miller at the helm, as Wall mostly looked to drive and kick while the Pacers waited to disrupt or intercept his passes. Wall finished with just 12 points and seven assists.
George silenced the crowd by hitting three-pointers on consecutive possessions and he put the Pacers ahead for good, 92-91, with two free throws. Hibbert followed with his jump hook and the Wizards had nothing left. His only highlight came at the end of the first half, when Nene blocked a George layup attempt. Wall grabbed the ball and took off for the races, whirling the ball around his waist to shake off Hill, switching the ball from right to left to juke Lance Stephenson, and then dropping in a layup as time expired. After putting his team ahead 55-38, giddy Wall rank down the court shouting, “Wooo!” Most in the arena did the same. The celebration was premature.
The Wizards’ bench had just eight points in the Game 3 loss, putting too much pressure on the overworked starters. But it didn’t take long for the reserves to come in make an immediate impact. Harrington, who played sparingly in the first eight games of the postseason, energized the crowd by going on a personal 6-0 run. Harrington (11 points) got his first basket on a drive to the hoop, then he started making plays defensively. He stole the ball from Pacers backup C.J. Watson and made a finger roll and then he deflected a poor pass by Luis Scola, setting up a two-hand dunk. Afterward, Harrington waved his hands to the crowd, motioning for more noise and the crowd obliged. “I’ve been as aggressive as I can be,” Wall said. “It’s definitely tough and frustrating.”
With the energy in the building rising, the Wizards would keep it going. Miller made a driving layup and Gooden (10 points) hit a jumper. Then, after Harrington again batted the ball away from Scola, Miller recovered the loose ball and spotted Martell Webster running up the floor. Miller tossed up the lob and Webster threw down a two-hand dunk that completed a 12-0 run to give the Wizards a 38-27 lead. With the Wizards entering Sunday’s game needing a victory not only to guarantee at least one more home game but also to keep a realistic hope of winning the series, Wittman called on a trio of aging veterans. Harrington, Miller and Drew Gooden combined to score 28 points and nearly rescued a team that had saved all three at some point.
Near the end of the first half, George tried to quickly score but Nene met him at the rim and slapped away his shot. Wall grabbed the ball and took off for the races, whirling the ball around his waist to shake off Hill, switching the ball from right to left to juke Lance Stephenson, and then dropping a layup as time expired. After putting his team ahead 55-38, giddy Wall rank down the court shouting, “Wooo!” Most in attendance did the same. When Miller (seven points, four assists) made two free throws to give the Wizards an 85-76 lead in the fourth quarter, fans chanted his name.
The celebration was premature. George silenced the crowd by hitting three-pointers on consecutive possessions and he put the Pacers ahead for good, 91-90, with two free throws. Hibbert followed with a jump hook over Nene to put his team ahead by three, and ran down the floor and held out his arms wide. Fans didn’t have the energy to boo, too stunned by what unfolded on the court.
Nene made a driving layup to put the Wizards ahead 70-56, but the offense hit the skids from there, with the Pacers forcing Washington into terrible passes and even more questionable shots. Indiana closed out the third period on a 15-2 run, getting all of its production from its all-star tandem of Hibbert and George. Hibbert had been relatively quiet in the first half, scoring just two points with three of his shot attempts rejected. But the Pacers repeatedly fed him and let him go to work on the struggling Gortat. Hibbert scored seven straight points, then George hit a three-pointer. Hibbert made another layup and Paul answered a Gooden jumper with a three-pointer that sent his team into the fourth quarter trailing by just one point. Chances remained for the Wizards, but Beal missed a three-pointer after Wall passed up his open look, then Ariza and Beal failed to connect. The Wizards blew a double-digit lead for the 12th time this season.
“I wouldn’t say we were shaky. We just wanted to make the right play,” Beal said. “Could John have shot the shot? Yeah. The pass that me and Trev had, it happens. If I touched the ball, I should’ve caught it. At the end of the day . . . those plays didn’t really cost us the game. We were up 19, 20 at one point. We can’t give up a large deficit like that and end up letting them beat us.”
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