Ersan Ilyasova makes a last second tip to help Milwaukee Bucks down Washington Wizards: NBA Recap
After Tuesday night, Washington Wizards record in the condensed season just looks like that of Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder. The difference is only in the placement of numbers, 27-7 for Heat and Thunder and 7-27 for Wizards.
They have not only been horrendous so far but mighty unfortunate too.
Many times this season, they came close to winning and lost in the final few seconds and what happened on Tuesday night was nothing different.
After being down and out of the game against the Milwaukee Bucks by the end of the first half, behind by 53-67, the Wizards came back strongly in the third quarter and not only slashed the deficit but shut down the frame with a
3 point lead 92-89, courtesy of an outstanding offense.
After maintaining the lead for first four minutes of the last frame, they finally lost it, courtesy of a 9-0 spurt by the Bucks. With less than 4 minutes remaining, the Bucks were placed comfortably at 114-107, but the Wizards
were not ready to die wondering. They fuelled yet another 11-3 run to turn the game on its head, making it 118-117 in their favours with seconds left on the clock.
They just needed to hold the Bucks for another six seconds to seal an important win; however it was not to be. After Brandon Jennings missed a clutch jumper Ersan Ilyasova slipped in a game deciding tip shot in the last two seconds
to take his team to a thrilling win.
"I found myself open," Ilyasova said. "I tipped it in and we won the game. It was the right spot for me."
Mike Dunleavy marshalled the Bucks with a game high 28 points on 5 for 5 from the charity stripe while Drew Gooden pounded 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Brandon Jennings had 14 points and 10 assists while Ilyasova and
Luc Mbah a Moute both bundled 13 points each.
Jennings was pretty relieved at the end of the game.
"That gave me a lot of relief knowing that Ersan was there to clean up the mess," Jennings said, aptly describing his play in the final seconds.
Trevor Booker led the Wizards with 20 points on 9 for 16 from the floor and 11 boards whereas John Wall and the reserve Jordan Crawford netted 19 points apiece. Chris Singleton had 16 points and 9 boards and Maurice Evans added
15 points.
Tags: