Wizards Win at Buzzer

Arenas Hits Three-Pointer to Deliver Third Division Win : Wizards 83, Sixers 80

PHILADELPHIA, April 9 -- It's been a rare occasion in this disappointing season, but the Washington Wizards actually made a clutch play Friday night. And what a play it was.

After squandering a series of opportunities to put away the Philadelphia 76ers in a sloppy but hotly contested game, Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas banked in a 27-foot three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to give Washington an 83-80 victory that all but eliminated the 76ers from playoff contention at Wachovia Center.

Any combination of another Philadelphia loss or Boston Celtics win would halt Philadelphia's consecutive run of playoff appearances at five.

"You got to have fun," said Arenas, who had a team-high 22 points and nine assists. "Instead of getting mad at everything, you might as well have fun and enjoy basketball."

When asked if he called "glass" as he released the shot over Eric Snow that bounced perfectly off the outlined square on the backboard, Arenas said, "I called foul."

Arenas scored Washington's final 12 points, nine on three-pointers that allowed the Wizards to counter unyielding Philadelphia's every bid to pull away. His big night gave Washington just its third victory over a team in its Atlantic Division and its first road win in the division.

The Wizards (25-54) have victimized fellow Atlantic Division foe Philadelphia twice, with Boston being the only other division team to fall to Washington.

"The game plan was to lull them to sleep and let Gilbert hit a three at the end," Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan quipped. "It wasn't pretty, but they gutted it out. It was a lot of just, hard effort. It wasn't a lot of skill out there to be shown, but it was a lot of effort, which is what you want out of an NBA game, and we came up with the last shot, and it goes in. I can't explain it other than that."

The 76ers played their ninth straight game without all-star guard Allen Iverson (cartilage damage, right knee). The Wizards were minus power forward Kwame Brown, who aggravated his sprained left ankle in Wednesday's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

His status for Saturday's game against the New York Knicks remains in question.

Washington also played the final 19 minutes of the second half without small forward Jerry Stackhouse (eight points, three rebounds), who injured his right ankle in the first half. He also is questionable for Saturday's game for New York.

Jared Jeffries moved from small forward to power forward and, in Brown's place, grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds. Jeffries only had four points, but the Wizards out-rebounded the 76ers, 45-38. Starting center Brendan Haywood had seven points, seven rebounds and four of Washington's six blocked shots.

Washington guard Larry Hughes backed Arenas up with 19 points, 11 coming in a third quarter that started out abysmally but ended with Washington taking an 65-59 lead into the fourth.

Center Etan Thomas was the only other player besides Arenas to score for Washington in the final period, as he contributed six of his 11 points in the crucial quarter. His spinning dunk countered a layin by 76ers guard Willie Green and tied the score at 71.

"I was chipping in a little bit here and there, but it's a credit to the guards to stay poised like they did at the end with the way [Philadelphia] plays," Thomas said.

Forward Kenny Thomas led Philadelphia with 24 points. Green, playing off the bench, added 15 -- 10 in the fourth quarter. Green had a chance to put Philadelphia ahead in the waning seconds after he stepped in front of Arenas on a jump ball between Thomas and Snow.

However, Green forced a 15-foot runner with eight seconds remaining that missed badly. Arenas grabbed the rebound and Washington called a timeout, allowing it to set the game-winning play from the sideline at halfcourt.

"With four seconds, he's the man," Jordan said of Arenas. "Good players make good coaches, and he made me a good coach tonight."