Timeout Was Lost In Fans' Elation

Moments after LeBron James sent Quicken Loans Arena into delirium by making a go-ahead layup with 0.9 of a second remaining in Game 5 Wednesday night, Wizards forward Antawn Jamison grabbed the ball and quickly inbounded it to Gilbert Arenas, whose desperation heave from around 60 feet missed everything.

Things didn't have to come to that for the Wizards because they still had a full timeout. Had they used it, they could have advanced the ball to midcourt for a better look at a game-winning shot, like the one Derek Fisher made with 0.4 of a second remaining to give the Lakers a win over the Spurs in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals.

After James made his shot, Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan screamed for a timeout from in front of the Washington bench, but no one heard him because the crowd of 20,562 was going crazy.

"In that situation, it was just a shock to the system and we just didn't handle it as well as we should have," Jordan said.

Arenas took the blame, saying he was in a rush to get the ball and attempt a shot while the Cavaliers still were celebrating.

"I called for the ball and I tried to get a shot off," Arenas said. "I totally forgot about a timeout. I wish I would have run a little further because they were celebrating thinking we were going to call a timeout. I would've run out, Antawn could have thrown it and maybe something else would have happened."

Hecklers Abound

Fans watching Game 5 on television may have noticed that Wizards forward Caron Butler turned toward the stands and yelled something after he made a layup to tie the score at 107 with 7.8 seconds left in regulation. Butler was responding to a fan that had been heckling him all game long.

The fan, apparently growing braver with each beer, continued screaming at Butler after the game-tying basket and was eventually removed from the area by security before overtime. At halftime of Game 2, a fan was escorted away from the area near the Washington bench after screaming something at Jordan as Jordan walked off the court. Jordan and others in the area believed they heard that fan shout a racial slur.

Another Cleveland fan who was sitting behind the Washington bench during Game 5 followed the exchange involving Butler and expressed dismay. After making 2 of 9 shots and scoring five points through the first three quarters, Butler made 5 of 6 shots, grabbed four rebounds and scored 11 of his 20 points during the fourth.

"The more he yelled at him, the better Butler played," the fan said. "All he did was tick [Butler] off. That guy almost cost us the game."

History Repeating?

For those old enough to remember, this series probably is starting to resemble one played between the Bullets and Cavaliers during the 1976 playoffs, when the Cavaliers beat the Bullets in seven games to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Four of the games were decided by two points or less and Game 6, a 102-98 Washington victory, was decided in overtime.

The series was clinched when Cleveland's Dick Snyder banked in a shot with four seconds remaining in Game 7 for an 87-85 victory. The series is still known as the "Miracle of Richfield" in Cleveland. Before moving downtown in 1994, the Cavaliers played in suburban Richfield, Ohio.