Jamison's Tap-In Sinks Clippers

Wizards 91, Clippers 89

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13 -- The NBA's all-star weekend will feature a slam-dunk contest, a skills competition and a three-point shootout, but if the league were to ever come up with an offensive rebounding contest, Wizards all-star forward Antawn Jamison would be a favorite.

Seldom has Jamison's uncanny knack for anticipating the trajectory of a basketball off of the rim been more crucial than in the finals seconds of Wednesday night's 91-89 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

After Clippers guard Corey Maggette answered a Jamison dunk with a pair of free throws, tying the game at 89 with 20.9 seconds left, the Wizards called a timeout and set up for a final shot.

Jamison inbounded to Antonio Daniels, who worked the clock down to less than 10 seconds remaining, drove left and put up a running jumper. The shot missed but Wizards forward Darius Songaila tapped it back up to the rim, where it bounced and dropped to Jamison, who tipped it in for the game-winning basket.

Jamison, who finished with 25 points and nine rebounds, is often unorthodox in the ways he gets the ball into the basket -- whether it's with a running jump shot he releases off the wrong foot, a jump hook he shoots before leaving the ground, or on put-backs like the one that snapped Washington's eight-game losing streak Wednesday night.

"That's my game," said a smiling Jamison, who flew directly to New Orleans after the game for the weekend's all-star activities. "It's different from all of the other guys in the league but as long as it's working, and it's successful, I'm going to continue to do it. Just from being quick off my feet, I was able to go out there, get a hand on the ball and tip it back in. If I would have come back down with it, I would have run out of time."

The score came at a perfect time for the Wizards (25-27) who capped a four-game road trip that included a blowout loss at Denver on Friday, a one-point loss at Phoenix on Sunday and a crushing loss at Golden State on Monday in which they blew a 23-point first half lead.

The Wizards shot only 43.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 16 times but had five players score in double figures and finished with a dominating 51-31 rebounding edge and a 28-14 edge in second-chance points.

The Clippers (17-33) showed plenty of resolve in coming back from a 14-point second quarter deficit by outscoring the Wizards 28-16 in the third quarter. The Wizards led 61-60 entering the fourth but the lead changed hands three times while players on both teams hit big shots.

The score was tied at 85 when Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson made an 18-foot jump shot from the wing with Maggette all over him. The Clippers answered with a Maggette 20-footer and on the next possesion, Jamison posted up, spun off of rookie Al Thornton and received a perfect pass from Brendan Haywood before throwing down a dunk, giving the Wizards an 89-87 lead with 38.6 seconds left.

Maggette then drew a foul on Songaila and made the free throws that preceeded Jamison's game-winning tip-in.

"The difference between tonight and some of these losses was that we kept running the offense and we made key plays down the stretch," said Daniels, who played the entire game after missing two games with an ankle injury and finished with nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists. "The way things have been going for us, those bounces haven't been going our way. Those shots haven't gone down for us. This was a big win for us."