Pacers Beat Wizards, 124-115

INDIANAPOLIS, March 29 -- The Indiana Pacers opened Sunday night's third quarter with back-to-back jumpers from Danny Granger and Brandon Rush and Washington Wizards interim coach Ed Tapscott quickly called timeout, hoping to keep the game from getting out of hand too soon. Gilbert Arenas, dressed in his Wizards warm-ups only for show, got up out of his seat and walked down to the end of the bench to talk to Brendan Haywood, who was wearing an NBA dress-code-approved black sport coat.

Arenas looked up at the scoreboard at Conseco Fieldhouse and asked, "That says we have three assists. Is that right?"

Haywood reached over, grabbed a first-half stat sheet and said, "Yep."

Arenas raised his eyebrows in amazement, considering he had four assists in the first four minutes of his long-awaited season debut the night before against Detroit. The Wizards finished with 10 assists -- matching Arenas's total against the Pistons. But that lack of ball movement, combined with an either apathetic or confused effort on defense, contributed to a 124-115 loss. Afterward, Tapscott complained of what he called, "my-turn basketball."

"You know what my-turn basketball is? My turn to shoot," Tapscott said. "That really disappointed me. Ten assists in a game where we scored 115 points? That's out of proportion. We had 27 assists [on Saturday], which was good. Tonight was a step back in that area."

The Wizards (17-58) also took a step backward defensively, after they'd given up an average of 97.3 over the past three games. The Pacers destroyed them with the dribble penetration of point guards Jarrett Jack and T.J. Ford and the perimeter shooting of Granger, an all-star, and Rush, who combined for 60 points and seven three-pointers.

The Pacers led 105-83 when Granger hit two free throws with 8 minutes 9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Caron Butler (31 points, 13 rebounds) and Antawn Jamison (29 points) led an inspired comeback to get the Wizards within nine points with 2:02 remaining, but with an opportunity to get closer, Butler threw a pass intended for Nick Young out of bounds, deflating the rally. "We tried to make a late push and a couple of momentum breakers cost us," said Butler, who scored 15 consecutive points, including the game-winner at the buzzer when the teams met at Verizon Center on Feb. 8.

Butler was playing his second game after missing the previous seven with a strained left hamstring. He missed 12 of his 20 shots, but shot 13 for 15 from the foul line, and said his leg felt fine. Butler had initially targeted the Indiana game but decided to play the previous night against Detroit with Arenas coming back. "It was special to be out there," Butler said of the Pistons game, in which Arenas had 15 points. "I was looking at it that I can play a back-to-back. I'll lay down, take a day off, rest up and watch a good movie."

The Wizards get today off and practice tomorrow in preparation for a game in Memphis on Wednesday. They arrived in Indianapolis early on Sunday knowing that they would be without Arenas, who isn't expected to play again until Thursday against Cleveland. But they were also without veteran Mike James, who will miss the rest of the season with a broken pinkie, and Juan Dixon, missing his third consecutive game with a sore Achilles' and right ankle tendinitis.

Javaris Crittenton was the only stable ballhandler remaining on the roster, and he scored a season-high 19 points with three assists in a career-high 43 minutes. Tapscott said having one point guard was no excuse for the low assist numbers. "He's not the only guy who is supposed to pass the ball," Tapscott said.

The disparity in point guard talent was glaring all night, but it was especially noticeable during a fast break in the third quarter when Ford fed Jack, who leapt in the air and split Crittenton and McGuire with a behind-the-back pass to Rush. Rush (29 points, 10 rebounds) caught the ball and dunked to give his team an 18-point lead. Jack had 19 points and seven assists, while Ford added 10 assists off the bench. "The combination of Ford and Jack, they were just unbelievable," Crittenton said.

When asked if he was surprised to see the Wizards score 115 points with just 10 assists, Jamison just chuckled. "I've seen just about everything this season," Jamison said. "Nothing surprises me. There's a reason why we are where we're at. To put those kind of points up tells you what kind of talent we have. But you can't win games on talent alone. You've got to trust your teammates and we didn't defend at all. So those two things coming hand-in-hand, it was a tough night and it showed on the scoreboard."