Last night's Wizards game had all the season's usual ingredients: bad defense, careless turnovers, and the Wiz blowing a 20-plus-point lead.
But somehow, they eked out a 110-107 win against the Sacramento Kings, a team yet to chalk a win against an Eastern Conference foe.
Caron Butler, Dominic McGuire, and Andray Blatche all were key contributors, but it was the play of Antawn Jamison that willed the team to victory.
Behind a season high 33 points, one of the gutsiest drives to the hoop Wiz fans have ever seen with 24 seconds left, and a dunk -- A DUNK of all things! -- Jamison played with more moxie than he has all season.
For the record, do you have any idea of the rarity of an Antawn Jamison dunk? CBSSports.com reports that Jamison has five on the year. To put that in perspective, if you totaled the dunks for the 10 NBA players who average at least 15 points and nine rebounds per game (Jamison averages 20.9 and 9.0), he would barely account for 1.1 percent.
What made the jam even more impressive was that it came at a crucial point midway through the fourth quarter and it was not on a fast-break, rather in the grill of former Dukie, Shelden Williams.
But dunks do not win games. Veterans with class, leadership, and a warrior-like mentalities do.
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There has been talk of trading Jamison and rebuilding. But his loss would hurt the team and the District.
Yes, Jamison is aging, but he can transition gracefully to a supplemental role. The Wizards (sans injuries) are a couple solid role players away from being a competitor. But they won't get there without the team's backbone.
