The smallest man on the floor made the biggest play of the night.
Earl Boykins, standing at 5-foot-5, sank a midrange jumper with 0.4 seconds remaining in the game to lift the Washington Wizards to an 81-79 win over the New Jersey Nets.
After Brook Lopez's layup knotted the game, 79-79, with 16 seconds left in regulation, Flip Saunders drew up the play to get Boykins the shot. Although Randy Foye started the game at point guard, Boykins took over the helm and led the Wizards down the stretch.
Chris Douglas-Roberts said the Nets knew what was coming, they just couldn't stop it.
"We knew what was coming. We knew it was a pick-and-roll with Earl, but he hit a contested two," Douglas-Roberts said. "We probably could have switched, maybe an aggressive switch, but then that would have put a four on 5' 5 Earl. He hit a good shot."
The Wizards' Antawn Jamison said the play depended on the Nets' defensive plan.
"That's what we drew up. We wanted the last shot," Jamison said. " Coach wanted the floor spread. Either they [were] going to switch and Earl had them. If they didn't, he was going to show, I was going to pop out and would've been open. We executed it well."
Boykins scored a team-high 15 points coming off the bench. The 33-year old guard signed with Washington in November after spending last season playing in Italy.
Boykins' performance came as no surprise to Jamison, though.
"Earl's been huge all season," said Jamison, who scored nine points on 3-of-13 shooting. "We are accustomed to it; it doesn't surprise us at all. I'm just glad the fans get to see what kind of player he is, how big of a heart he has, and what he means to this team... He did a great job of strapping it up tonight and pulling out a victory for this team."
New Jersey's mistakes made the difference down the stretch. Douglas-Roberts had a floater in the paint disallowed due to a three-second violation.
The Nets then yielded a crucial offensive rebound with 2:45 left in the game. Caron Butler snared the loose ball and got fouled. His free-throws gave Washington a 79-77 lead. New Jersey allowed Washington to grab 15 offensive rebounds.
New Jersey then had a shot-clock violation with 1:17 left. Kris Humphries wound up with the ball at the top of the key as the 24-second shot clock expired.
The Nets managed just 13 points in the fourth quarter. After scoring 26 points in the first, New Jersey scored less in the three ensuing quarters.
"I'm not sure [what happened offensively]," Douglas-Roberts admitted. 'We just didn't execute on the offensive end. They did a good job of sniffing our plays out."
Washington won a game in which none of its starters scored in double figures, and the bench outscored the starting five, 43-38.
The Nets were able to stymie the Wizards' starters, jumping out to a 26-18 lead after the first quarter. New Jersey's lead grew to as many as 12 after Terrence Williams threw down an alley-oop pass from Chris Quinn with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Nets' 34-22 lead did not last long, however, as the Wizards promptly went on a 13-2 run.
The Nets led, 47-46, at the half after Chris Douglas-Roberts sank a baseline floater in the waning seconds.
Courtney Lee scored a game-high 19 points. After missing the last game following the removal of a wisdom tooth, Lee scored 14 points in the first quarter on 6-of-6 shooting. He finished the first half with 17 points.
Brook Lopez was the only other Net to score in double figures. New Jersey's center scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Douglas-Roberts led the Nets with nine rebounds.
Washington outrebounded New Jersey, 40-32, for the game.
For Washington, Andray Blatche and Nick Young scored 14 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench. Blatche had a season-high 30 points against the Nets in the two teams' first meeting, a 123-104 Washington win.
The Nets fell to 4-41. They return to action Sunday for a 6 p.m. tip against the Philadelphia 76ers at The Izod Center.
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