Wizards repeat history in home loss to Mavs

December 21, 9:00 PMWashington Wizards ExaminerGeorge Panagakos

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Jason Terry (left) contests the shot of Nick Young
(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez).

The Washington Wizards looked as if they ran out of gas tonight in the fourth quarter of play in an otherwise competitive 97-86 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.  Washington's Antawn Jamison banged out 22 points and 8 rebounds, just two shy of his 10th 20-and-10 of the season, while Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki combined for 48 points for Dallas.

The loss places the Wizards in a dead-tie with the 1966 Baltimore Bullets, who went 4-21 before obtaining their fifth win on the season.

In the last two games played, Washington has repeated fourth quarter fall-outs as well.  Against the Sixers last Friday, seven turnovers in the fourth prevented the Wizards from a solid run.  Tonight, turnovers once again cost the Wizards a victory, but even more so, Washington, as a team, looked like they were just playing things out.

Tied 62-62 with three minutes left in the third, the Wizards gave up a 17-8 run entering the fourth to make it 79-70, Mavericks. 

At that point, Caron Butler decided it was Caron time.  Antawn and Caron had a very slow start in the first quarter, starting 1-for-8 combined from the floor.  Caron heated up in the fourth, scoring 12 points, but the only problem was he was all alone on the court.

Nick Young had two free throws early in the quarter, and Mike James had a layup or two near the end, but with the Wizards down, there were no Jamison buckets from deep, no set plays for threes, no ambition to foul or play defense (no Juan Dixon--who said that?).  Jason Kidd had only a couple of assists in the first half, and finished the game with 11, most which came in the fourth quarter as the Wizards back-pedaled down the floor and gave up points in the paint after points in the paint.

The Wizards will have a day off to look for the energy they couldn't find tonight on their way to finding a break from their current skid, and will challenge the Charlotte Bobcats on the road Tuesday in hopes of quieting their historic brothers of 1966 by way of a W.