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Latest victim Jordan's last-second shot sends Wizards past SunsPosted: Friday February 15, 2002 11:49 PMUpdated: Saturday February 16, 2002 1:04 AM
PHOENIX (AP) -- Michael Jordan was his old self against Phoenix -- unflappable and deadly with the game on the line. Jordan, who turns 39 on Sunday, scored with two-tenths of a second left to give the Washington Wizards a 97-96 win over the Suns on Friday night. After completing a 22-point performance with the winning 16-footer, Jordan pumped his fist, turned to a personal cheering section behind the Suns' bench and said, "That's what they pay me for." He said the thrill of making a clutch shot was even greater at his age. "It's more so, because everybody knows who's going to take the shot, and to come through when everybody needs you to come through, I think that's a great lesson for our young kids that you should always be positive," Jordan said. After Stephon Marbury made one of two free throws with 5.6 seconds to go, the Wizards called a timeout. Jordan took the ball and worked his way from midcourt almost lazily, as if oblivious to the clock, pumped once and went over Shawn Marion for the shot. "I was playing good defense on him the whole game," Marion said. "He hit more free throws than he hit field goals, so what can I do? He hit the tough shot." Wizards coach Doug Collins called a play that sent Jordan almost to midcourt for the in-bounds pass. "We tried to get the ball to Michael in a situation where he could see the floor and see what they were doing," Collins said. "I mean, he's the master at using the clock because, making it when he did, basically all they could do is get a lob, so it was pretty tough for them." Richard Hamilton had 29 points for Washington, which snapped a two-game losing streak, and Tyrone Nesby had a season-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Marbury had 30 points, Tony Delk scored 17 and Bo Outlaw 11 for the Suns, who dropped their second straight. Jordan had 41 points in Washington's 112-102 win over Phoenix on Jan. 26. This time, he was scoreless after a 13-point first quarter until 2:11 into the fourth, when he gave the Wizards a 75-74 lead with a free throw. Phoenix tied it at 72 and 74 early in the fourth, and took an 86-85 lead when Marion stole the ball from Hamilton and passed to Marbury for a layup with 4:58 to play. But Jordan negated a Phoenix possession when he drew a charging call on Marion, and Hamilton got the lead back with a layup. Then, Jordan hit a 17-foot turnaround for an 89-86 lead with 3:44 to play. The Suns caught up again at 91-91 on a three-point play by Marbury at the 2:18 mark, and went ahead 95-93 on a layup by Marbury with 22 seconds left. Nesby answered 6 seconds later when he followed a miss by Jordan with a dunk. "It could have gone either way tonight," Marbury said. "Nobody knows what would have happened if I'd made the [next-to-last] free throw. I guarantee that we would have won." The teams battled for the lead through most of the third, but the Wizards tried to pull away at the end. Hamilton made it 69-63 with a short jumper with 2:45 to go and 72-66 with a three-point play 1:40 later. The Wizards trailed until the final 2:26 of the first quarter, when Jordan scored his team's last nine points to send Washington to a 29-25 lead with 36 seconds to go.
Notes: Jordan and Delk butted heads late in the first, but neither
had to leave the game. Jordan rubbed the right side of his jaw
several times and then appeared unbothered. ... The Wizards hadn't
swept the Suns since 1987-88. ... Collins thinks Jordan could win
his sixth NBA MVP award. "I wasn't there last year, but they won
19 games, and we were 21-20 at the break this year," Collins said.
"You look at the team. The difference has been Michael Jordan."
... Jordan played his 11th regular-season game (6-5) in Phoenix and
22nd against the Suns (14-8). He was 4-2 against the Suns in the
1993 NBA Finals, when Chicago won all three games in Phoenix.
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