The newspaper lied to me — Caron Butler did not start or play tonight. It was a problem. 
The Bullets led by modest margins most of the way, even pulling ahead by 9 points early in the 4th quarter. They collapsed in the last 3 minutes of regulation and then embarrassed themselves in overtime, being outscored 23-10 [yeah, you read that right] in the five minute extra session. The final score was 113-100.
Antonio Daniels was humiliated in the last 10 minutes of regulation and overtime, committing two awful turnovers and not playing any kind of defense. I suppose Eddie Jordan stuck with Daniels out of the sort of stubborn loyalty coaches normally show towards veteran point guards, but I was hoping AD would be lifted for Roger Mason, who, I noticed, did not embarrass himself tonight. Anyway, it didn’t happen.
Antawn Jamison led the Bullets with20 points and 13 boards. The Bullets fall to 25-28 and 2-8 without Caron Butler. They just can’t win without their two best players. They need at least one of them back. Soonest.
Post beat reporter Ivan Carter has more:
On the last play of regulation with the score tied at 90, Antonio Daniels ran the clock down to around the six-second mark, dribbled to his left and was confronted by Quentin Richardson, who jumped out on a pick set by Antawn Jamison. With Richardson coming at him, Daniels took a dribble backwards and then took a 17-footer that was contested but still had pretty good rotation. It missed and the game went to OT.
Jamison, who did not look happy after the play: “I saw what you saw.”
Me: “So, what were you guys running?”
Antawn (looking at me dead in the eye): “I saw what you saw.”
Sidenote: Antawn is one of those guys who usually answers any question you ask in depth. He only pulls punches when he senses that he’s about say something that will ruffle feathers.
Antonio Daniels: “We ran a pick-and-roll with six seconds left. I really didn’t want to throw it to ‘Twan with two seconds left on the clock. I tried to get a shot up at the end. It didn’t go in. Missed shots I can deal with, but the way we executed down the stretch, I can’t. A lot of that is my fault. We didn’t get some shots that we wanted. A lot of that comes down on me and I take the blame for that.”
It was just one of several bad plays for Antonio Daniels down the stretch. Coach Eddie Jordan was not pleased at all.
Jordan on the game: “Our performance was very disappointing. No enthusiams, no intensity. We gave ourselves a chance, but that’s just water under the bridge right now. It’s unacceptable how we approached the game and how we played the game for 48 minutes. We didn’t play with a sense of purpose. We thought they were going to give us the game and it was just the opposite.”
And more bad injury news. Etan Thomas’ sternum isn’t ready for contact, Deshawn Stevenson’s knee doesn’t feel right and Caron Butler’s hip flexor bothered him during shootaround yesterday, which is why he didn’t play.
It never rains, but it pours.
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