SALT LAKE CITY - A six-game road trip doesn't look quite as imposing to the
Washington Wizards now. The Wizards opened their longest trip of the season by
setting a team record with 16 3-pointers in a 109-97 win over the Utah Jazz on
Thursday.
"It's a great feeling to start off a road trip like that," said Gilbert
Arenas, who led the Wizards with 31 points.
The Wizards won for just the 11th time in 30 tries on the road this season,
thanks mostly to clutch 3-pointers and some very shaky free throw shooting by
the Jazz.
Washington was 4-for-5 on 3-pointers in the third quarter and went 5-for-9
from beyond the arc in the final 12 minutes to hold off the Jazz.
Antawn Jamison scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half and Caron Butler
also scored 27, getting 15 points in the third quarter. Arenas added 12 points
in the fourth.
"I did it in the first half. Caron did it in the third quarter and Gilbert
picked it up in the fourth. That's how we roll," Jamison said.
The Jazz, who retired Karl Malone's No. 32 during a halftime ceremony and
unveiled a bronze statue of the "Mailman" before the game, never recovered after
falling behind by 16 in the fourth quarter.
Carlos Boozer scored 30 points and Matt Harpring had 12 points and 11
rebounds for the Jazz.
Utah hasn't made the playoffs since Malone left in 2003 and is running out of
time to move up in the standings. After rallying to beat Phoenix on Tuesday, the
Jazz couldn't overcome the Wizards' outside shooting two nights later.
"I'm not asking them to be Karl Malone, but I think I have a right to hold
players accountable," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "If I do that, then I'm being
a little bit too harsh on them at times. But we have a tendency to think that no
work is the best policy and that will cause you a great deal of trouble."
Falling behind by 16 was too much for Utah to overcome. Every time the Jazz
got close, Washington would answer with another 3. And the Jazz blew several
opportunities from the line, where they were 7-for-13 in the fourth quarter.