Wizards wrap up tough season with slim win over Pacers

By John N. Mitchell, for NBA.com
Posted Thursday April 15, 2010 3:03AM

WASHINGTON (NBA.com exclusive) -- Andray Blatche, the brightest spot in a disastrous season for the Washington Wizards, scored 26 points to lead the Washington Wizards to a 98-97 victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers in the final game of the 2009-10 season for both teams.

JaVale McGee added 14 points and eight rebounds, James Singleton pulled down 17 rebounds and also scored six points, and Cedric Jackson, one of 25 different players on the roster this season, hit the game-winning 3-point shot with 1:31 left in the game. The Wizards finished the season 26-56.

Former Georgetown standout Roy Hibbert led the Pacers with 29 points and seven rebounds. Leading scorer Danny Granger closed another impressive campaign with 17 points and nine rebounds, Earl Watson added 14 points and Dahntay Jones added 11 as the Pacers, on a bit of a roll as of late, lost for just the fourth time in their last 14 outings. The Pacers concluded the season 32-50.

This season the Wizards garnered as much attention as any team in the league, not for their play -- which at one point was expected to be at a high level -- but for things that happened away from the court.

In November, longtime owner Abe Pollin passed away at the age of 85. Shortly thereafter, the attention changed to Gilbert Arenas, who brought four guns across state lines from Virginia into Verizon Center, and is currently serving a 30-day sentence in a halfway house in suburban Maryland.

The gun incident ultimately proved the undoing of the Wizards, who had struggled all season long, and eventually the team, which trotted out 25 different starting lineups, traded away core players Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson.

Head coach Flip Saunders, hired almost one year ago, said that despite the tumultuous nature of the season that he would be back for a second season.

"I told our guys in the locker room that that since we made the trade, all in all this team has been fun to coach. There were only two games I can remember where we didn't compete. But all in all they played hard every night," Saunders said after the Wizards notched their second consecutive season with at least 50 losses. "The young players are very receptive as far as trying to improve. So because of that the only anxious thing about the season ending is that every time something ends something begins. For us this is a beginning.

The Wizards are going to have a lottery pick in the draft, and they are going to have three picks in the top 35. And the trades they orchestrated -- as well as Arenas' return -- and Blatche's improvement are reasons for the Wizards to be excited.

"We are going to have salary cap flexibility," Saunders continued. "And we have young players who are going to get good. This may not be what I signed up for when I first came here but I'm optimistic about what we can do. "

Blatche made it a point to say that he's looking forward to coming back and playing alongside Arenas.

"I learned a lot, matured a lot this year," Blatche said. "When Gilbert comes back we're going to be able to work that two-man game. I'm looking forward to it."

Indiana coach Jim O'Brien wanted to go out on a winning note. He was, however, looking forward to next season already.

"Good game for them to win, last game at home. They pulled it out; they made some good shots down the stretch. We couldn't throw the ball in the ocean as many open threes as we had. When we shoot the ball like that from the three-point line we're not going to win many games," O'Brien said. "But this is it; the season is over and it's time to look forward. We've got some good pieces here to do that with."