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Gilbert Arenas scored 40 points with 10 assists and Antawn Jamison added 31 and 14 rebounds for the Washington Wizards, who completed a season series sweep of the Warriors with a 116-98 victory.
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Arenas, who played with the Warriors from 2001-2003, bounced back after scoring just 17 points on 5-of-16 shooting in Saturday's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. "I had a bad one the night before and usually (in) my back-to-back games, I come out strong and I did tonight," Arenas said.
"The first half was unbelievable," Jamison said. "He knew in order for us to win, he had to initiate the offense, look to get guys involved and then in the second half, he took over. Those are things you see him evolve, day-in and day-out and it was good to see him do the things he did tonight. But I think everyone understands the type of player that he is. The scary thing is he's barely scratching the surface."
After Jason Richardson scored eight straight points for the Warriors - including a pair of 3-pointers - to cut the deficit to 38-34 in the second quarter, Washington went on a 15-0 run. Jamison scored eight points, including a 3-pointer and a three-point play, and Arenas added a basket from the arc to help widen the Wizards' advantage to 53-34 with 3:02 left in the first half.
"We knew we couldn't get into a shootout with this team," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. "We knew they were a lethal ballclub and playing loose and playing with a lot of confidence. We knew we had to lock down first and foremost and that's what we did and that's how we got the lead."
"We all know this team likes to get on the break and play freely," Jamison said. "And we wanted to defensively make it tough for those guys and make them run a set offense and move the ball a little bit. We did a great job as far as staying poised and continuing to play ball."
Rookie Monta Ellis scored eight points in the fourth quarter, highlighted by a reverse layup with 5:02 to play, bringing Golden State within 96-92. The Wizards responded with a 3-pointer by Arenas and a dunk by Jared Jeffries for a 101-92 edge with 3:47 left.
"When you have a big lead like that and (you're trying) to catch up, it is kind of hard and they got right back in the game and the crowd got them back into it," Arenas said. "A lot of teams can't withstand that kind of pressure and we just hit big shots at the end."
Golden State's Mike Dunleavy Jr. made a pair of free throws with 3:29 to go before Washington followed with an 11-0 spurt. Antonio Daniels hit a running jumper, Arenas converted a three-point play and Jeffries dunked for a 112-94 lead with 73 seconds remaining.
Daniels scored 12 points and Jeffries and Caron Butler added 11 each for the Wizards, who hit 12-of-26 from the arc and forced 20 turnovers.
"We had a lot of turnovers and we made careless mistakes," Ellis said. "They converted on our mistakes and won the game." "We wanted to beat them at their own game, as far as in transition and getting easy buckets," Jamison said. "We were able to do that, especially in the second quarter, causing a lot of turnovers in the half-court set."
Richardson scored 18 points, Ellis and Derek Fisher had 16 apiece and Troy Murphy added 16 rebounds for the Warriors (30-39), who fell 4 1/2 games behind Sacramento for the final playoff spot in the West.
"We were fatigued from yesterday playing a back-to-back," Richardson said. "Little things like free throws and just playing hard, we can't have excuses because those are two things we're capable of doing. They were ready to play, we weren't."
"You want to win every game you play," Murphy said. "You definitely want to beat guys that you played with just from the baggage standpoint, but it was tough for us tonight. Both of those guys (Arenas and Jamison) played well."
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