Wizards' Jordan Crawford hits walk-off three-pointer to beat Blazers
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By Ben Golliver
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Wizards guard Jordan Crawford launched a deep step-back three-pointer to beat the buzzer and deliver a 98-95 victory over the Blazers at the Rose Garden on Monday night.
With the score tied at 95 and 3.6 seconds remaining, Crawford worked himself free on a sideline inbounds play following a series of screens. He took one dribble while angling to his left, pulling up from nearly 30-feet to bury the three over Blazers guard Wesley Matthews. The buzzer sounded just as the ball went cleanly through the net, and the Wizards piled on top of Crawford in front of their bench to celebrate their ninth win of the season.
"I knew it had a chance," Crawford said, according to the Washington Post. "Thank the Lord I made it."
The stunning three silenced the Rose Garden crowd and left Blazers forward Nicolas Batum speechless.
"Big shot," he said. "Step back three, what can I say? Big shot."
Blazers coach Terry Stotts gave Crawford full credit for his high degree-of-difficulty winner.
"Crawford catches it 28 feet from the basket, takes a dribble and shoots a contested jump shot," he said. "He made a shot. I don't think there was much we could have done to disrupt that."
After being held scoreless through the first three periods, Crawford finished with 13 points on five-for-eight shooting in 22 minutes off of coach Randy Wittman's bench.
"That's what we like from Jordan, his ability to come off the bench and heat up," Wittman said. "Bradley [Beal] struggled a little bit tonight and to have a guy like that who can come in is huge for us."
Martell Webster and Nene Hilario each had 24 points for the Wizards. Batum finised with 12 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, the first triple-double of his career.
"That doesn't count, we got swept by the Wizards," Batum said, referencing Portland's 84-82 loss to Washington on Nov. 28.
