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Butler carries Wizards to win over Pacers

Feb 9, 2009 - 3:06 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Caron Butler apparently is over his recent bout with the flu.

Butler scored the final 15 points of the game for the Washington Wizards, including a jumper as time expired to clip the Indiana Pacers, 119-117, on Sunday.

After feeling under the weather in missing the last two games, Butler made 12-of-24 from the field to a season-high with 35 points. He added 13 rebounds and sank his final six field-goal attempts to lift the Wizards to the dramatic win.

"It was just frustrating, being at home sick, seeing what the team went through the last two games," Butler said. "I was watching a lot of film, rewinding it, thinking, 'How could I be more effective?'

"I didn't have no energy. I had a couple of IVs yesterday. I had three bags of fluids. I'm feeling real drained right now, I might have to get another."

Antawn Jamison added a season-high 34 points and Nick Young scored 20 off the bench for Washington, which had lost eight of nine.

All-Star Danny Granger scored 29 points and T.J. Ford contributed 23 for Indiana, which lost its eighth straight road game and fell to 6-21 away from home.

In a high-scoring, back-and-forth contest that featured 18 ties and 12 lead changes, Washington entered the fourth quarter trailing, 94-92. A jumper by Granger with 5:07 left in the contest put Indiana ahead, 110-103, at which point Butler took control.

After Young sank a free throw, no other Wizards player scored again as Butler carried them down the stretch.

"He did an excellent job," Jamison said. "I don't know what he scored in the fourth quarter alone. He was confident and was able to convert on a lot of tough shots and a lot of easy baskets. We got the stops that we needed and Caron took care of the rest."

Butler and Granger traded jumpers in back-to-back possessions as the Pacers led 114-111 before the UConn product pulled the Wizards even with his first three of the game.

"Caron brings a different dynamic to their team," Granger said. "He's so good off the dribble, he can create his own shot pretty much anytime he wants, and when he gets it going from the 3-point line he's pretty much unguardable. He played a great game, especially in the fourth quarter."

The seven-year veteran put Washington ahead, 117-114, on a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left, but Granger responded with a trey of his own to knot the score at 117-117 with 15 ticks remaining, setting the stage for Butler.

"It was good defense. He made a better shot," said Granger, who defended Butler on the last play. "It was just one of those cases where he really got it going. He hit a bunch of tough shots that quarter with Jarrett Jack draped all over him. He hit a great shot, and hats off to him."

"In the last four minutes of the game, the key is who has the hot player," Washington interim coach Ed Tapscott said. "Tonight, we had the hot player."

It was a show of offensive efficiency and a lack of defense between a pair of last-place teams who both shot over 50 percent from the field.

Troy Murphy collected a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who were without Mike Dunleavy after he left early in the first quarter with a sore right knee.

"He never really recovered from our game against Orlando," Indiana coach Jim O'Brien said of Dunleavy, who missed the first 34 games of the season with the same injury. "It was sore yesterday, and he just couldn't go on."