The 22-point deficit long had been erased. The 10-point deficit with 42.9 seconds remaining also–somehow–was gone.
So many improbable moments have defined this Bulls season that it seemed perfectly natural when Jannero Pargo drained an off-balance, game-tying 3-pointer off a loose-ball scrum with 5.2 seconds to play.
It’s what followed Wednesday night at the United Center that broke the script and the Bulls’ hearts.
Gilbert Arenas’ 16-foot jumper over Kirk Hinrich and Tyson Chandler beat the buzzer for a 112-110 Washington victory over the Bulls and sent the Wizards home with a chance to close out this first-round best-of-seven series Friday night at the MCI Center, where the Bulls have lost 10 straight.
“For him to hit a shot like that rips your heart out,” Chandler said.
In the history of the NBA playoffs, 120 best-of-seven series have been tied after four games. The winner of Game 5 has won 100 of those series.
“Hopefully, this ticks us off,” a disgusted Hinrich said.
After a timeout, Arenas dribbled the clock down to 2 seconds and then drove to his left. “If I had to do it over again, I would have tried to not let him go left,” Hinrich said. “That’s the way he wants to go.”
Still, both Hinrich and Chandler almost got a piece of it.
“Our backs are against the wall,” Chandler said. “We have to feel the same way they felt when we were up 2-0 and they were going back to Washington. … We have to come out playing that way.”
Friday night in Washington, the Bulls will look deep inside themselves and try to muster their best qualities in an elimination game on the road.
Their season depends on it.
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Schedule
Game 1: BULLS 103, Washington 94
Game 2: BULLS 113, Washington 103
Game 3: Washington 117, BULLS 99
Game 4: Washington 106, BULLS 99
Game 5: Washington 112, BULLS 110
Game 6: 7 p.m. Friday, BULLS at Washington, ESPN, Comcast
Game 7: TBA Sunday, Washington at BULLS, (if necessary)
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Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com) and Martin Gee (mtgee@tribune.com)
