Jordan Crawford did hit a ridiculous buzzer beater to give the Wizards a 98-95 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night, but it also was a legitimately clean look, even if it was from far away. Wesley Matthews, Crawford's man, was not really contesting Crawford's shot when it went up, and we all know Steez can hit deep threes when he's open.
In his post-game interview, Crawford explained how he got open-ish.
"I wanted to get a clean look," Crawford said, via WashingtonWizards.com. "We [wanted] to run the play, draw [the defender] off a flair [cut], and just get the defense moving."
As noted last night, the Wizards got Crawford open by having him set a backpick on Trevor Ariza's man and then sneaking out of the pile of bodies to come to the ball. The Blazers were supposed to switch the play, but LaMarcus Aldridge tried to recover back to Ariza and got in Matthews' way. That gave Crawford enough room to catch the inbounds pass, shake Matthews and get open for his shot.
"I knew it had a chance," Crawford said. "Thank the lord I made it."
Afterwards, the Wizards mobbed Crawford, via this WashingtonWizards.com video. Martell Webster screamed at the top of the lungs on the ground, while Emeka Okafor went straight over to Crawford and shouted, "What'd I tell you? You know what you're doing. You're doing what you're doing." As the Wizards left the court, A.J. Price came over to two Blazers fans and taunted them, saying, "Thanks for coming." It was a fun night for the Wizards, that's for sure.