A career high. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rashard Lewis' career night turned into victory thanks to two anomalies -- a Michael Jordan-led comeback fell short, and Jerry Stackhouse missed two critical free throws. Lewis scored a career-high 37 points on 16-for-19 shooting and had seven rebounds as the Seattle SuperSonics held off the Washington Wizards 101-95 Tuesday night. "The basket was so wide open to me,'' Lewis said. "I was feeling my jump shot. I had a nice stroke going, so I was just letting it fly.'' Jordan had a season-high 27 points on 13-for-22 shooting in 31 minutes and scored 10 of the last 14 points for the Wizards, who cut an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to one before Lewis, Predag Drobnjak and Brent Barry made big shots to seal the victory. But most agonizing for Jordan were the two minutes he sat out in the fourth quarter as coach Doug Collins kept to a rotation that limits the 39-year-old guard's playing time. Jordan returned to start the rally with 7:37 to play and the score 85-75. "I didn't want to go out, obviously,'' Jordan said. "Doug used his judgment. That's just the nature of me. When it gets to the situation where I feel like I can make a difference, obviously I want to be in there. So when the time comes for me getting in, I certainly try to make things happen. "Things are starting to fall in place for me. I never like to put myself in a situation where the team needs me to save them or motivate them, but tonight was one of those situations where I had to step my game up a little bit. We got right at the brink of climbing over the hill and just fell short.'' The Wizards missed their best chance to the take the lead when Stackhouse -- 65-for-69 from the line up to that point -- missed a pair with Seattle holding a one-point lead with 2:26 left. Stackhouse had his worst game since coming to Washington: 6-for-19 from the field for 13 points. "I can't ask for a better situation than on the free-throw line with an opportunity to go up,'' Stackhouse said. "It just didn't happen tonight. I can't say anything other than that. I was a tough night at the office.'' Larry Hughes had 19 points, five assists and four steals, while rookie Jared Jeffries had career highs of 14 points and eight rebounds for the Wizards, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Lewis made two shots over Stackhouse -- a slicing move through the middle of the lane and a jumper -- that answered the Wizards both times they cut the lead to one late in the game. "I think he was looking for me to drive more than anything,'' Lewis said. "When I saw his hands down to his side, I just pulled up in his face.'' Gary Payton had 14 points and 16 assists for the Sonics, who shot 55 percent to finish 3-2 on their East Coast road trip. He became the 11th player in NBA history to reach 7,000 assists. Jordan's furious comeback hit stride when he disrupted Payton's shot -- Payton argued for a foul -- and converted it into a fast-break dunk in a 9-0 run that cut the lead to one. Jordan also made a baseline jump shot and a short fadeaway, but the Sonics started responding. Drobnjak's baseline jumper with 44 seconds left and Barry's 3-pointer with 8.2 seconds remaining kept the Wizards from having a chance to take the lead in the final minute. The Sonics were in command in the third quarter. They had an 11-2 run to close the first half and a 14-4 run to open the second. Lewis was an all-purpose threat in the 44 minutes he played, making 3-pointers, driving layups and solid defensive plays. His 3-pointer with 8:48 to go in the third quarter gave the Sonics their biggest lead, 72-54. "He looked like he was a little winded over there and gasping for air, but he kept delivering,'' Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. "He had probably everybody on their team guarding him at least one time during the night, and he was able to score.''
I couldn't believe it either. Who was guarding him? Rashard's a good player but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that he could score 37 points.
i watched the game. rashard had just about everyone on him, but it made no difference. put stack on him and he would just penetrate. put jordan on him and he'd shoot jumpers. put hughes on him and he'd put on a clinic. shard looked like the man he professed to be this past offseason. on a different note, rashard has made one MAJOR improvement this offseason - he worked on his ball handling. that alone makes him twice the player he was last year. he also has improved his defensive aggressiveness. he's no "defensive stopper", but he is active and going for rebounds now. shard is on his way...
Rashard is becoming a well-known beast this year. He is looking to prove that he is well worth all the money he recieved. I really thought the shoulder would keep him down but i guess not.
hold on T. the shoulder IS still a problem and more than likely will resurface at some point this year. dislocated shoulders are only healed by surgery - which rashard opted against. i GUARANTEE that his shoulder will pop out again and he'll be done for a while. that said, he has been outstanding this year - future allstar outstanding.
