Barry turned to the crowd and mouthed "go home, go home" after sinking the shot.
http://www.basketballreference.com/t...0020307&tm=WAS
Barry: Go Home!
WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Jon Barry gave a taste of Michael Jordan
to the Washington Wizards.
Barry buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the surging
Detroit Pistons a 95-92 victory over the Wizards, who continue
to fall out of the playoff picture without their best player.
Playing their fifth game without Jordan, their injured
superstar, the Wizards hung tough and pulled into a 92-92 tie
on a driving layup by Courtney Alexander with 1:42 remaining.
Alexander, who has flourished in Jordan's absence, was fouled
on the play. But he missed the potential go-ahead free throw
and the Wizards did not score again, missing their last six
shots.
The Pistons called timeout with 8.9 seconds left and inbounded
to guard Damon Jones, who drove left before passing to a
wide-open Barry in the corner. The veteran sank his fourth
shot without a miss as the horn sounded.
"We run plays like that where I'm in the corner and I'm in the
corner for a reason -- because my man's not leaving me," said
Barry, who shoots 45 percent from the arc. "I'm over there just
standing and figuring whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen.
I figured Damon's going to get to the basket or kick it back to
Cliff (Robinson) for the `J.' But he came at me and I saw
Alexander go, so I slid up a little bit and Damon hit me right
on time. I knew I had time to get it off, and it went in."
"We had a foul to give, and I didn't take it," said Wizards
guard Chris Whitney, who was guarding Jones. "Damon came off
and I thought I played good defense on him. He didn't have a
chance to shoot the ball. He made a pass and Jon just made a
great shot."
Barry, who scored 13 points, fired a mock salute at the crowd,
shouting "Bye-bye!" and "Go home!" as he was congratulated by
teammates.
"I was just telling them to drive home safely," Barry joked.
"People are going to say stuff, I understand, but sometimes it
gets under your skin when they start saying stuff about people's
family and stuff. It gets bothersome. I'm sure my wife will be
mad at me for waving goodbye to them like that, being a (wise
guy), but you do things in the heat of battle that you feel dumb
about tomorrow. I'll feel dumb about it, but what the hell,
it's over with. I don't live in the past."
Corliss Williamson scored 23 points and Jerry Stackhouse added
19 for the Pistons, who bounced back nicely from Tuesday's loss
at the buzzer to Miami. Detroit has won 19 of its last 24 games
to take over the lead in the Central Division.
"It was great," Barry said. "We lost a tough one the other
night when Eddie Jones did it to us, so it was nice that I was
able to do it to them. This was a must-win for us."
"It seems like every game's been like that lately for us, so
we're getting used to playing nip-and-tuck games at the end,"
Stackhouse said.
The Pistons swept the four-game season series from the Wizards,
who normally turn to Jordan in close games like these.
"Detroit, for whatever reson, makes every shot against us when
it counts," Washington coach Doug Collins said.
Richard Hamilton scored 24 points and Alexander added 21 for the
Wizards, who are 2-3 since Jordan was sidelined by knee surgery.
They have been competitive without their leader but are now on
the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoff race.
"It's not so much going out there and trying to prove people
wrong," Whitney said. "Where we're trying to prove people wrong
is that we can make the playoffs to those people who, before the
season, were writing us off, that even with a younger Michael,
we couldn't get into the playoffs -- and here we are, in a
playoff race."
"It's all growth," Collins added. "These guys haven't played
many of these games."
Barry threw a beautiful bounce pass to Williamson for a reverse
layup, then threw in a lefthanded bank shot before a 3-pointer
by Jones gave Detroit an 88-82 lead with 7:28 remaining.
Jones threw a lob pass to former Wizard Ben Wallace for a layup
and a 92-85 advantage with 3:54 to go before Washington rallied.
Whitney made a 3-pointer and Christian Laettner sank two free
throws before Alexander drove for his layup.
"Whatever Michael's done, he's instilled a lot of confidence in
these guys and Doug Collins has done a great job with them,"
Barry said. "They run their stuff and they're very difficult to
guard."
Robinson scored 13 points and Wallace added 10 for the Pistons,
who shot 56 percent (34-of-81) from the field and made 19-of-21
free throws.
Whitney scored 15 points and Tyrone Nesby added 12 for the
Wizards, who shot 46 percent (37-of-80) and held a 37-24
rebounding edge.
Stackhouse scored 15 points in the first quarter, but the
Pistons trailed 33-25 after one period and 40-28 early in the
second quarter before getting Williamson involved in the
offense.
The burly forward scored 17 points in the period, including a
pair of layups that gave Detroit a 52-48 edge with 2:14 left.
Detroit took a 54-52 lead to halftime.
"We just try to go at him and go at him," Stackhouse said.
"They were switching around, trying to bounce guys around on
him, but we just tried to take advantage of matchup situations."
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Originally Posted by Mikey
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