Toronto Raptors swingman Vince Carter started today's game against the Washington Wizards on a tear, showing up Michael Jordan by draining three-pointers at will and scoring 23 first-half points.
But the Wizards, down by 19 points in the second quarter, didn't flinch before a sellout crowd of 20,048 at Air Canada Centre. They ratcheted up their defense on Carter, holding him scoreless in the second half, and beat the Raptors, 93-88, for their sixth consecutive victory.
Washington's winning streak is its longest since December 1997. The Wizards are off to their best start since the 1996-97 season, which happens to be the last time they went to the playoffs.
"Our guys are confident," Wizards Coach Doug Collins said. "What was nice was that we won with our defense in that third quarter. It wasn't like we set the world on fire offensively, but we gave ourselves a chance defensively. We're growing up. Now we've got a chance, if we get Atlanta on Wednesday, we're a .500 team [even] with an eight-game losing streak [earlier this season]. That would be pretty phenomenal."
Much of the intrigue centered around the first regular season meeting between Jordan and Carter, University of North Carolina products who established themselves as two of the most electrifying players in the NBA, albeit in different eras.
However, after Carter's initial jolt of four three-pointers in the first quarter, the game evened out with Jordan and Carter being little more than complementary components.
The Wizards allowed Carter, who played 44 minutes despite being in foul trouble, only four second-half shots. Backup forward Tyrone Nesby, who spelled Jordan, got Carter out of his rhythm in the second quarter, when the Wizards' backups led the comeback.
"I just went out there and tried to stay close on him when he did and didn't have the ball," Nesby said. "I was trying to stay on him and frustrate him. Guys kind of fed off it. Then we cut the lead and ended up winning the game."
Jordan, who had given Carter a big cushion early so Carter couldn't drive to the basket, stifled Toronto's leading scorer in the second half with a little help from occasionally trapping teammates.
"He's a tough cover," Jordan said. "It took me a whole quarter to learn his tendencies and take his rhythm away. Team-wise, we did a good job on him."
Jordan played second fiddle again to guard Richard Hamilton, who led the Wizards with 27 points. Jordan added 21, with 13 in the second half. It was the Wizards' reserves, however, who were the key reasons the Raptors lost their fourth consecutive game and sixth game in seven.
Rookie big men Kwame Brown and Brendan Haywood (11 rebounds, 9 points, 3 blocks) delivered the energetic spark late in the first quarter to stem Toronto's impressive start and trigger Washington's comeback.
Shortly after coming in, Brown scored on a dunk to bring the Wizards to 33-18. Haywood then stole the inbounds pass and threw down a dunk. Those momentum-swinging plays came in a 16-1 run in which Washington pulled from down 33-14 to down 34-30.
"I looked at Kwame when I was about to check in the game and said, 'We've got to pick it up, we're dead in the water,' " Haywood said. "Kwame came in and got a tip dunk, I got a steal for the jam. We just wanted to come out there and create some energy because we were playing kind of stiff."
Brown (10 rebounds, nine points) was scheduled to start in place of injured forward Christian Laettner (broken left fibula), but he came off the bench once the Raptors' all-star forward Antonio Davis returned to the starting lineup after missing the past five games with a sore left knee. Collins felt that Wizards veteran Popeye Jones (four points, seven rebounds) would be a better matchup against Davis, who scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
Backup point guard Tyronn Lue added nine points as Washington's reserves outscored the Raptors' backups 28-10. All of Toronto's bench points came from center Keon Clark.
After pulling to 52-46 at halftime, the Wizards took the lead for good in the third quarter when Jordan's jump shot made it 58-56. Washington built its lead to eight in the fourth quarter, but guard Alvin Williams's two free throws with 6 minutes 47 seconds left brought the Raptors to 78-77.
Jones countered, then guard Chris Whitney sandwiched two three-pointers around a Haywood free throw. The Wizards led 89-79 with 3:06 left, closing the door on the Raptors.
Wizards Note: Laettner, who will be out at least a month after breaking his left fibula in Friday's victory over the New York Knicks, said the timing of his injury couldn't have been worse. "You never want it to happen, but it hurts more now because we're playing so well now," said Laettner, who traveled with the team to Toronto. "You really want to be playing."
Laettner was hurt when he and New York forward Latrell Sprewell banged knees. Laettner said he knew he was seriously hurt almost immediately. "It was a freak thing," Laettner said. "You get kneed a lot and he kneed me hard and my leg was planted and he got me in a bad spot. I knew once I got up and started walking on it something was wrong."