Sabonis moves wow Wizards

Washington's defensive plan against the Blazers was simple: Try to 
front the big guys in white and keep them from dominating.

"We wanted to keep them from getting the comfortable shots they 
normally get," Wizards center Isaac Austin said.

And it worked. Except for the biggest guy, Arvydas Sabonis.

On a night in which the Rose Garden rims could have filed assault 
charges,

Sabonis shot 63.6 percent from the field. He was 7 of 11. Tack on 
a 3-for-5 night from the free-throw line and Sabonis had a 
game-high 17 points.

Take away Sabonis' production, and the Blazers were 23 of 70 from 
the field.

"That's key for us," Portland guard Greg Anthony said, "especially 
when you're not shooting the ball particularly well. It's nice to 
have a go-to guy in the blocks, where either he's going to get a 
good opportunity to score or he's going to go to the free-throw 
line."

Sabonis did a little of everything for the Blazers. Perhaps most 
impressive were two first-quarter trips down the floor in which 
the 36-year old, 7-foot-3,

292-pounder scored on dribble penetration. They weren't bruising, 
shove-the-defender-back kind of moves, either. Sabonis put the 
ball on the floor and went around Wizards defenders.

He also had his usual dunks, hooks and low-trajectory perimeter 
hop shots.

"He is a big guy," Austin said. "We tried to get him out of 
position in

the second half. He hit shots when he had to."

-- Ryan White