Wizards top Pacers, move into seventh

Washington Wizards coach Eddie Jordan refers to the time before the All-Star break as the “dog days” of the season.

Fortunately for the Wizards, their opponents are doing better impersonations of dogs these days.

Gilbert Arenas scored a game-high 20 points, and Antawn Jamison had 19 points and 18 rebounds last night at MCI Center to lead the Wizards within a game of the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference standings with an 84-79 victory against the depleted Indiana Pacers.

Facing the Pacers (21-22) for the first time with newly acquired Peja Stojakovic, the Wizards (21-22) never trailed in pulling into a tie for seventh in the East.

They did, however, get sloppy in the fourth quarter, allowing a 14-point lead to be reduced to four with less than 10 seconds to play. It would not get any closer.

“We didn’t play smart down the stretch tonight,” Jordan said after the Wizards won for the eighth time in their last 11 games. “But we won. When you win, it builds and it builds and it helps you. Again, we didn’t play smart. We haven’t played smart in the last two games, but basically who cares. It’s a win.”

The loss dropped the Pacers below .500 for the first time since March 6 of last season. They have lost six in a row and eight of their last 10.

Indiana was led by Stojakovic — acquired last week in the long-anticipated deal that sent Ron Artest to Sacramento — who finished with 17 points in his first appearance for the Pacers, who played without injured All-Star Jermaine O’Neal.

The Pacers’ play on the interior is lacking without O’Neal, who was lost for approximately two months with a torn groin. As a result, Indiana fell hopelessly in love with long jumpers last night — and paid for it.

Seemingly unwilling to attack the basket under any circumstances, the Pacers made just nine of 32 3-pointers.

The Pacers never led because of a horrendous start, falling behind by as many as 14 points in the first quarter.

“We dug ourselves into a hole and spent the rest of the game trying to dig ourselves out,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, whose team made just five of 19 shots in the first quarter. “We managed to give ourselves a chance in the second half, but the Wizards were able to put together a few scoring runs, and we couldn’t stop them.”

This doesn’t bode well for the Pacers. Indiana, which once had aspirations of winning the Eastern Conference before Artest demanded a trade and O’Neal was injured, wasn’t facing a particularly sharp Wizards team. Washington averages nearly 100 points a game but fell well short of that. The Wizards did have five players in double figures.

Meanwhile, Washington finally is starting to look like it could become a competent defensive team before the season ends.

“We’re trying to hang our hats on that now, and it’s good to see guys sort of rededicate themselves to the defensive end of the floor,” said Antonio Daniels, who finished with 10 points. “We’ve been talking about it and working on it in practice. It’s good to see that carry over.”

After going scoreless in the first quarter, Stojakovic had four points in the second. The Pacers, who also played without point guard Jamaal Tinsley and big man Jeff Foster, trailed 48-41 at halftime.

Although the Wizards scored just 15 points in the third quarter, the Pacers were even worse, scoring just 13 and missing — mostly from long range — 14 of 19 shots for the second time in three quarters.