LANDOVER -- Everyone knows professional sports is about winning, first last and always.
Just ask Mr. Slick of the Los Angeles Raiders football team, Al "Just Win, Baby" Davis. Or the late Vince Lombardi, who never said, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," but learned to live with it anyway.
Of course, it's important; otherwise, they wouldn't keep score or publish standings or make such a big deal out of championships, playoffs, bowl games, MVP awards or lousy win percentages that get coaches and managers fired.
Still, there are times when a loss can serve a purpose more important or meaningful than a victory. Such a situation played the USAir Arena last night as the Denver Nuggets were squeezing by the Washington Bullets, 94-92.
On the surface, it seemed little more than a case of the visiting team's ending a five-game losing streak and recording just its 21st win in 50 games. Denver's chances of making the NBA playoffs are just slightly better than Washington's right now, which breaks down to approximately one in a couple hundred.
Meanwhile, the Bullets' record fell to 12-37 and, all things considered, you can bet newspapers with early deadlines weren't holding for additional detail on this one.
From a teaching standpoint, however, this was a godsend for Washington coach Jim Lynam, who probably couldn't wait to get the attention of his lads at an 11 o'clock practice at Bowie State this morning.
"There were seven plays in the last minute we could discuss at length," said the coach, divulging his lesson plan for the practice.
While not stuff of which highlight films are made, the game had the 17th sellout of the home team's 23rd game up and screaming numerous times when the teams hit the last minute and change square at 91.
Bullets rookie Anthony Tucker hit a slick spot on the floor, slipped and cagey vet Reggie Williams was there to steal the ball and shove it ahead to Brian Williams, who was ahead of the field.
Fouled, Williams hit just one of two foul shots, but Denver rebounded the miss, which was huge because possession was more important than points at this juncture. Suddenly, 7-2 Dikembe Mutombo had the ball under the hoop and he was going up. Tucker blocked the effort with both hands, forcing a jump ball.
Full-scale and 20-second timeouts were being whistled all over the place now.
"Just because they had a big height advantage didn't necessarily mean they were going to win the tap," said Lynam. "It's a tough call deciding who Mutombo's going to tap the ball to."
The tap went ahead to the 6-11 B. Williams and, as Lynam pointed out, "we didn't get on him quick enough," and the Nuggets called time, seemingly their 65th of the evening. Seconds were flashing by like minutes, no, hours. Like the man once said, "If I have only hours to live, I want the time to be kept by a guy running the clock at the end of an NBA game."
Jalen Rose was fouled and he made it 94-91 with a pair of freebies. Three points down with an eternity (six seconds) remaining, Lynam inserted all his three-point shooters and the cast included Scott Skiles, who cans free throws at a .917 percentage. Shockingly, Skiles was fouled while attempting a trifecta and he went to the line for three shots. "I knew for a fact that Scott was going to put those three in," said teammate Juwan Howard.
But Skiles missed the first two, hit the third and Denver was taking the ball out with less than four seconds remaining. Chris Webber stole the inbounds pass around midcourt and hurriedly heaved it toward the basket. The ball bounded off the backboard right to Howard, who was three feet from the hoop and unattended.
"I had no awareness of how much time was left," said Howard. He pushed a jump shot up quickly, "just trying to get it on the rim." The ball fell away and, finally, the buzzer sounded. Juwan might have committed hara-kari had he been possessed of a knife. "I had time to drive to the hole," he moaned.
That still would have created just a tie and overtime. A victory might have wiped out all the things the Bullets figured to work on today.
"We've struggled, playing two or three good quarters and been in several tight situations at the end," said Howard. "It's those situations, things like happened at the end, that teams with experience handle."
Lynam will go over all the possessions, the jump balls, the inbounds passes, etc., with a fine-tooth comb. A win, next to meaningless three weeks into February when you have just a dozen total, might have seen today's practice as little more than a shoot-around.
Webber said he was looking forward to the work today. "We'll go over things and over things and the time will come when those games are going to be ours. I know it," he said.
The fans who show up without fail each game sense it, too.
If you're headed to a Bullets game -- they play Atlanta at the Baltimore Arena Friday -- forget the standings. The action will be so much more enjoyable that way.