Foul call leads to Clippers loss

WASHINGTON -- Down by four points with seven seconds to play against one of the worst teams in the NBA, the Washington Wizards somehow found a way to win Saturday night.

The Clippers, starting their 29th lineup of the season and fresh off losses by 22 and 24 points, led most of the second half. When Corey Maggette made two free throws for that four-point lead, Antawn Jamison had to take over.

Jamison scored 36 points, including three key free throws to send the game into overtime, leading Washington to a 119-109 victory.

He made a three-pointer with 4.5 seconds left to cut the Clippers’ lead to 98-97. Tim Thomas answered with two free throws to make it 100-97. Jamison, poised to take a potential game-tying three-pointer, was fouled by Cuttino Mobley, and made all three to tie the score.

“I don’t know what happened. I thought [Mobley] felt he had the opportunity to get the ball, but he couldn’t,” Jamison said. “I was kind of open. It was one of those shots that I felt confident enough that if he didn’t foul me, I would have made it.”

Thomas missed an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer, and the game went into overtime. Jamison scored two quick baskets in the extra period.

A dejected Mobley thought the call by the NBA’s most senior referee was wrong.

“He sold it. Dick Bavetta went for it,” Mobley said. “That’s terrible, but it’s his call. I’m disappointed.

“This is the NBA, you know what I’m saying? The kid had a free shot. . . . Nobody touched him while he was shooting the ball.”

Once regulation was over, the Clippers, in the fourth game of a five-game trip, had little left.

The Clippers were led by Maggette, who had 34 points -- one short of his season high.