"Gilbert Arenas sat on the bench following a timeout with his team down by a point and one-tenth of a second left on the clock, locked in a trance and not really hearing anything.

For the second straight game, Arenas had blown it. The guard - heralded because of his late-game heroics for the better part of three seasons - had gone to the line with the chance to rescue his team. All he had to do was make two foul shots to give the Wizards a three-point lead over the Indiana Pacers with six seconds left. But after performing his famous ritual of whipping the ball around his waist three times before bouncing it, Arenas clanked the first, and then the second.

When the second shot bounced off the rim, Indiana's T.J. Ford grabbed the rebound and raced up the court. Another quirky turn of events ended with Mike Dunleavy calmly knocking down a pair of free throws to give the Pacers a 114-113 advantage and a victory Saturday night at Verizon Center.

The Wizards did have a sliver of a chance after Dunleavy's free throws. After the timeout, however, coach Flip Saunders had to remind Arenas to take the floor, and center JaVale McGee's flick shot came too late and missed its mark. Saunders stormed off the court in frustration, and the players trudged off dejectedly with Arenas in a fog, apparently on the verge of tears.

"It's really frustrating," he said. "I don't even know why I'm sitting here talking about some free throws. I never fathomed I'd be missing free throws again. I don't know. Maybe it's just mental, because I'm making them in practice." "