- [Narrator] It's May 4, 2005.
We're at the United Center
for Game five of a first round series
between the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards.
The series is tied at two games a piece.
The score is also tied with about five seconds left.
This moment is due to the perseverance of underdogs.
We've got two teams who haven't seen the playoffs in years.
We've got a series that seemed one-sided,
a game that seemed one-sided
and both of these teams are made up of guys
who have been doubted, ridiculed and even benched
throughout their short careers.
To realize the strength of the underdog spirit
contained in this arena,
we gotta rewind.
(gentle music)
At this time last year,
if you said the Bulls and Wizards would be here,
you'd get made fun of.
Everyone would call you dumb and stupid
and say you smell bad, but they'd be out of line
because you were right, stinky.
Things had been rough in Chicago
since a certain someone retired again.
The Bulls haven't been to the playoffs
since they won it all in '98.
They haven't even had a winning season since '98.
And last season was another bust
even though they had three different coaches.
Huh, strange that didn't work out.
Their record was embarrassing.
Sorry, Kirk Hinrich, I had to bring it up.
But, this year they ended the regular season with 47 wins.
How?
Well, in the summer of '04, GM John Paxon,
turned to the incoming rookie class.
He wanted young players who were hungry
and hey, if that made other players hungry too,
that was just fine with Paxon.
So he went all in.
They had the third pick and traded
to get the seventh as well.
With the third, they selected Ben Gordon,
who was fresh off winning the NCAA title
with UConn as a junior.
He's small at 6'2", but he's a hard worker and he can shoot.
With the seventh pick, Chicago grabbed Duke's Luol Dang,
and with the 38th, they got his teammate, Chris Duhon.
The Bulls were ready to make a splash this fall
but instead they belly flopped so hard
they threw up in the water, essentially.
They lost their first nine games
putting them in the running for worst Bulls team ever.
Instead of quitting basketball and moving to the woods,
never to be seen again, the Bulls kept on fighting.
They won 26 of their next 40
and went into All-Star break somehow over .500.
It kinda makes sense that the Bulls had a rough start.
Their team was made up of children.
Of the top eight players in rotation,
five were under 25 years old, and one was 25.
They're the second youngest team in the league,
behind only the Charlotte Bobcats.
Scott Skiles exercised patience with his young prospects.
He knew with time and coaching
these kids could be something.
Skiles started working with a fluid lineup
that changed as needed.
He played Ben Gordon less, which actually helped
because Gordon needed to get used to the pace
of an NBA game,
saving up his energy let him go wild in the fourth,
which he did quite often.
Saving up his energy really paid off
when they faced the Knicks earlier in the season.
A tired kid couldn't beat the buzzer like that.
And as their experience grew,
the young Bulls crafted themselves into a defensive force.
They finished with the best defense in the East.
These kids had a better defense
than the reigning champion Pistons.
Toward the end of the season,
Chicago lost a few of their top guys,
Eddie Curry and Luol Deng, to the injured list,
but since they were used to that fluid lineup,
they could recover.
After their inauspicious start,
they finished fourth in the East,
which brings them to this harrowing moment,
a defensive team put to the ultimate defensive test.
The Pistons were probably watching like,
"Oh, you think you're so good at defense, prove it."
And then the Wizards were like,
"Hey, don't bait them, what the hell?"
The wizards path to this moment is similar to the Bulls,
less pathetic in some ways, and more pathetic in others.
Washington hadn't seen the playoffs since '97.
Unlike the Bulls,
even Jordan couldn't help them get to the playoffs.
Sure he was older, but still.
Like the Bulls, the Wizards brought shame
to their city last season,
yet they've somehow fixed things this year
and finished with a 45 and 37 record.
Their first winning season since '98.
Their best records since the 70s
and it's by far the best they've done
since they got their new name,
implying they're weak, old men who rely on potions
instead of skill.
How'd they go from a 25-win season to a 45-win season?
They made some moves over the summer
trading for Antawn Jamison.
Jamison had drawn some criticism in Golden State
because of his huge contract
and the team's lack of playoff appearances.
But, Wizards general manager, Ernie Grunfeld,
had his eye on Jamison for a while,
convinced he could provide what the team had been missing.
Jamison thrived in Washington.
He made the All-Star team for the first time
and he really meshed with Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes.
Jamison makes opportunities without the ball
and Arenas and Hughes could capitalize on them.
The offense ran through them
and they were known as the big three.
In fact, together they average 67.1 points a game.
And what's interesting to most people,
yet infuriating to Warrior fans,
the big three were old pals
who played together on Golden State just a few seasons ago,
except the '01-'02 Warriors were bad.
The three liked each other, but they weren't a trio yet.
Arenas was a rookie,
Hughes was unhappy and had one foot out the door.
The circumstances weren't right
until they reunited in Washington
and earned their playoff berth
and their playoff berth T-shirts.
Both these teams had to climb from the bottom of the league
to get to this moment.
Did that engender some sort of mutual understanding?
Bond them in a fraternity of fighting underdogs?
Nope.
The opposite actually.
Before the season even started, during an exhibition game
where the stakes were like, Oh my God, so high,
they got in a fight that resulted in fines
and regular season suspensions.
Depending on who you ask, Larry Hughes either collided with
or headbutted Kirk Hinrich on a fast break
causing him to smash into Deng.
Brendan Haywood swung at Antonio Davis and then gave chase.
There was a point where only one poor referee
was between them,
and he either couldn't keep them apart or chose not to,
which I wouldn't blame him for.
Which let Antonio Davis gets some revenge
and Eddie Curry joined the fun with a
rather personal attack.
Months later when the teams met in the regular season,
Tyson Chandler let Haywood know
that Chicago had neither forgotten nor forgiven.
And though Arenas talked a little trash to the press
just two days before the series began,
the series itself hasn't been too physical.
The Bulls took Game one by a comfortable margin,
in large part due to Gordon coming off the bench
to drop 30 points,
and Arenas suffering from the jibbly arm,
a condition that's yet to be recognized
by the medical community.
Game two also went to the Bulls
thanks to their bench heroes.
With the series at 2-0,
it was do or die time for the Wizards,
which was apparently what they were waiting for
because they crushed the Bulls in Game three.
The big three delivered and so did some big subs.
The Wizards were feeling so good going into Game four,
even getting a note from the league about their shorts
being too long couldn't thwart their momentum.
Juan Dixon came off the bench to drop 35.
While Ben Gordon had a rough night.
Wizards took the game and just like that,
the series was tied. Making tonight a pivotal game.
Both teams are keeping their heads above water right now,
but just barely.
Tonight will decide who's going to emerge from that water
like a majestic dolphin
and who's going to sink below the surface
like a fat dolphin.
The Wizards started this game on top.
They had an 11-point lead in the first quarter,
expanded that a bit to a 14-point lead at half
and in the third, stretched that lead to 22.
The Bulls chipped away, but Washington was still up by 10
with under a minute to go.
Then, just before the 41 second mark,
Jannero Pargo checked in.
Jannero Pargo has been doubted and counted out
his whole career.
Before he even had a career, in fact.
He didn't start for his high school team
until he was a senior.
He didn't have any colleges knocking on his door,
so he went to junior college to keep the dream alive.
He eventually got picked up by Arkansas.
When he told his friends back home
he was playing for Arkansas, they didn't believe him.
His own friends thought it was more likely
he was a weird liar, than a college basketball player.
Pargo's secret was just always working really hard.
Strange how effective that is.
He spent two years in Arkansas
and both years he was third team, all SEC.
His senior year he was the teams leading scorer
and won SEC player of the week twice.
And I hope he showed his friends this newspaper clipping.
Unfortunately, those aren't the kind of awards
that get you much NBA attention and he went undrafted.
But you can't get Jannero Pargo down.
And maybe everybody could stop trying
because it's getting a little mean.
Pargo had a good training camp
and managed to sign with the Lakers.
He saw action in 34 games,
but the next year he was released.
The Raptors picked him up
only to waive him after five games.
But Pargo has a way of keeping himself around.
In March of '04, the Bulls gave him a 10-day contract.
During all this journey manning,
Pargo never felt sorry for himself,
which is incredible and almost inhuman.
Pargo had 10 days to prove he was an NBA caliber player.
So what he did was, in his third game with the Bulls,
score 34 points and hit seven threes
tying a franchise record.
I bet Toronto saw that and was pissed.
The Bulls signed him for the rest of the season
and then he took that try hard, never give up,
score a million points attitude into summer league
and earned himself a roster spot this year too.
Scott Skiles liked Pargo
because he could fill a role on the Chicago team
and come off the bench and deliver right away.
But this season
Jannero hasn't gotten a ton of opportunity to deliver.
He was on and off the injured list this season
in part due to injuries and in part due to things like,
Skiles making roster room so he could see
Frank Williams in action.
Pargo was put on the injured list when he wasn't injured
so the coach could try out other players.
How does this man keep rolling with these punches?
And these aren't just regular punches,
these are Eddie Curry-style groin punches.
When Pargo did get into game, Skiles called it.
He got hot fast, as evidenced in Game four of this series.
In the fourth quarter of Game four,
the Bulls were down by 25,
yet Pargo staged a valiant comeback attempt
almost single handedly.
He had 16 points in the fourth
including 10 points in the last 67 seconds.
It was an incredible feat, but it wasn't enough for the win.
So tonight, with 41 seconds left,
the question on everyone's mind is,
can he do it again/slightly better this time?
Well it certainly looked like it.
Within two seconds of checking in, Pargo hit a three
and bench players everywhere cheered along with Bulls fans.
Desperate to stop the clock, the Bulls sent Arenas,
an 81% free throw shooter, to the line.
He missed one of two, but that's nothing to panic about.
It happens.
This is his first playoffs and he's nervous.
Washington still has an eight-point lead.
Oh my God, Pargo hit another three.
Five-point lead with 25.2 seconds to go.
And Antawn Jamison's at the line.
It's not Jamison's first playoff series,
but uh, I guess he was still nervous cause he missed both.
But no time to dwell on that,
Wizards gotta keep Pargo from scoring another three,
which they do, only to send the ball to Hinrich.
Two-point lead, 11.6 seconds left.
Back at the line, it was Larry Hughes this time.
Not wanting to make his buddies feel bad
for missing their free throws, he missed one as well.
See, happens to everyone.
Three-point lead.
The Wizards sent Hinrich to the line
to prevent the Bull's hot hands from hitting another three.
The pressure got to Hinrich too and he missed both.
But Jamison and Michael Ruffin decided the ball was lava
and didn't grab the rebound.
Hinrich scooped it up, got it to Pargo
and you know his fairy tale story has a happy ending.
- [1st Sports Host] A stunning finish at the United Center.
- [2nd Sports Host] You have got to be kidding me.
- [Narrator] From undrafted obscurity
to hero of the up-and-coming Bulls.
From the end of the bench to the shoulders of teammates.
Oh wait, wait, wait.
I can't say Pargo had a happy ending just yet.
The game's not over.
There's still time on that clock.
The Wizards still have time to snatch that hero's cape
off of Pargo and affix it to the shoulders of
Gilbert Arenas.
Gilbert was a high school phenom
who was recruited to play in Arizona in 1999.
But a lot of people doubted his play could transfer over
to a big program like Arizona
who had won a title just two years before.
In fact, a writer predicted he'd play zero minutes.
Arenas saw that article and then chose to wear number zero
to keep the haters in his head, keep that motivation fresh
and to spite that writer just a little bit.
Arenas averaged 15.4 points his freshman year
and 16.2 his sophomore year.
Also in his sophomore year,
Arizona made it to the national championship game
only to lose to Duke.
Shortly after that, Arenas declared for the draft,
which may have been a touch early
because during the first round of the draft
Arenas' name was not called.
That's not what he, or really anybody, was expecting.
He was selected by Golden State in the second round,
31st overall, which sucked.
It was certainly better than nothing,
but second round picks aren't guaranteed a spot on the team.
So Gilbert had work to do.
He showed Pargo-like humility in the face of adversity.
And after a strong summer league showing
Arenas earned himself a two year contract with Golden State.
In his rookie season,
he transitioned from shooting guard to point guard
and came off the bench to average 10.9 points a game.
And off the court he had some good wholesome fun
pulling pranks on his teammates,
which actually sounds kind of irritating.
Next season was better for Arenas by a lot.
He won most improved player
and was the MVP of the rookie sophomore game
at All-Star weekend.
After that season, his two-year Warriors contract was up
and his stock had never been higher.
This second round draft pick
was in a position to get a very nice contract.
He got solid offers from the Wizards and the Clippers.
So how do you choose where to go?
Yeah, Washington was offering a little more,
but not a lot of people pick DC over LA.
DC was literally built on a swamp and LA was built on
some kind of fountain of youth
that makes everyone a hot movie star.
To make his choice, Arenas flipped a coin
and it came up Clippers.
He flipped it again and, Clippers.
He kept flipping
and he kept getting Clippers, Clippers, Clippers.
So to spite that know-it-all coin, Gil headed to Washington.
And maybe the money had something to do with it.
He signed a six-year, $65 million deal with the Wizards
in August of 2003.
Could he be the hero
who does what even Michael Jordan couldn't do?
Is he the guy who will breathe new life
into this long suffering organization?
Nah, not yet.
An injured abdominal muscle
kept him out of action for most of December
and a large chunk of January.
He was also benched a few games for
generally being kind of a jerk to his team.
This season started out on a weird note too.
He was suspended for the season opener
for having an unregistered gun.
Gilbert said that gun had been registered
but he just forgot to renew it.
Coulda happened to anybody.
No big deal.
A one time thing, I'm sure.
Arenas put that immaturity behind him
and this year was his breakout season.
He averaged 25.5 points a game
and had quite a few huge games
including five where he scored 43 or more points.
Arenas finished the season
as the seventh best scorer in the league.
He made the All-Star team for the first time this year
where he showed everyone his improved game
was not at the expense of his playful persona.
And he did it all while wearing number zero
or no shirt at all.
The guy likes to take his shirt off.
However, in today's game,
the scoring machine that is Gilbert Arenas
faltered a bit.
He has 14 points thus far, which isn't bad,
but in the fourth, he's just one for four.
And let's not forget, he missed a foul shot moments ago.
So Arenas with the ball here is not a guaranteed two points.
Whoever wins,
this game is a Testament to believing in yourself
when nobody else would.
Both teams had to shake off embarrassment
and pull themselves from the depths of the league.
The Wizards had to overcome a 2-0 series deficit
that many thought was insurmountable.
Chicago had to overcome a 10-point lead and a ticking clock.
And both teams accomplished these feats with bench players
often criticized, unlikely heroes
and a guy who's been cut from the league more than once.
An underdog is going to win this game.
It's just a matter of which one.
Welcome to a moment in history.
[2nd Sports Host] Arenas, can he score to win?
Yes, it's over!
The Wizards have defeated the Bulls.
(click)
Hey everybody, thanks for watching.
If you want more DC sports,
we've got a spicy Alex Ovechkin beef for ya.
Or if you want more Bulls content,
give this Tony Kukoc REWINDER a watch.
Okay, bye, I love you.
(upbeat music)