If you can't hold a 20-point lead over the worst team in your conference and you can't make a free throw or a lay-up in the last seven seconds against that same awful team, perhaps you don't belong in the playoffs.
That was the sense Wednesday, after the Charlotte Bobcats threw away a game they owned against the Washington Wizards. They led 55-35 with four minutes left in the first half, lost it all, and were still handed a gift they failed to accept on their last possession of the game. Wizards forward Dominic McGuire committed a ridiculous foul in the last seven seconds, giving Gerald Wallace the chance for a tying free throw. Wallace missed that free throw, and then Boris Diaw and Emeka Okafor missed two put-back chances that could have stolen this game.
Now Charlotte is in deep trouble as far as earning the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. They have no one to blame but themselves, after losing in the past two weeks to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers and Wizards.
WIZARDS 95, BOBCATS 93: The Bobcats shot just 6-of-13 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, which topped numerous flaws in a game they know should never have been close enough to lose. Gerald Wallace tallied 21 points and 11 rebounds for Charlotte.
