The crowd cheered when he missed a dunk, cheered again when he had a dunk blocked and cheered aplenty during his 1-for-6 performance at the free throw line.

WSJ: Wizards' climb continues with 89-74 win over Nets

But when he struck again with 1:07 remaining, he and the Wizards were deadlocked at 33, and he just missed outscoring them for the half when he missed an open 3-pointer off an inbound pass with 0.7 seconds to go.

WSJ: Williams hits 11 3s, scores 42 as Nets top Wizards

Pettitte, who turns 41 in June, was 5-4 with a 2.87 ERA in 12 starts last year, when he missed almost three months because of a broken lower left leg, sustained when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Cleveland's Casey Kotchman on June 27.

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