The first three balls drawn on the winning combination were numbers 7, 4, and 12. The worst teams -- New York, Phoenix, and Cleveland -- owned 420 of the 1,000 four-number combinations, and most of the combos featuring 1s, 2s, and 3s. There is real suspense in the air when the first three numbers drawn are 4 or higher. For 10 delicious seconds -- and exactly 10 by league rule -- a lot of teams are in play.
Gentry knew the Pelicans had a shot. "Oh, s---," he thought to himself after that 12 came up, he told
ESPN.com. Tommy Sheppard, the Wizards' top executive since the team fired Ernie Grunfeld, also felt butterflies, he told
ESPN.com afterward. The Wizards owned a few combinations featuring 4, 7, and 12. For a moment, Sheppard let himself envision Washington erasing a year of rotten feelings. "Of course you do that," Sheppard said. "But then you remember this is like bingo. You can't control anything."
And then Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, announced the number on the last ball: 13. Gentry rifled through the eight-page printout listing all the combinations to see if New Orleans owned 4-7-12-13. It was taking too long. He gave up and waited. An NBA attorney proclaimed that New Orleans had won the No. 1 pick.