The AP reports: Bumped and banged by the Wizards on every drive, LeBron James scored 32 points, making two tough shots in traffic down the stretch as the Cleveland Cavaliers opened the NBA playoffs with an intense 93-86 win over Washington on Saturday… Resting a bothersome back, James sat out the early part of the fourth quarter… Following a miss by Gilbert Arenas, who led the Wizards with 24 points, James powered past Stevenson and dropped a floater with 55 seconds left in the game—and one tick to spare on the 24-second shot clock… Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 22 points and 11 rebounds and Delonte West finished with 16 points for the Cavaliers, who, unlike the Wizards, stayed quiet in the weeks leading up to the series.
Category: Washington Wizards Blog
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Apr. 16: Magic 103, Wizards 83
The AP reports: The Orlando Magic paid more attention to the guy trying to make a half-court shot for $100,000 than their coach during a third-quarter timeout Wednesday night… J.J. Redick scored a career-high 18 points and Marcin Gortat had a career-high 12 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Magic to a 103-83 victory in a meaningless regular-season finale for two playoff-bound teams. Both teams rested their stars… Andray Blatche led Washington with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Nick Young scored 14. Darius Songaila, Roger Mason and Oleksiy Pecherov each scored 10 points for the Wizards, and Pecherov had a career-high 10 rebounds… Lewis had 15 points in 17 minutes. Redick, a Magic fan favorite who rarely gets off the bench, was 0-for-5 from the field to start, but finished 7-for-14. Turkoglu scored 11 points and Keith Bogans added 10.
Apr. 14: Wizards 117, Pacers 110
The AP reports: Despite the playoff implications of Monday’s game, Washington coach Eddie Jordan went to his bench early and often, getting 31 points from Roger Mason, 14 from rookie Nick Young and little resistance from the Pacers’ defense. Gilbert Arenas was given the night off and Caron Butler sat out with a bruised knee. The Wizards’ reserves outscored their starters 70-47. The disparity was even greater after DeShawn Stevenson left early in the second half with a sore back… “It’s disappointing,” said Mike Dunleavy, who scored 26 points… They weren’t missed. Mason was 7-for-9 on 3-pointers, rookie Dominic McGuire scored a career-high nine points, and Andray Blatche grabbed 11 rebounds as Washington dominated the boards 58-31.
Wizards notes going into Monday Pacers game
The Wizards will host the Indiana Pacers tomorrow night at Verizon Center in Washington’s 2007-08 regular season home finale on Comcast SportsNet and WTEM 980 at 7:00 pm.
* This game marks the fourth and final meeting between the Wizards and Pacers this season. Having lost two of the first three meetings, Washington needs a win to earn a split in the season series. After sweeping the Pacers (3-0) last season, and having split four games in 2004-05 (2-2) and 2005-06 (2-2), Washington hasn’t lost a season-series to Indiana since 2003-04 (1-2).
* Headed to the NBA Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, Washington joins the Detroit Pistons as the only Eastern Conference clubs to qualify for postseason play in every season since 2004-05. With two regular season games remaining, the Wizards (42-38) currently trail Cleveland (43-36) by 1.5 games for the fourth seed in the East. Washington leads Toronto (40-39) by 1.5 games for the fifth seed.
* On Saturday night versus Philadelphia, DeShawn Stevenson hit five of Washington’s 12 three-pointers, and the Wizards increased their season total to 558 three pointers made. After connecting on a franchise record 561 three-point field goals last season, the Wizards are just four three-pointers away from establishing a new franchise record for threes made in a single season. Stevenson, meanwhile, has made 68 of his career-high 155 three-pointers in the 27 games since the All-Star break, and ranks 9th in the NBA in three-pointers made over that stretch.
* In Washington’s last game…Washington defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-93, at Verizon Center on April 12…Antawn Jamison led Washington with a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds…Gilbert Arenas tallied 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 25:06…DeShawn Stevenson scored 19 points, including five three-point field goals, and recorded a team-high seven assists…Antonio Daniels (12 points) and Darius Songaila (10) also scored in double figures…Caron Butler (bruised right knee) missed his 22nd game of the season, but Washington improved to 9-13 in his absence…The Wizards outscored the 76ers 31-9 in the fourth quarter…Philadelphia’s nine fourth quarter points tied for the fewest amount of points a Wizards’ opponent has scored in any quarter this season.
* This season vs. Indiana…The Wizards were defeated by the Pacers, 95-83, at Indiana on Dec. 22…Antawn Jamison scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds…Roger Mason Jr. finished with a then career-high 20 points and five rebounds…Darius Songaila started his first game this season and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds in a season-high 35:17…Brendan Haywood finished with 13 rebounds and a season-high tying five blocks.
Apr. 12: Wizards 109, Sixers 93
The AP reports: Gilbert Arenas finally looked like Agent Zero again, just in time for the Washington Wizards to put the Philadelphia 76ers out of reach. After a week-and-a-half of passive basketball since returning from a knee injury, Arenas took over the game by scoring 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter Saturday night in a 109-93 victory over the 76ers… Arenas was a sub again Saturday, playing 25 minutes, but he was 7-for-14 with seven rebounds and five assists… Antawn Jamison added 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who have won four of five. Washington recovered well from a 102-74 loss at Detroit on Friday night. Andre Iguodala had 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds to lead Philadelphia. His 3-pointer with 8:29 to play was the only field goal of the final quarter for the 76ers, who have lost three of four to dampen a strong surge over the second half of the season.
Apr. 11: Pistons 102, Wizards 74
The AP reports: With Cleveland and Philadelphia having already lost and facing a Detroit team that is coasting toward the playoffs, the Wizards came out with one of their worst performances of the season, shooting just 27 percent in a lopsided 102-74 loss to the Pistons on Friday night… Detroit, which has clinched the Eastern Conference’s second seed, had played poorly in back-to-back losses to New York and Philadelphia, but Jason Maxiell’s career-high 28 points helped them regain their focus… Antwan Jamison led Washington with 15 and DeShawn Stevenson added 11.
Apr. 9: Wizards 109, Celtics 95
The AP reports: After sitting out two games with a sprained right shoulder, Jamison returned to score 27 points as the Wizards ended Boston’s seven-game winning streak and became only the second team to win the season series against the Celtics. Jamison left no doubt that he was again full throttle by making 8 of 17 field goals, grabbing 11 rebounds and ramming home a one-hander over Garnett to cap a 10-0 run that gave the Wizards the lead for good early in the third quarter… Caron Butler had 13 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and seven turnovers for the Wizards, who handed the Celtics’ their second-worst loss of the season. Washington, which beat Boston in back-to-back games in January, joined Orlando as the teams to win the season series against the Celtics. Paul Pierce scored 28 points, and Kevin Garnett had 22 points and 14 rebounds for Boston, which had 21 turnovers and allowed the Wizards to shoot 51 percent.
Apr. 5: Wizards 99, Bulls 87
The AP reports: Having a healthy Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas would help, but the Wizards will take what they got on Saturday night—a career-high 25 points from Brendan Haywood, 18 from Butler and a 99-87 victory over the Chicago Bulls… The Bulls got 18 points from Ben Gordon and 16 from Larry Hughes, but it wasn’t enough to beat a team that was missing two of its best players. Jamison, averaging a team-leading 21.5 points and 10.2 rebounds, was injured late in Wednesday’s loss to Milwaukee. He missed his first game of the season on Friday when the Wizards beat Miami to clinch their fourth consecutive playoff berth.
Apr. 4: Wizards 109, Heat 95
The AP reports: The woeful Heat set a franchise record with 19 3-pointers and still couldn’t beat the Wizards, who were without Antawn Jamison for the first time this season. Jamison, who averages 21.5 points and a team-leading 10.2 rebounds a game, was sidelined with a sprained right shoulder… Caron Butler scored 29 points for the Washington. Darius Songaila, who started in Jamison’s place, had 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists, and Andray Blatche had 17 points… Gilbert Arenas served as a reserve again, finishing with 13 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 21 minutes… Ricky Davis had a season-high 33 points and Chris Quinn finished with 24 for the Heat, who must win two of their final six games to avoid tying the worst record in their 20-year history.
DeShawn Stevenson talks injuries, Gilbert Arenas and more
Here’s what Washington Wizards shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson said to local media today:
DeShawn Stevenson on tomorrow’s game: “I’m going to try to play. I haven’t missed a game, but my ankle is really hurting right now. I got treatment today and it actually didn’t swell up. I’m going to try to play tomorrow but we will have to wait and see.”
Stevenson on injuries: “It seems like whenever we get our whole team back, someone else gets hurt. Antawn (Jamison) got hurt. I got hurt. It is difficult, every time you get your team back something else happens.”
Stevenson on Antawn’s injury: “It would be tough to play without Antawn because he has been our leader all year. He has been the veteran that has played every game. He has been awesome this year. He was an All-Star this year, so I want to see him be able to play all 82 games.”
Stevenson on Gilbert Arenas: “It was wonderful to see him back out there and knocking down his first shots. He had a smile on his face. Yesterday he was really focused so I knew he was coming back.”
Stevenson on Gilbert’s return: “Everybody expects that from him. You just overlook it. For some teams that would probably be a distraction but we just overlook it. When Gil comes on the court he is ready to play so I think that is why nobody really pays attention to it.”
Stevenson on his birthday party: “The party was great. Everybody came. We had a good time dressing up.”