The AP reports: With Gilbert Arenas back on the floor, the Washington Wizards fell apart in too many ways to count in the fourth quarter. Forget all his dramatics: Agent Zero had the show stolen by a rookie making his first NBA game-winner. Ramon Sessions hit a 19-foot jumper at the buzzer Wednesday night to give the Milwaukee Bucks a 110-109 victory over the Wizards, who left the game with severely bruised egos and new injuries to Antawn Jamison and DeShawn Stevenson… Charlie Villanueva had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks, whose celebration took some of the sting from the news that they were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by Atlanta’s win over Toronto… Butler and Jamison scored 18 points apiece for the Wizards, who missed a chance to clinch their fourth consecutive playoff berth.
Category: Washington Wizards Blog
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Mar. 31: Jazz 129, Wizards 87
The AP reports: C.J. Miles scored a career-high 29 points and the Utah Jazz set a team record with 15 3-pointers in a 129-87 rout of the short-handed Washington Wizards on Monday night. Deron Williams had 12 points and 16 assists, despite resting most of the fourth quarter, and Mehmet Okur returned from a stomach virus with 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Carlos Boozer added 19 points and Kyle Korver scored 15, making all six of his shots. Utah outrebounded Washington 40-23, had 40 assists on 50 field goals and shot almost 60 percent (50-for-84)… They were also resting Caron Butler’s strained left hamstring instead of playing him back-to-back nights. Antawn Jamison led Washington with 22 points.
Mar. 30: Lakers 126, Wizards 120 OT
For the Lakers, Kobe Bryant (just 7-of-24) had 26 points and 13 assists, Sasha Vujacuc (6-of-9, including 6-of-8 three-pointers) had 20, Vladimir Radmanovic (7-of-11, including 4-of-7 threes) had 18, and Derek Fisher (6-of-12, including 3-of-6 threes) scored 17.
For the Wizards, DeShawn Stevenson (9-of-15, including 8-of-12 three-pointers) had 27, Nick Young (10-of-16, including 3-of-4 threes) had 27, Caron Butler (6-of-17) had an awesome 17 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and 2 steals, and Antawn Jamison (6-of-15) had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. The two teams combined for 31-of-57 from three-point range.
Mar. 28: Wizards 114, Kings 108
The AP reports: Darius Songaila scored seven points in the final 59 seconds and Antawn Jamison had 25 points and 12 rebounds Friday night for the Wizards, who held off the Sacramento Kings 114-108… Songaila scored 17 points in 18 minutes, connecting on 6 of 8 shots and hit all five free throws attempts… DeShawn Stevenson scored 20 points and made consecutive 3-pointers and followed with another jumper to put the Wizards ahead 106-97 with 3:02 remaining. Caron Butler had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Wizards, who have won five of six… Ron Artest scored 28 points for Sacramento, which saw its four game win streak at home snapped, where they are 22-13 this season. Kevin Martin had 25 points, Francisco Garcia added 16, while both John Salmons and Brad Miller scored 10.
Mar. 26: Wizards 104, Sonics 99
The AP reports: Reserve Roger Mason pumped in five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter in leading the Washington Wizards to a 104-99 victory over the Seattle Supersonics on Wednesday night. Mason, averaging 8.6 points coming in, finished with 22 points. He matched his career high with six 3-pointers. Caron Butler had 21 points; he’s averaging 27.8 points in his last seven games against the Sonics. Kevin Durant scored 32 points for the Sonics. Damien Wilkins and Jeff Green each contributed 13 points, while Nick Collison matched his career high with 21 rebounds.
Mar. 25: Blazers 102, Wizards 82
The AP reports: Martell Webster had 23 points, Travis Outlaw added 20 and the Portland Trail Blazers overcame the loss of top scorer Brandon Roy to beat the Washington Wizards 102-82 on Tuesday night. Jarrett Jack added 17 points and Joel Przybilla had 17 rebounds for the Blazers, who shot 49.4 percent despite Roy leaving with a strained right groin on the last play of the first quarter. Portland was already without LaMarcus Aldridge, the team’s second-leading scorer who sprained an ankle Monday against Seattle. Caron Butler had 19 to lead Washington, which was missing Gilbert Arenas after he had his return from knee surgery pushed back a week… Antonio Daniels had 14 points and eight assists for the Wizards, who had won six of their last seven. Leading scorer Antawn Jamison struggled, with nine points and eight rebounds on just 3-of-13 shooting.
Wizards-Pistons team connections
Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace was selected 4th overall by Washington Bullets in the 1995 NBA Draft, and averaged 10.1 points per game for the Wizards in 65 games during the 1995-96 season.
Wallace and Antonio Daniels were teammates during the 2002-2003 season with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Pistons guard Richard Hamilton was selected 7th overall by the Wizards in the 1999 NBA Draft, and averaged 15.6 points per game in 212 games for the Wizards from 1999-02.
Pistons guard Juan Dixon was drafted with the 17th overall pick by Washington in the 2002 NBA Draft, and averaged 8.2 points per game in 176 games as a Wizard from 2002-05.
Pistons swingman Jarvis Hayes was selected 10th overall by the Wizards in the 2003 NBA Draft, and averaged 8.9 points per game in 226 games for Washington from 2003-07…Pistons rookie guard Rodney Stuckey was drafted by Detroit with the 15th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, one spot before Washington picked Nick Young with the 16th overall selection.
Wizards center Brendan Haywood had a career-high 23 points vs. Detroit on November 29, 2003.
Wizards-Heat team connections
Wizards forward Caron Butler was drafted by the Miami with the 10th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft.
As a rookie in Miami, Butler averaged 15.4 points per game and was named to the 2002-03 NBA All-Rookie First Team, but was later dealt to the Lakers in the trade that brought Shaquille O’Neal to South Beach.
Butler, 28, and Miami’s Dwyane Wade, 26, have been friends and rivals since their AAU days in the Chicago-Milwaukee area.
Washington’s Andray Blatche and Miami’s Dorell Wright attended the same Connecticut prep school, South Kent Prep, but missed playing together by a year.
Blatche played at South Kent in ‘04-‘05 during Wright’s rookie year with Miami.
Gilbert Arenas speaks on his status
Gilbert Arenas on his knee: “Everything is healing. They want me to wrap (my knee) up and go full speed. I’m going to test it out tonight on the practice court. I’m going to give it a real hard workout and see how it feels in the morning.”
Arenas on his first game back: “They say that when I do go back, it will just be an assist-game for me. They don’t want me to go in there jumping or being acrobatic.”
Arenas on what he expects from himself upon his return: “They told me that this year I won’t be me. Don’t go back and try to be me. I have to come back as an assist man. I have to try to stay out of going to the hole, and I have to be careful.”
Arenas on the timetable for his return: “I’m hoping to play this season. I want to play. It’s hard when you have done something your whole life and then it gets taken away from you. Hopefully I can get back out there.”
More on his injury: “They haven’t actually cleared me to play. I’m just going to practice hard today and tomorrow and the next day, and then see how it feels. If it feels the same as it does now than I might just play, because that means it’s not getting any worse. My main concern is not getting hurt again.”
Players of week are Stoudemire, Jamison
The Washington Wizards’ Antawn Jamison and the Phoenix Suns’ Amaré Stoudemire today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, March 10, through Sunday, March 16.
Jamison led the Wizards to a 3-0 week, with wins over the Clippers, Cavaliers and Bucks. After collecting two double-doubles on the week, Jamison’s 37 double-doubles stand as the second highest total in the Eastern Conference (Dwight Howard, 59). Jamison averaged 25.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals during the undefeated week, helping Washington move above the .500 mark for the first time since Feb. 5.
Stoudemire led the Suns to a 3-0 week, with all three victories coming against Western Conference opponents. Stoudemire averaged 32.0 points on .660 shooting from the field, 11.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 blocks. The back-to-back 30-point, 10-rebound efforts on March 13 and March 15 marked the third time this year that Stoudemire recorded consecutive 30-point, 10-rebound games.
Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala, Cleveland’s LeBron James, Atlanta’s Joe Johnson, New Orleans’ Chris Paul, Orlando’s Rashard Lewis, Houston’s Tracy McGrady and Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki.