Washington Wizards Blog – Page 90 – NBA Blog

Antonio Daniels out 2-4 weeks

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that guard Antonio Daniels sustained a MCL sprain in his right knee in the second quarter of Washington’s 104-91 victory at Miami on Thursday, December 13th, and will miss 2-4 weeks.

“This is very disappointing as Antonio was doing an outstanding job as our starting point guard,” said Grunfeld. “We are confident Antonio will return to action within the next few weeks. Roger Mason Jr. and Nick Young have been very productive for us off the bench, and we feel they will make the most of this opportunity.”

In his 11th season in the NBA, Daniels has averaged 8.2 points, 5.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game in 22 contests. Daniels started Washington’s last 14 games in place of injured All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas, and has guided the Wizards to a 9-5 record over that stretch. Daniels has averaged 11.0 points, 6.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game as a starter this season.

Brendan Haywood stepping up

FoxSports (Charley Rosen) reports: With his newfound freedom and responsibility, Brendan Haywood is finally playing with passion. Indeed, it’s no stretch to claim that Haywood outplayed Shaq — scoring 10 to Shaq’s six, and claiming 10 rebounds where Shaq had only seven. Haywood even managed to get a piece of one of Shaq’s jump hooks. But the one stat that indicates Haywood’s true domination was his corralling five offensive rebounds.

Jamison speaks about the Suns

Here’s Washington Wizards forward Antawn Jamison:

Antawn Jamison on the challenge Phoenix presents: “You know what they do offensively. This is a team that has led the league in scoring for the last couple of years, has had the MVP (Steve Nash) for the last two out of three years, and has a great supporting cast. You can’t afford to take a night off when you’re playing this team. This team really plays great basketball at home, and they also try and have one of the best road records in the league as well.”

Antawn Jamison on the Phoenix Suns style of play: “They really like to set the tone from start to finish, so we can’t afford to have the start that we had last year. I think it really all boils down to trying to contain and maintain the pick-and-roll. You’re not going to be able to stop it for 48 minutes at all – you just have to do a good job as far as containing it.”

Antawn Jamison on their awareness in terms of field goal percentage: “With Gilbert (Arenas) gone, offensively you have to take quality shots and better shots – no first side shots, no quick shots – and defensively, you really have to key in. We can’t afford to neglect on the defensive end because we’re missing so much offensively with Gil gone. We need for (Antonio Daniels) to continue to stay in front of his man and help us out in that way. We need guys like Brendan (Haywood) to continue to control the paint, block and alter shots. If we continue to do those things and improve on both ends of the floor, especially defensively, it would really put us in a great situation to really be able to win a lot of games and get some distance from the other teams who are around us.”

C.Butler, A.Jamison stepping up

Washington looks to snap a seven-game losing streak at San Antonio tonight. The last time Washington won in San Antonio was Dec. 11, 1999 — during the 1999-00 NBA season. San Antonio’s Tim Duncan is the lone holdover on either team’s roster from that game; a 99-89 Wizards’ win.

After averaging a combined 63.0 points per game in Washington’s last four games, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison are now averaging a combined 45.9 points per game this season. Butler and Jamison currently rank as the NBA’s sixth highest scoring duo…behind Anthony-Iverson (DEN), McGrady-Ming (HOU), Davis-Jackson (GSW), James-Gooden (CLE) and James-Ilgauskas (CLE).

Antawn Jamison has averaged 29.0 points per game in Washington’s last six games, after averaging 17.8 points per game in the Wizards’ first eight. Jamison is not the only Wizard to have picked up his scoring in the last six games in the absence of Gilbert Arenas.

After connecting on a career-high five three-pointers in Washington’s last game, Caron Butler has now hit 14 three-pointers through 14 games this season. Last season, Butler connected on 18 three-pointers in 63 games. He hit a career-high 41 three-point field goals in 75 games in 2005-06.

Brendan Haywood having career year

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: Center Brendan Haywood is having a career year and is averaging career highs in points (9.5), rebounds (8.9) and blocks (1.8). In year’s past, Haywood’s biggest competition at center was Etan Thomas. Thomas recently had open-heart surgery and his career might be over. This has opened up more minutes for Haywood and he has responded accordingly. Behind Jamison and Butler, Thomas is the best player you’ll likely see on the floor tomorrow. Third-year power forward Andray Blatche has also been stepping up his game lately and is scoring and rebounding well. Point guard Antonio Daniels has also been filling in well with Arenas out and has averaged 11.6 points and 7.8 assists since Arenas played his last game.

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Gilbert Arenas out around 3 months after left knee surgery

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that guard Gilbert Arenas underwent surgery on his left knee. The surgery was performed at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC by Wizards’ team physician Dr. Marc Connell.

“I repaired a partial tear of Gilbert’s left medial meniscus,” said Connell. “In addition, he had a nonweight-bearing articular surface defect in the trochlea treated by microfracture. We are optismitic that he will be able to return to action in three months.”

“Gilbert worked extremely hard this summer to be ready for the beginning of the season,” Grunfeld said. “This is very unfortunate because he was starting to play at high level prior to the injury. We expect Gilbert to make a full recovery, and are confident that our other players will step up and help our team win.”

Arenas underwent an MRI on Wednesday morning and then had surgery later this afternoon at Sibley Memorial Hospital. Arenas will begin rehabilitation next week, and is expected to make a full recovery.

Arenas played and started in eight games this season, averaging 22.4 points, 5.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 39.3 minutes per game. He scored 30 and 27 points in wins against Indiana and Minnesota, respectively, but experienced some soreness and swelling in his left knee after the game against the Timberwolves. Arenas missed Washington’s last two games against Portland and Philadelphia.

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan speaks about the team

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan on the upcoming schedule: “Every opponent in the NBA is a quality opponent. We think that we’re coming around. We feel good about where we are and how we’re playing. If we play hard, share the ball, keep our composure, and stay organized, then we have a good shot and we’ll let the winning take care of itself.”

Eddie Jordan on the Wizards’ defensive effort: “We have spent a lot of time on defense. Randy Ayers has done a terrific job with our basic defensive principles, our practice plans and emphasis during the games. He’s been a real key for our defensive presence. Our guys have put in the effort. They have bought into the system. They listen to the principles and how important it is to be a better defensive team so that we can get to another level.”

Eddie Jordan on the offense: “I think we are moving the ball much better than we were last year at this point. The continuity is helping. We understand each other’s games and we understand that our chemistry is important. When you are 0-5, you see the tape. You see how the ball isn’t moved, you see the low assists, and you see the high turnovers. High assists, low turnovers, caring about defense, and moving the basketball – the formula is just right for us to win.”

Eddie Jordan on Nick Young: “You know the direction a roller coaster goes, right? That’s what most young guys go through. He had some tough moments early this season, and all of a sudden he’s at the top of his game. We hope he can stay up there for awhile. I think he understands how it came about. Through defensive effort, he got a few breakaways. He played within the offense and we stayed organized. We saw the match-up that he had, and that was good. We have to try to sustain some type of consistency.”

Eddie Jordan on the Philadelphia 76ers: “They’re a very athletic team. I think (Samuel) Dalembert may be back, and they are a better team with him. They always play hard, and (76ers Coach Maurice) Cheeks is always changing defenses, so we have to be ready to read the defense, stay organized, and do what we have to do.”

Eddie Jordan on Gilbert Arenas: “It seems like he’s going to play. Our policy is that whenever we can give him some time off, we will. I told him not to eat a lot of turkey on Thursday so he might stay a little lighter in the pants on Friday and Saturday.”

Eddie Jordan speaks on early season Wizards issues

The Washington Wizards have started the 2007-08 season with one win and five losses. Here’s head coach Eddie Jordan:

On the Wizards’ offense: “As much as people say we can score, we’ve got to execute. We want to score with efficiency. We don’t want to take a lot of bad shots that lead to fast breaks, or take bad shots that are not in harmony with the team concept. You have to play as a team and share the ball.”

On the recent players-only meeting: “What I liked about our team meeting was that it was short. The short ones are pretty concise and to the point, then let’s go to practice. There are some that last too long, and it’s just a whole lot of talk. I felt good when the team said they were going to have a meeting and they came back out in less than 15 minutes. That was a good sign.”

On leadership: “Coaches appreciate leaders who are consistent every day. When something needs to be said in the locker room, bus, plane, but certainly in practice and in games, coaches want captains that lead by example and through professional communication. That’s what we want to see.”

On the play of Gilbert Arenas: “He’s quarterbacking the team and he’s talking. He’s defending better. I think it’s because of the emphasis we put on individual and team defense. He’s getting over screens, he’s helping, he’s in good position, and he’s always in a defensive stance, which is a lot of strain on the legs.”

On the team’s community service event at Andrews Air Force Base: “Our guys have always been out in the community and I think we’ve got terrific character guys. It’s nothing new and nothing different for us. It’s not just something they have to do; they do it on their own.”