Washington
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
No Hughes, no win. The San Antonio Spurs demolished the Washington Wizards 101-73, capitalizing on the absence of team scoring leader Larry Hughes and seeming to ignore their own missing Manu Ginobili. Gilbert Arenas did not hit a single field goal, ending with three points off of free throws in 34 minutes of action. Juan Dixon stepped into the big Hughes shoes and came up with 10 points, 6 boards, and 3 assists. Jarvis Hayes was the only Wizard to score more points, as he hit for a game-high 27 off the bench, but it was nowhere near enough.
Combined, Arenas and Antawn Jamison were held to just nine points in a combined 53 minutes. Jamison did not have a single rebound. Head coach Eddie Jordan sat both of them the entire fourth quarter.
The long debate about the significance of the defensive prowess provided by Hughes, the league leader in steals, received another push in the direction of "significant" as both Tony Parker and Devin Brown torched the opposition for 23 and 24 points, respectively. The Wizards starters scored a combined 25 points.
The Wizards still totaled about six steals between them, though Hughes personally would have increased even that figure by 47% with his 2.82 average. More painful was losing his 21.2 points per game, though that wouldn't have even been enough in this game to make up the difference.
The loss snapped a 7-0 Wizards streak.
NEXT GAME
Now that they lost to the Southwest's best team, they get to take on the second best. The Wizards (22-14, second in the Southeast) finish their little Texas two-step by taking on the Dallas Mavericks (23-12, second in the Southwest) TONIGHT. The game starts at 8:30pm Eastern and will be broadcast on CSN and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
Wizards Magazinerecently got together with second year swingman Jarvis Hayes who has played a key role off the bench this season.
INJURY UPDATE
Larry Hughes(thumb fracture) is out 4-6 weeks.Kwame Brown(ankle),Steve Blake(ankle) andPeter John Ramos(shoulder) are all parked on the Wizards' injured list. Brown is slated to come off Friday and Blake could be another one to three weeks.
Michael Lee ofThe Washington Postwrites: "I'd rather get beat by the best team in the league, rather than the worst to end our 7-0 run," point guard Gilbert Arenas said."It was like the young kid who gets bold and goes against his father and his father has to smack us down to let us know we're still small. They smacked us down and let us know we need more work."
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Timeswrites: "The defense did a great job, but when you apparently shoot as poorly as those two did you have to say it was a bad shooting night. It was not just that our defense held them to that."— Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison combining to shoot 2-for-20 from the floor.
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Timeswrites: "It's real tough but it's one of those things," Haywood said. "I've seen it every year in my career. My first year Michael Jordan got hurt. My second year Michael Jordan got hurt. Last year Larry, Gilbert and [Jerry Stackhouse] got hurt.Every year I've been here we've lost one or more of our main guys. You just have to understand that it's going to take time to get better. You are not going to be the same team right off the bat."
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Timeswrites: Without the league leader in steals, the Wizards freely admitted they have lost a significant part of the identity they have spent honing as the season approaches the halfway mark."I expect us to come back and be resilient [today]," Jordan said. "I expect us to come out with more energy and assertiveness. But still, we are treading waters that we are not used to."
Christian Toto ofThe Washington Timeswrites: The weekend warrior staring at the face in the mirror often won't admit the truth. It's not the face of an 18-year-old anymore. "No matter how young you want to feel, you aren't," says John Lally, a retired athletic trainer who for years helped keep the Washington Bullets flying high.Mr. Lally isn't immune to the syndrome. "I'm 61, but I think I'm 35 until I try to do something," he says. Weekend warriors can keep battling for years if they heed the advice of experts like Mr. Lally. Sports doctors, trainers and strength-conditioning coaches keep student athletes and professionals on the field, not the trainer's table. Their tips can do the same for occasional athletes.