Washington
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
In a game that was a little too close for comfort, the Wizards beat the Hawks 102-99on the back, as usual, of some stellar backcourt play and solid frontcourt help. The Wizards completed their season sweep of the Hawks and are one game ahead of Chicago for home court advantage in the playoffs.
Stellar backcourt play and the Washington Wizards are nearly synonymous. Gilbert Arenas secured last night's victory by scoring five points in the final 80 seconds of play. He finished with 36 points on a sizzling 11-of-17 shooting from the field and 11-of-13 from the line. Larry Hughes had the same number of shot attempts but hit only nine, still a very fine shooting display, to go with his own 7-of-8 from the line for 26 points. They each had two assists and a handful of rebounds.
Jared Jefferies had an unexpectedly good passing night, dishing out 10 assists, mainly to the star backcourt mentioned above. That's a career high in assists for Jefferies.
Etan Thomas had yet another very solid performance in the post, putting up 16 points and 8 rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting in just 35 minutes of action.
The Wizards have the third-best record in the East trailing only Miami and Detroit. They have a better record than third-seeded Boston and are a game above Chicago, and 2.5 games above Cleveland, for the fourth spot and home court advantage for the first two rounds.
NEXT GAME
The Washington Wizards (40-30, second in the Southeast) visit their divisional rivals Orlando Magic (34-37, third in the Southeast) tomorrow night, Friday, April 1st. Who will the April Fool be? The game starts at 7:00pm Eastern and will be broadcast on CSN, Sun Sports, and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Times notes: Wizards center Brendan Haywood, out the last two games with a broken left thumb, thinks he could be back in three weeks... Jarvis Hayes agreed with coach Eddie Jordan, saying he won't make it back to the active roster during the regular season. Asked before the game whether his broken patella would keep him sidelined, Hayes replied, "I just won't have enough time to heal."... The Wizards signed small forward Damone Brown to his second 10-day contract.
INJURY UPDATE
Antawn Jamison(knee),Jarvis Hayes(knee), andBrendan Haywood (thumb fracture) are all on the injured list.Anthony Peeler(knee) is out indefinitely.
Michael Lee ofThe Washington Postwrites: The Wizards have an 18-12 record against their final 12 opponents and they own a .500 or better record against nine of those teams.Orlando (1-2), the Wizards' opponent tomorrow night, Detroit (0-3) and Boston (1-2) are the only teams they haven't had success against this season.
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Timeswrites: Tired, missing several injured starters and without their coach, the Washington Wizards had at least one salvation last night: They were facing the Atlanta Hawks.Coach Eddie Jordan had a virus and was too sick to stay on the bench after halftime, and assistant Mike O'Koren was thrust into surprise command in the second half of the Wizards' 102-99 victory over the NBA's worst team at MCI Center. O'Koren coached the Wizards for two games in November when Jordan was stricken with a blood clot in his leg. Both of those games -- a loss to Philadelphia and a win two days later in Toronto -- went to overtime, a fate Washington narrowly avoided last night.
John Markon ofThe Richmond Times-Dispatchwrites: Six years ago as a rookie in Philadelphia, Larry Hughes was able to participate in eight playoff games. At the time, he didn't feel it made him King of the NBA. After all, more than half of the league's players and teams are involved in postseason play. "I feel kind of uncomfortable talking about my playoff 'experience,'" admitted Hughes. "Eight games don't make you an expert."On the Washington Wizards, of course, eight games make you Derek Jeter.