Wizards Can't Get The Knack

Loss to Knicks Is Team's Seventh in Last 10 Games: Knicks 93, Wizards 83

Gilbert Arenas, above, and the Wizards are without Antawn Jamison and reserves Etan Thomas and Anthony Peeler in a 93-83 loss to New York on Tuesday. (Frank Franklin II - AP)

NEW YORK, March 8 -- The Washington Wizards need a break before somebody else breaks down. With right knee tendinitis forcing iron man Antawn Jamison to miss his first game in almost five years and the flu keeping reserves Etan Thomas and Anthony Peeler from making the trip, the Wizards arrived in town with just nine players available.

And many of the Washington Nine who played Tuesday night are looking forward to some much-needed rest following a 93-83 loss to the New York Knicks. Fortunately for the Wizards, they won't play again until Sunday. "We need these days off more than anybody in the NBA," said center Brendan Haywood, one of the few Wizards who left Madison Square Garden without at least some minor aches and pains.

Point guard Gilbert Arenas winced with each step he took on his sore left knee after he scored 23 points with eight rebounds. Forward Kwame Brown limped around the locker room with a bag of ice on his swollen right ankle after he shot 0 for 8 and scored just two points.

Guard Larry Hughes complained of slight back pain after he scored a game-high 27 points with three steals in his fourth game since returning from a broken right thumb. Forward Jared Jeffries, playing his first game in almost two weeks, was hoping that his bruised right knee wasn't going to swell up after he scored seven points with seven rebounds. And reserve guard Juan Dixon, who was shut out in his second game since returning from a sprained right ankle, was hopeful that he'll resemble his old self when the Wizards play the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

"I'm going to try my best to get back, to be healthy," Dixon said after playing just nine minutes. "We banged up, man. We hurting right now. But guys that are hurt got to suck it up somehow. Guys have got to step up. We've got to make this push."

The Wizards (33-26) have lost seven of their past 10 games and have just a one-game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards shot just 32.5 percent from the floor and had a season-low 10 assists, but they showed some life after intermission, when they staged a 13-0 run to take a 53-48 lead when Arenas knocked down back-to-back three pointers with 8 minutes 1 second left in the third quarter. But then Haywood (13 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocked shots) picked up his fifth foul, on Knicks forward Michael Sweetney, and the Knicks took control with Haywood on the bench.

They outscored the Wizards 31-10 over the next 12 minutes. The Wizards went almost eight minutes without a field goal and missed 13 consecutive shots in the second half before Hughes made a driving layup to cut the Knicks' lead to 14 points with 7:41 left in the fourth quarter. The Wizards got within 79-70 when Arenas converted a three-point play a little over one minute later. But the Wizards would only get two more field goals -- a tip-in by Haywood and a rebound tip dunk by Laron Profit -- the rest of the game.

"We can't go in droughts like that," Arenas said, grimacing as he put on his shoes. "I'm hurting right now. I hit the floor a lot. Eventually my body is going to tear down. But I got to keep going until everybody gets back. The time off will be good for us."

Knicks guard Jamal Crawford led five players in double figures for the Knicks (26-34), who won their seventh in a row at home. He also provided the only noteworthy highlight in an otherwise lackluster game when he tossed the ball off the glass to himself for a dunk in the first quarter.

"I'm comfortable doing it, because I do it in practice," Crawford said. "I was just trying to be creative."

Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan has tried to be creative as well. The Wizards haven't been at full strength all season, with a seemingly endless revolving door of healthy and injured bodies. They scored fewer then 100 points for the third consecutive game and have only scored in triple digits in two of the past 12 games. "We're undersized. We're undermanned. That's never been an excuse for us," Jordan said.

But the Wizards were missing a significant piece to their turnaround this season in Jamison, their third-leading scorer who had his league-leading consecutive games played streak ended at 386. "He's normally Mr. Dependable. He plays through injuries," Haywood said. "Right now, we're having a tough time. We've got guys sick. We've got guys hurt. We've got guys in foul trouble. The Wizards are going through a lot of adversity. At the same time, these are the things that make you stronger when you overcome it."