There's No Defending Wizards In Atlanta

Hawks 138, Wizards 124

ATLANTA, March 12 -- The Washington Wizards are on a roll.

First, the Denver Nuggets hammered them by a season-worst 30 points on Tuesday. The next night, Orlando Magic all-star Tracy McGrady dropped an NBA decade-high 62 points on them.

The most recent indignity came Friday, with swingman Jerry Stackhouse back in the starting lineup after a six-game, injury-rehabilitation hiatus, against the woeful Atlanta Hawks. Ahead by 18 points in the second quarter, the Wizards gave up a season-high 45 third-quarter points, fell behind by 15 and ended up losing their fifth straight game, 138-124 at Philips Arena.

In the process, Washington, loser of 29 games by double digits, added to its recent and growing list of dubious shortcomings.

It gave up a season high in points, including 84 in the second half, to surpass the 122 it allowed to the Los Angeles Lakers. It allowed Stephen Jackson (42) and Jason Collier (22) to register career highs in scoring. Five Hawks players scored 20 points or more, a feat last achieved on Jan. 26, 1993, when Orlando had a quintet go big over Atlanta. The last time the Hawks had five players score 20 points came on Nov. 13, 1968.

"When they're doing everything they want, it's like everybody's looking at everybody else," said Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas, who had team highs in points (30), assists (10) and turnovers (6). "My guy breaks me down, and the next time he uses the screen and roll. They were doing anything they wanted tonight, and we just have to blame ourselves. They didn't score 45 [third-quarter] points on Coach.

"They scored 45 points on the people that were out there. It's our fault."

By recording its third five-game losing streak, Washington (20-44) assumed sole possession of the third-worst record in the NBA. Atlanta (21-44), which has traded nearly every top-caliber player on its roster and would probably like to get a high draft lottery pick much more than Washington, snapped a four-game losing streak to move a half-game ahead of the Wizards.

After allowing the Hawks to make 16 of 24 third-quarter shots and best them 45-26 in the period to fall behind 100-88, the Wizards pulled to 107-103. Atlanta responded with 11 straight points to go up 118-103. Washington got to 121-114 with 3 minutes 35 seconds left, but a Boris Diaw free throw and a breakaway dunk from Jackson after a turnover by Arenas squashed any chance of a face-saving rally.

Guard Bob Sura (season-high 28 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds) was the catalyst for the Hawks, as he was able to break down defenders off the dribble and either set up easy shots for himself or teammates. He generated several of Atlanta's 29 fast-break points off Washington's 20 turnovers.

"We has some turnovers that were very, very careless," Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan said of a late second-quarter collapse that left them up 62-55 after leading by double digits for much of the period. "We were up 18, and we let them get on a run, and it gave them a lot of confidence going into halftime. Our first few possessions of the third quarter were almost just the same, careless turnovers inbounding the ball, outletting the ball. That really got them going. They got juiced up. They started making shots."

Stackhouse had 29 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 turnovers in his first action since proclaiming his season was over, following a 20-point effort in a 12-point loss to the Lakers on Feb 28. After missing the first 45 games following preseason surgery to repair damaged lining under his right kneecap, Stackhouse played 12 games in which he said debilitating discomfort in his lower extremities would not allow him to play at a level worthy of continuing.

After a meeting with President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld, Stackhouse agreed to rehabilitate his pains and try to play again. He came back strong offensively, but keeping up with Jackson proved difficult, to say the least.

"I felt good but I got tired in the second half pretty much," Stackhouse said. "Right now we're struggling with our confidence. We've got to understand on the road there's no such thing as a big lead or an insurmountable lead. You know the other team is going to make a run. They got guys that can score. . . . When they started to do that it's like 'Here we go again.' That's our mentality. We've got to get away from that."