Wizards' Altered Lineup Is Winning Combination

Washington Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan was issued his second technical foul of the season just three minutes into last night's game against the Atlanta Hawks after arguing with referee Bill Kennedy, but his most emphatic message was delivered before tip-off.

With his team having lost five of its last six games, Jordan sat center Brendan Haywood, replacing him in the starting lineup with Calvin Booth, and also started Michael Ruffin in place of Antawn Jamison at forward.

Those moves, combined with a hot first quarter by Caron Butler (eight of his 14 points), some sharp-shooting by Jared Jeffries (matched a career high with 15 points) and an intriguing contribution from rookies Donell Taylor and Andray Blatche paid off with a 103-72 victory in front of 12,632 at MCI Center.

It was the largest margin of victory for the Wizards (14-19) since a 41-point win over Seattle on Nov. 11, and came on a night when all-star guard Gilbert Arenas scored a season-low nine points on 4-of-12 shooting.

No worries. Arenas was able to watch the fourth quarter from the bench with a smile while Taylor (15 points on 6-of-8 shooting) and Blatche (nine points, seven rebounds) finished off Atlanta.

The Hawks (9-24) are the league's worst team, so it was an ideal time for Jordan to tinker with his lineup and take a long look at his rookies. Jamison and Haywood, who were the only Wizards to start every game this season, reacted to Jordan's move in different ways.

While making it clear that he would prefer to start, Jamison said he agreed to the change after a phone conversation with Jordan following Tuesday's practice.

"I don't see myself as a guy coming off the bench," said Jamison, who finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals in 29 minutes. "If that's the case [pausing and breaking into a grin] but you know, I just want to win. It's a business and sometimes you don't understand things but we won tonight with me coming off the bench and I'm happy. That's the only thing that matters."

Haywood, whose production has nose-dived since a 14-point, six-rebound game at Denver on Dec. 21, culminating in a two-point, two-rebound effort in Monday's loss to Utah, didn't remove his warmups until the 5-minute 38-second mark of the third quarter, when the Wizards had a 62-45 lead.

"I probably would have liked to have had it done a different way," said Haywood, who finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes. "Like, come talk to me. Sit down and tell me why that's happening but [Jordan] didn't say anything to me about it. Probably won't. That's his MO. I don't know why I'm not starting."

Haywood said he was upset because he wasn't informed of the move until just before the game.

"I guess [Jordan] didn't feel the need to call me," Haywood said. "He called Antawn. He knew. I guess I wasn't important enough on this team for him to call me and let me know -- a starter on this team for the last couple of years -- that I wasn't going to be starting tonight. That's the move he made, so be it. Roll with it. I'm going to be here whenever the team needs me, but I'm not going to sit here and lie to you all that I'm happy about this. I'm disappointed. Disappointed in the way the team has played this year. Disappointed in myself. I'm disappointed in the way Coach has handled the situation."

Jordan said he decided to make the change after Tuesday's practice. When Jamison went down with soreness in his right knee, Jordan got a glimpse of what turned out to be his new lineup.

"Antawn went down and he stayed down for some time so we put Michael in," Jordan said. "At the time, Calvin was paired with Gilbert, Jared and Caron. They went up and down a few times, and I really liked it. It really got me going. I thought Antawn might be out anyway, and I had to make a decision. I talked to Antawn later on in the afternoon at length about it. He was a true professional about it. He said: 'Coach, if you want to try it, I want to do anything to get us going.' "

While Jordan's lineup dominated the postgame discussion, the story of the game itself was the performance of Washington's two rookies. For a six-minute span of the second quarter, Taylor looked like the most explosive player on the floor. The undrafted rookie from Alabama-Birmingham scored on a pair of layups and completed a three-point play with a free throw after making a layup as he was being fouled.

When Taylor headed to the bench with just over six minutes remaining in the half, he had already scored a season-high six points.

The night came to an end with Taylor and Blatche making their first three-pointers of the season and with Blatche drawing a loud cheer after a spectacular rebound and dunk in the final minutes.

"It was great seeing the rookies come in and play so well," Arenas said. "They've been working hard in practice every day, it was good to see them get a chance to show what they can do. We needed a game like this."