Wizards' Jeffries Might Make Start

If his sore left calf doesn't act up during this morning's shoot-around or during warmups before tonight's game against the Charlotte Bobcats, Jared Jeffries will be back in the starting lineup for the Washington Wizards (31-30).

The injury forced Jeffries to miss the last three games, but the wiry guard-forward practiced yesterday and indicated to Coach Eddie Jordan that he's ready to go.

"He had a good practice, he looked good and it didn't stiffen up on him, so we'll see" today, Jordan said following practice at Verizon Center.

The decision to return Jeffries, who is averaging 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds, to the starting lineup would shift guard Antonio Daniels back into a reserve role. After rookie Donell Taylor replaced Jeffries in the starting lineup against Boston, Daniels started against Miami and Detroit and played some of his best basketball of the season.

In the two games, Daniels made 10 of 14 shots, including 3 of 4 three-point attempts, and totaled 35 points and 10 assists. Daniels was also 12 of 12 from the free throw line and played excellent defense on Detroit's Richard Hamilton during Saturday's 110-92 victory at Verizon Center.

Daniels has scored in double figures in six consecutive games and has been a clutch player for the Wizards for several weeks, and Jordan often uses the veteran in combination with Gilbert Arenas during the fourth quarter.

The Wizards are 7-5 with Daniels as a starter, but Jordan has grown comfortable with a starting unit that includes Arenas and Jeffries at guard, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison at forward and Brendan Haywood at center.

Washington is 16-14 with that starting five, and Jordan said he particularly likes having the 6-foot-11 Jeffries spearheading his perimeter defense.

"I still like the idea of having Jared in there," Jordan said. "We had success, a little bit more than mild success, for that five-week period with those starters in there, Jared at" shooting guard.

Jeffries suffered the injury, which extends from his lower left calf down to just above his Achilles' tendon, during the March 1 home loss to Indiana. Jeffries played 24 minutes during a loss at Philadelphia two days later and aggravated the injury after playing eight minutes against Sacramento on March 5.

Coincidentally, Charlotte forward Gerald Wallace appeared to suffer a similar calf injury during the Bobcats' 94-78 loss at Detroit on Sunday.

Wallace, who played just under four minutes Sunday but expects to be in the lineup tonight, is Charlotte's leading scorer (14.7 points per game), leads the league is steals (2.4 per game) and is his team's most explosive player.

Wallace caused all kinds of problems in transition and one-on-one during Charlotte's 100-82 win over the Wizards in Charlotte on Nov. 26. He scored 26 points that night and helped the Bobcats hand the Wizards one of their ugliest losses of the season. The Wizards came out flat, fell behind early and never recovered.

The defeat came just 24 hours after the Wizards pulled out a 120-114 double-overtime victory at Detroit, a point that is not lost on Jamison.

"There are a lot of games that you look at and say, 'We should have played better.' But that one, after going up to Detroit and beating them the way we did, to come back and pretty much not play well at all, it pretty much signified the way the season has been for us," Jamison said.

After tonight's game, the Wizards will fly back to Washington and host the Bobcats tomorrow night at Verizon Center. The Wizards evened the season series between the teams with a 107-97 win over Bobcats at home on Jan. 28.

After last night's games, the Wizards were in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, a game behind Indiana and a half-game ahead of Philadelphia.

"After Saturday's win over Detroit, we said that if we don't find a way to win against Charlotte at Charlotte, beating the Pistons would pretty much be for nothing," Jamison said. "They play well at Charlotte and we just have to find a way to win a game. That's what it all comes down to now."