By Ivan Carter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 12 -- All-star forward Antawn Jamison was trying to explain how the Washington Wizards squandered a 23-point lead and lost 120-117 to the Golden State Warriors on Monday night when it was suggested that things would have been easier had Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels been on the court.

"Yeah, and they need to get their butts back quick," said Jamison, who finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds but was unable to keep the Wizards from losing their eighth straight game. "The reality of it is that without those guys we have little margin for error and right now, even when we have played well, we're not doing the things we need to in order to win close games, and that is frustrating."

The good news for the Wizards (24-27) is that help could be on the way soon. Daniels, who has missed consecutive games with soreness in his right ankle, said the ankle is feeling "much better" and he could return Wednesday night when the team closes its four-game trip in Los Angeles against the Clippers.

Butler has missed the last five games with a strained left hip flexor but went through a workout Tuesday and will be a game-time decision.

If Butler doesn't play or experiences a setback, he may sit out Sunday's All-Star Game with the hopes of returning healthy after the break, which begins Thursday and ends Monday when the Wizards return to practice to prepare for Tuesday's home game against the New York Knicks.

Arenas, who has been out since undergoing left knee surgery on Nov. 21, continues to ratchet up his workout routine and says he is on schedule for a return to practice at some point soon after the break.

In the meantime, the Wizards are eager to snap the team's longest losing skid since the 2001-02 season with a win over the Clippers (17-32), who are coming off a 96-89 win in Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

After opening the trip with a ragged performance during a 111-100 loss in Denver on Friday night, the Wizards played well before falling to the Phoenix Suns, 108-107, Sunday night.

Then they went out and played perhaps their best half of basketball this season in building the big lead against Golden State before the Warriors chipped away and rode Stephen Jackson's 41-point effort to victory on Monday. Guard Roger Mason Jr., who finished with a career-high 32 points in the loss, said it has been hard to take anything good away from the defeats.

"It doesn't matter because we didn't win," said Mason, who has started in place of Daniels. "That's the bottom line. We were in position to win these two games and end [the streak] but we didn't get it done, so it's hard to sit here and feel good about anything."

Mason described the team's mind-set as "desperate" going into Wednesday's game.

"Nobody in this locker room wants to sit there for three days thinking about how we are on a nine-game losing streak," Mason said. "We all have too much pride for that. We need to get this thing stopped, regroup for a few days, have some of our guys get back and get ready for the rest of the season."

Wizards Notes: If Butler doesn't play in the All-Star Game, a likely choice as his replacement would be Boston guard Ray Allen, a fellow Connecticut product and a friend of Butler's. However, Allen told the Boston Globe that he would not want to make the team at Butler's expense.

"I've always wanted to see him do well and he's done great," Allen said. "And I like the way he plays. He played hard. He plays the game the way it should be played." . . .

The Wizards haven't lost nine straight since doing it twice during the dreadful 2000-01 season, when they finished 19-63.

In spite of the streak, the Wizards were still in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of seventh-place Atlanta, entering Tuesday's games. Contrast that with the situation in the loaded Western Conference, in which the Warriors improved to 31-20 with Tuesday's victory but were tied for eighth with Houston.