Jamison's Tap-In Sinks Clippers

The Wizards improved to 2-7 on the season when playing without all-star forward Caron Butler, who missed his sixth straight game with a stained left hip flexor. Butler will sit out Sunday's all-star game and hopes to be healthy for Tuesday's home game against the New York Knicks.

Haywood added 15 points and nine rebounds, Stevenson and Andray Blatche each finished with 13 points and rookie forward Dominic McGuire eptitomized the Wizards' hustle by grabbing 12 rebounds -- seven of them offensive -- in 24 minutes. Rarely has a player so impacted a game without making a shot (McGuire was zero-for-four from the field).

"We needed the win so I just tried to come with energy," said McGuire, whose father, John McGuire, saw him live for the first time as an NBA player. "That's how I can help this team: rebound and play defense."

Thornton led the Clippers with 24 points and Maggette scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half as the Clippers made their comeback.

The Wizards led 33-19 with just under eight minutes left in the second quarter and led by 13 at the half, but the Clippers woke up in the third. They steadily chipped away and finally went ahead 60-59 on a tip-in by Aaron Williams but the Wizards led 61-60 going into the fourth after Andray Blatche answered with a short jumper in the lane.

Jordan was hopeful that Wednesday night represented the final time his team would play without core players like Butler, Daniels and veteran center Etan Thomas, who could soon be cleared to return to contact work in practice.

Three-time all-star guard Gilbert Arenas also expects to return to practice at some point after the break.

"Our team knows where we are," Jordan said before the game. "We've played well in games, we've played hard and we've done things as well as we can. We've had guys step up and play very well. Now it's time for this group to see if we can win. We've played well in some games and we've hung in against good teams so this is the last chance for this group to win because Caron's coming back, Etan's coming back and A.D. is coming back."

The Wizards weren't as hot in the first half as they were Monday night when they built a 23-point second quarter lead over Golden State, but were efficient enough to take advantage of their lethargic opponent.

After the Clippers jumped out to an early 11-4 lead, the Wizards seized control with a 14-0 run that was keyed in part by Daniels, whose penetration and led to quality shots for himself and teammates.

The Wizards led 25-17 after the opening period and continued to play well in the second when they outscored the Clippers 20-15 en route to carrying a 45-32 lead into halftime.

As he did in Monday's loss at Golden State, when he scored 18 first-half points, Haywood controlled the paint as he finished the half with 12 points and eight rebounds while outplaying his counterpart Chris Kaman (two points, four rebounds, three fouls).

The good news for the Wizards is that the losing streak did not significantly damage their playoff prospects. They will go into the all-star break in sixth-place in the Eastern Conference, two-and-a-half games ahead of the New Jersey, which may or may not have Jason Kidd after the break, suddenly surging Philadelphia, which has won five straight, and slumping Atlanta.

"It was a heck of a stretch for us, especially when we were down, but our guys stuck in there and were warriors for us," said Jordan. "DeShawn was a warrior. Antawn Jamison was a warrior. Brendan Haywood was great. We had a bunch of guys step up and that's going to help us down the road."

Wizards Notes: Arenas was with the team for the first three games of the trip but flew back to Washington Wednesday morning where he will continue rehabilitating over the break.

The team is off until Monday. Daniels described himself as "exhausted" after the game but said the ankle held up well and he expects to be at full strength after the break. Blatche, who started for Butler again, scored in double figures for the fourth time in the last five games.