The Washington Wizards are glad to see their five-game, nine-day Western Conference road trip come to an end, but the team has little time to catch its collective breath as it prepares for its final eight games of the regular season.
“It’s nice to get back,” said reserve guard Roger Mason Jr., whose Wizards play host to the Milwaukee Bucks tonight in their first home date in 10 games. “But getting back means we’ve got to get some wins. These last two losses hurt, but we’ve made these next few games that much more important.”
Just 24 hours after losing to Los Angeles Lakers 126-120 in overtime, the Wizards suffered their worst defeat of the season, falling 129-87 to the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Monday.
“You combine an emotional game we had yesterday and travel, you put everything together and that’s the NBA,” coach Eddie Jordan said. “It kind of beats you up. You have to be really, really good. Really good to overcome that type of thing and overcome a team like this and get yourself in position to win. You really have to be good, be clicking on all cylinders, be healthy. We didn’t have any of that.”
The Wizards (38-36) weren’t healthy against the Jazz, playing without two of their top playmakers — forward Caron Butler, who averages 20.7 points and 4.8 assists, and point guard Antonio Daniels, who averages 8.7 points and 4.9 assists.
Butler was out because of a strained hamstring he suffered Sunday. Daniels in the same game aggravated what the team described as a badly sprained left wrist, an injury he originally suffered March 11.
Butler said he received treatment much of Monday but still experienced soreness, so the team decided to hold him out to avoid further damage. He and Daniels both hope to return tonight, well aware of the importance of a strong finish down the stretch.
The Wizards enter tonight’s game in a tie with Toronto for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but they have beaten the Raptors in three of four meetings this season and thus own the tiebreaker.
Washington losses and Toronto wins, however, will translate into a flip-flop and a tougher road in the playoffs.
“It’s a key stretch,” Butler said. “We’ve got a chance to clinch a playoff spot. We’ve got a nice little homestand — a couple of games — then head out to [Chicago on Saturday].”
Washington can clinch a playoff spot with a victory over the Bucks and losses by the Nets to the 76ers and the Pacers to the Celtics.
The return of Butler and Daniels would help, but the Wizards also could receive a boost from the return of leading scorer Gilbert Arenas if team doctors deem him healthy enough to play. Arenas underwent knee surgery Nov. 21 and has missed all but eight games this season.
Arenas hoped to play in the team’s last home game, a March 23 victory over the Detroit Pistons, but the medical staff told the three-time All-Star they wanted him to wait another week, then undergo a re-evaluation.
The Wizards did not say yesterday whether Arenas would be evaluated before tonight’s game. But Arenas said this weekend that he’s ready to play as soon as he’s cleared. He also, however, tempered expectations about his performance when he does return, citing his lack of conditioning.
“If they do clear me, I don’t know what they expect from me,” Arenas said. “I’m not really in basketball shape, don’t really have any rhythm to the game. So we’ll see what the decision is when we get back to D.C.”
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