With point guard Antonio Daniels out for 2-4 weeks with a sprained knee, the Washington Wizards were more than shorthanded going into Saturday night's game against the visiting Sacramento Kings. Rookie Nick Young started in Daniels' spot in the back court and scored five of the team's first seven points, but it was the hot hand of DeShawn Stevenson that led the Wizards to a 92-79 win. Stevenson played over 44 minutes and connected......

Ticket holders for Saturday's Wizards v. Raptors match up probably made their purchases with visions of Gilbert Arenas and Chris Bosh dancing in their head. With both stars injured for the game, instead it turned into the Roger Mason Jr. v. Jason Kapono show. It turns out this wasn't a bad thing at all. After not playing at all in Thursday's loss in Philadelphia, Mason Jr. came off the bench to score 15 big......

.354 from the field .203 from three point land 91.7 points per game No matter how you look at the numbers, it's clear the Washington Wizards struggled in the opening week of the NBA season, a fact reflected in their 0-3 record. The team looks disjointed on offense, taking bad shots and turning the ball over with impunity. And by giving up 105+ points per game - good for 26th in the league -......

In news that will make hard luck single guys everywhere feel better about themselves, Wizards forward Andray Blatche was arrested yesterday for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in Thomas Circle. This isn't the first run in with trouble for Blatche since joining the Wizards: he was carjacked and shot in the chest during his rookie year. Compounding the issue for Blatche is the fact that he currently has a 5-year, $12.5 million......

Last night at the NBA Draft, the West got better by picking some young talent (Greg Oden to Portland, Kevin Durant to Seattle) and the East got better by trading for talent (Zach Randolph to New York, Ray Allen to Boston). The Wizards got better by selecting USC shooting guard/small forward Nick Young. Young averaged just over 17 points per game last year at SoCal and is known for his mid-range jumper and fearless......

A scant 21 days remain until my favorite day of the entire year, the NBA draft. And while Cleveland and San Antonio start the NBA finals tonight (9:00 p.m. on ABC), the rest of the league, including the Washington Wizards, are firmly entrenched in the off season. What's in store for Team Zero? Let's take a look. The Wizards have roughly $38 million in guaranteed salaries committed to the core of the team next......

The Wizards and Capitals are on summer vacation. The only Redskins news prominently features Ron Mexico and is not related to sports at all (well, human sports anyway). Despite these non-developments, this weekend has some intriguing aspects regarding actual Washington sports. >> Boxing comes to the District as the brothers Peterson square off in co-featured bouts at the D.C. Armory. Lamont and Anthony Peterson are a combined 42-0 with 25 knockouts between them. Anthony will......

After getting handled by the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday afternoon, the Wizards did their best to step up their game. It would be hard to argue that last night's showing was not a step up from Sunday's dreary performance. The Wizards increased their point total by 20, but the end result was the same: another L in the books as Cleveland rode a strong performance by Drew Gooden (of all people!) for a 109-102 victory. Gooden......

After weeks on the road in hostile conditions, United had been looking forward to Saturday night's MLS home opener for quite some time. The boisterous 22,358 in attendance were determined to make United's homecoming a pleasant one. The driving rain and potent Kansas City Wizards offense were not. The Wizards took advantage of United's defensive lapses with polished finishing to claim a 4-2 victory. It took only 3 minutes for the Wizards to deliver......

I picked a hell of a night to stay home and do laundry. There I was, checking my RSS feed during a Friday Night Lights commercial break when Ivan Carter and the always informative Wizards Insider informed me that Gilbert Arenas arrived late for the afternoon shoot around and would not start against the suddenly hot Charlotte Bobkittens. "Not that big of a deal" I thought, but then I went on to Ivan's next......

The Washington Wizards found out last Friday that they'd be without Caron Butler for the next 10 or so days, not exactly the type of thing you want to hear with the Miami Heat breathing down their necks for the division lead. As we're sure you all remember, the team was 0-3 without Butler earlier in the season. Lucky for the Wizards then that the struggling New Orleans / Oklahoma City Hornets (aka the......

Due to losses in their previous two match ups, the Wizards were obviously fired up for the Atlantic Division leading Toronto Raptors last night, which was a good thing because it seemed like everyone else - the somewhat sparse crowd, the media, the dance team, G-Wiz - was uninterested and unimpressed. Perhaps they were all suffering from a little seasonal depression or fearful of the latest oncoming snowpocalypse. No matter the cause, the Wizards......

Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler returned from their injuries over the weekend and the nearly full strength Wizards won a pair of games, defeating Atlanta 93-92 on Friday and winning a wild one yesterday over Golden State 107-106. We'll start with the Golden State game, as it had one of the strangest endings I've ever seen in a basketball game. Down two with just over two seconds remaining, Gilbert Arenas drove to the hole......

The Miami Heat took control of a close game last night by repeatedly feeding Shaquille O'Neal in the post and The Diesel responded by scoring 10 of his season high 23 in the fourth quarter, leading the visiting Miami Heat past a depleted Washington Wizards team, 92-83. With Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison out with injuries, the Heat ran multiple defenders at Gilbert Arenas all night, holding him to 15 points on 3-15 shooting.......

Things were going according to plan for the Wizards last night when disaster struck. Almost. Comfortably up 17 points with just over eight minutes remaining against the visiting Sacramento Kings, the Wiz saw their lead diminish rapidly due to turnovers, sloppy play and a red hot Mike Bibby. Bibby, who many thought would be wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey before the end of the day, celebrated staying with his current club by hitting four......

The Wizards and Timberwolves both played like they were still suffering from Las Vegas induced hangovers last night but Washington rode the hot hand of Gilbert Arenas and got some timely contributions from his teammates in the Wiz's 112-100 win. Honestly, this game was a bit of a snoozer. The Wizards shot over 50% from the field and built up a sizable lead in the first half, weathered the inevitable run from the TWolves......

Forget any anger and antipathy you may have felt towards David Stern and ABC for their draconian TV policy. Trust me, you should be happy this game was blacked out locally. If you didn't see Sunday's disappointing 94-73 Wizards loss to Portland, you didn't miss much. Despite his threats, Gilbert Arenas didn't score 50 points. Not even close. The Wizards as a team didn't break 50 until the fourth quarter. The team played lackadaisically......

The Wizards 104-99 win over the Detroit Pistons last night at the Verizon Center evened the season series to 2-2, solidified D.C.'s grip on the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and has rendered it extremely probable that Eddie Jordan will coach the East's All-Star Team in Vegas. Good news all around then, except for the small matter of Antawn Jamison re-injuring the left knee he tweaked playing Boston on January 20th. Jamison suffered......

127-105. Yeah, it was that bad. Worse even. So much for all the talk about "swag" and "tough juice." Only time will tell if last night's shellacking at the hand of the Phoenix Suns will start the backlash on the hype and attention the Wizards have earned this year, but boy was it ugly. The crowd of 20,173, not to mention the huge media contingent, came to the Verizon Center last night be entertained......

Gilbert Arenas left the court at the Verizon Center yesterday as fans serenaded him with chants of "MVP! MVP!" after hitting yet another game winner at the buzzer. The Utah Jazz were Agent Zero's latest victim, falling 114-111 in an incredible Martin Luther King Day matinée. Arenas, who tied a Verizon Center record with 51 points, traded three pointers with Utah's Memet Okur down the stretch, but got the ball last and made Utah......

The Wizards absolutely crushed the Memphis Grizzlies last night at the Verizon Center in the most one-sided NBA game we've witnessed in a while. D.C. exploded to a 45-18 lead in the first quarter, and set a new Verizon Center record by scoring 77 in the first half. Gilbert Arenas took his new Kobe-inspired mantra of "quality shots" seriously, scoring his 31 points on just 13 field goal attempts in 33 minutes. Thanks to injuries......

Written by DCist contributor Matthew Yglesias Wizards fans in the Verizon Center for last Sunday's overtime loss to the Nets could smell victory as the Nets were forced to try and in-bound the ball facing a three-point deficit with only 2.7 seconds remaining on the regulation clock. Odor turned to palpable taste as guard Vince Carter launched a long shot on a short-arced trajectory that couldn't possibly fall in. And, indeed, the shot slammed into......

Written by DCist contributor Matthew Yglesias. The scheduling gods decreed that for tonight's season-opening game, the Wizards face off against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the very team that sent the Wiz packing from the playoffs last year in a heart-breaking six game defeat. Despite the superficial difference in records (50-32 for Cleveland, 42-40 for Washington), the two squads were extremely closely matched last season in terms of point differential and expected wins. The......

US Basketball announced yesterday that the Wizards' All-Star duo, Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, remain on the Men's National team after the latest round of cuts. With 15 players remaining, there are only 3 cuts to be made before the final squad is set for the World Championships. The inclusion of Arenas was expected, as the 24-year-old is coming off his best season yet (29.3 ppg), and is just entering the prime of his......

The first two times the Celtics and Wizards matched up this year the refs decided the games on dubious calls down the stretch. Last night they let the players decide the game and unfortunately for Washington, Paul Pierce had the ball last. Pierce, who led the NBA in scoring for the month of February, made a deep, off balanced 22 footer over Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler as time expired in OT to give the......

The long holiday weekend meant lots of local hoops action to go around for fans of every school. I spent the weekend in Philly, where Villanova has taken over the headlines from the rudderless 76ers. The Cats beat #1 UConn earlier in the week but were determined not to overlook Georgetown on Sunday, especially since the Hoyas also have a win over #1 to their credit this season. Unfortunately Georgetown couldn't match the energy and......

The Washington Wizards appear to have turned the corner. Last night's 84-79 win over the Indiana Pacers gives the Wiz wins in eight of their last 11 games and puts them one game under .500 for the season. The Pacers, who have now lost six in a row, played their first game with recent acquisition Peja Stojakovic, acquired last week for the ever-disgruntled Ron Artest. Peja scored 17, but was mostly ineffective last night, shooting......

The Wizards lost at home last night to the Houston Rockets 123-111 in a game that was out of reach from the early going. The Rockets shot 55.1% from field (just their second time shooting over 50% all season), 52.9% from three point land and 84.8% from the line. While we realize that with stats like that, it's the players that lost the game, it's worth noting that Wiz Coach Eddie Jordan got served......

With three blogs, Matthew Yglesias is one of the more prolific progressive political bloggers out there. The 24-year-old writer for The American Prospect, who hails from New York City, has also, since he moved to D.C. a few years ago, been dubbed by just about everybody as either a "rising star" or "up-and-coming pundit." Yglesias took time to chat with DCist over email about everything from the D.C. blog scene to Gilbert Arenas.......

The Washington Wizards started last week one game below .500 and facing four games in a span of six days that threatened to send their season into a tailspin if things went badly. After an overtime win at home on Tuesday against the woeful Raptors, the team failed to gain any momentum, losing three games to Eastern Conference rivals Indiana, Chicago and Miami. Getting destroyed on national TV to the Pacers was bad, but......