The Boston Celtics raised championship banner number 17 to the rafters last night and Greg Oden apparently can't play more than three minutes without getting injured. NBA basketball is back! The Washington Wizards start their season tonight at home against the New Jersey Nets at 7 p.m. Here are five hot issues that the Wizards will need to solve this season if they want to make it to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive......

Ruh-roh. Not long after news leaked out that Wizards starting center Brendan Haywood might be lost for 4-6 months, team captain Antawn Jamison went down with a knee injury in Dallas midway through the first quarter of last night's preseason opener. The team is officially calling it a "sprained knee" but on TV it looked much worse than that. The CSN broadcast cut to a nattily dressed Agent Zero on the Wizards bench and......

Due to the unreasonable 6 p.m. start time, I missed most of Game Five last night, but I did get home in time to see Caron Butler play the hero, connecting on a tough drive with 3.9 seconds left to give the Wizards the win and bring their first round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers back to D.C. down 3-2. LeBron James attempted a contested lay-up at the buzzer that would have given the......

The NBA playoffs is all about adjustments. After their performance in Game Two, the Wizards needed quite a few and head coach Eddie Jordan responded in kind for Game Three. Gilbert Arenas was added to the starting lineup, the team switched a majority of its defensive matchups, and the result was a resounding 108-72 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers that likely had most fans at home on the couch switching over to Lost at 10......

Rich Pedroncelli / AP Ouch.......

Despite a sprained right wrist, Gilbert Arenas is expected to play tonight as the Washington Wizards look to even their first round playoff series on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers, after losing a very winnable Game One 93-86 on Saturday. Arenas, still making his way back from knee surgery, injured the wrist late in Game One as he fouled LeBron James. Arenas started out hot in Game One, hitting his first four three......

With only a week to go in the regular season, games mean more to some teams than others. The Boston Celtics long ago wrapped up the Atlantic Division and the first seed in the Eastern Conference while the Washington Wizards are making a final push for the fourth seed and home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. As a result, last night's 109-95 win over Boston can't exactly be taken as......

With a number of area teams gearing up for a playoff run, it's an exciting time for sports in the Washington area. Here's what you should be watching this week. Don't hesitate to leave your own suggestions in the comments, and, if you're so inclined, shoot me an email with suggestions for next week. Tuesday Most of this week's slate is packed with some great action. Tuesday is an exception. For those that aren't reading......

Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison were chosen as reserves for the 2008 NBA All-Star games yesterday, a just reward for the two players largely responsible for keeping the Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. The Feb. 17 game in New Orleans will mark the second All Star appearance for both players. Butler is in the midst of a career year. He is currently averaging career highs in points (21.9), steals (2.4), assists......

With the Redskins falling to the Seahawks in Seattle on Saturday, it was up to the Wizards to rep for the nation's capital against that other Washington when the Supersonics visited the Phone Booth on Sunday. The Wiz's 108-86 win might not do much for the 'Skins fans out there, but as Bullets Forever points out, The District actually beat Seattle on aggregate if you combine both scores. Local product Kevin Durant scored 19......

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......

I doubt anyone is at the "Gilbert Who?" stage yet, but anyone who's been watching the Washington Wizards play since Agent Zero went down would be hard pressed to deny that the team has been just plain fun to watch these last few weeks - perhaps because with the big gun out, they are playing like a team. Last night three players had double-doubles and a total of six players scored in double figures......

The worst case scenario for the Washington Wizards came to pass today. Gilbert Arenas had surgery earlier today to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and will miss the next three months. Arenas sat out the Wizards last two games with soreness in the knee. Antonio Daniels will likely move into the starting lineup at the PG spot and, as a result, rookie Nick Young should move up in the rotation. He's......

Who says the Washington Wizards didn't improve over the offseason? Last night DCist made our first trip down to the Verizon Center this season and noticed plenty of changes; fancy new press credentials (now with marketing slogans!), shiny, new flat screen monitors in press row in section 104, that snazzy $50 million scoreboard that puts a whole new spin on the Kiss-Cam and a new red carpet themed video set to Kanye West's "Bigger,......

.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 -......

The recent Kobe for Gilbert trade rumors (shot down yesterday by Ernie Grunfeld — not that that means anything) should give you an indication that the Washington Wizards are at a crossroads season in regards to the franchise's future. Gilbert Arenas has gone on record saying he will opt out of his contract at the end of the season and Antawn Jamison is in the final year of his deal. Something's got to give......

There's still a lot that's unclear about a shooting being reported by Orange County, Florida's WESH, but a man named Curtis Ruff has been shot at the home of DeShawn Stevenson, the Washington Wizards' starting shooting guard. Ruff reportedly suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was transported to a local hospital. Still unknown is who did the shooting, or why, but both Stevenson and former NBA player Brandon Hunter were both at the......

Just this week, GQ published their annual "50 Most Powerful People in D.C." list. Populated by the likes of Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Karl Rove and Tim Russert, the list better describes the movers and shakers in "Washington", but not the District. And since we're snobs about local news and happenings, we threw together a little list of the people who really exercise influence in or over the lives of people who live and work......

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 Washington Wizards did what they had to do last, beating the Indiana Pacers on the road 98-95. The win cemented the 7th seed in the East for the Wiz, setting up a rematch of last year's exciting series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs clinched the 2nd seed in the East by virtue of their win over Milwaukee and Chicago's loss in New Jersey. Here's how the series will shakedown, schedule-wise: Game 1......

What was once an entertaining season for the Washington Wizards has quickly gone down the proverbial drain so fast most people are afraid to ask "What's next?" In the last 12 days, the team has lost Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas for the season, lost the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, lost the Southeast Division crown to the Miami Heat and also lost six in a row, with four of those......

It was an awfully busy day for the D.C. Council Tuesday, so we thought we'd give you a quick glance at everything that went down in yesterday's session. >> As expected after a 9-2 committee vote earlier in the day, the Council voted by the same margin to approve Mayor Fenty's takeover plan for D.C. Public Schools yesterday. The council will need to give final approval in a second vote, and Congress is of course......

A tumultuous weekend for the Washington Wizards took an unexpected turn for the worse on Sunday when All-Star Caron Butler fractured his right hand in a 121-107 win against the Milwaukee Bucks. Bulter was trying to contest a dunk by Ruben Patterson and hit his hand on the backboard. His availability for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs is very much in doubt at this point. "Caron is going to be......

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......

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.......

Ever since the District agreed to build the Washington Nationals a brand-new, $611 million stadium, pretty much everyone in the region who owns a sports team has been demanding a handout of their own -- D.C. United has announced plans to build itself a new stadium on Poplar Point in exchange for the development rights of the surrounding land, and even the Washington Redskins have expressed interest in moving back to the city. Now Abe......

After last Friday's win in Orlando and upcoming games this week against the Phoenix Suns and Detroit Pistons, Saturday night's game at the Verizon Center against the banged up Boston Celtics had all the characteristics of a trap game. The Celtics were without Paul Pierce, Wally Szczerbiak and Tony Allen, among others, and losers of seven of their last eight games. Should be easy pickings, right? Well, almost. The Wiz built up a big......

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into......

The Washington Wizards took another step towards the Mendoza Line last night with an emphatic 120-91 win over the visiting Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets entered the Verizon Center with an impressive 12-7 record and a viable MVP candidate in Baltimore product Carmelo Anthony. They left the court looking like a team that was in the middle of a five game road trip, wondering who would be shipped out of town in a possible deal......

After a three game losing streak, who would have thought a match up with the Cleveland Cavaliers, owners of the second best record in the NBA going into Saturday night, would be just what the doctor ordered for the Washington Wizards? Both teams were coming off games on Friday; the Wiz lost at Detroit and the Cavs pounded the hapless Timberwolves at home. In this topsy turvy start to the NBA season, the Cavs......