Results tagged “deshawnstevenson>”

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 p.m. The 36-point victory set a club record.

It's every NBA coach's nightmare: Under 20 seconds on the clock, LeBron James has the ball and he's staring down your defender. What do you do, hotshot? Double him and leave a teammate open for a jumper, or take your chances one-on-one with the best player in the NBA? Well, the Wizards went with option number two twice last night and came away with a 101-99 victory that had a raucous Verizon Center crowd going crazy. DeShawn Stevenson, not one to be intimidated by King James, forced James into an offensive charge and a missed jump shot on his two end game possessions, giving the Wiz a much needed win over their rivals from Ohio.

While it certainly doesn't have the cache like Celtics/Lakers or Celtics/Pistons, the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards have developed quite a rivalry in the last few seasons, with most of the memorable games coming here in The District. Two years ago, spurred on after a trash-talking Gilbert Arenas flipped him the bird, Paul Pierce hit an incredible game winning three pointer with two Wizards draped all over him. Last year, playing without Pierce, a depleted Celtics roster took the Wizards to overtime before ultimately losing in a barn-burner. But Friday night's 85-78 Washington win probably takes the cake. DeShawn Stevenson propelled the Wizards to a late 15-4 run that sealed Washington's biggest win of the season. The Celtics, meanwhile, have lost two of three.

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.

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...

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...

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...

There are plenty of NBA trade rumors floating around out there with the draft less than 30 hours away, and while the Wizards are keeping a relatively low profile as a team, that doesn't mean the players aren't keeping busy. Above is one of the new NBA '08 Live commercials that feature our still beloved Agent Zero with Maryland native and future NBA superstar Kevin Durant. Angry T has the other two if you're...

FRIDAY: >> Let it be known - any country with a holiday that translates as "party of music" (or "music party") is OK in our book. In celebration of the French holiday Fete de la Musique, as well as the summer solstice, French and American musicians will be performing at La Maison Francaise tonight. Local guitar and cello duo Janel and Anthony*** will play from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on the auditorium stage, but...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

In retrospect, it was inevitable that Saturday's Wizards / Lakers matchup would be a bit of a letdown when it was all said and done. The game had a media build up more reminiscent of the weekend's other big game with the Post going as far to call it "Star Wars II" and the most "highly anticipated regular season game since Michael Jordan made his home debut for the Wizards in November 2001." Chuck...

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...

For the past two days the media have been wondering why no one double teams Gilbert Arenas when he has the ball. So the Knicks tried it last night to great effect. Agent Zero was held to 16 points on 4-14 shooting, but got the ball in the hands of his teammates consistently, which enabled the Wizards to take down the Knicks 99-98. Yes, it was another wild finish at the Verizon Center last...

With all the attention Gilbert Arenas has garnered over the last month of the NBA season, it's easy to forget about his very capable teammates. Luckily for the Wiz, they were ready to pick up the slack last night when Gilbert had an "off" game. A look at the stat sheet might tell you the Bulls defense held Agent Zero to just 16 shots, but it wouldn't show Gilbert's determination to get his teammates...

Written by DCist contributor Matthew Yglesias The good news for the Wizards after the NBA's first week of action is that they're scoring the most points in the Eastern Conference. They're even outscoring their opponents, albeit narrowly, by an average of 0.3 points per game. Unfortunately, they're also giving up the second-most points in the East, and losing two out of their three first games. Somewhat remarkably, both Washington and their opponents are scoring in...

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...

Don't look now, but the NBA season is just two weeks away. When last we saw the Washington Wizards, LeBron James was carving up their defense and talking Gilbert Arenas out of winning games from the line. The Wiz may not have made as much noise this offseason as last, but sure-handed (and recently re-signed) General Manager Ernie Grunfeld did make some moves. They include: 1) Re-upping coach Eddie Jordan for three more years....