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 NOOCH) were in town on Saturday for a St. Patty’s Day tilt. The NOOCH have been struggling of late, losing seven of ten coming into the game and dealing with Chris Paul’s latest injury, so the Wizards easy 125-103 win wasn’t exactly a surprise.

Indeed, the game will hopefully get the Wiz on track for their upcoming road trip, when they’ll play five games in seven nights against some of the bottom dwellers in the West before finishing up with a game in Utah. Gilbert Arenas, who welcomed his newborn son into the world the day before, had a stat line worthy of his Agent Zero moniker; 30 points on 10-18 shooting (4-8 from downtown), 11 assists and two crowd pleasing four-point plays. Antawn Jamison and DeShawn Stevenson also did their part with 21 and 18 points respectively. In fact, each of the starters shot above 50% from the field and the team as a whole ended the game shooting 58%, proving that the Wizards aren’t the worst defensive team in the league, despite giving up an average of 104 points per game.

The Wiz pushed the tempo Saturday night and attacked the rim at will, despite the presence of NOOCH big man Tyson Chandler. Darius Songaila in particular had a great night, scoring inside and out, including a nifty reverse lay up that most people (including me) probably didn’t think he had in his offensive arsenal. All twelve Wizards played in the game and the bench contributed 40 points to the final tally, 12 of which belonged to Songaila. Things got so bad for the Hornets that head coach Byron Scott emptied his bench with over six minutes left, subjecting everyone who hadn’t already left for their favorite pub to the Jannero Pargo show, which is just as boring as it sounds.

Miami lost to Orlando on Saturday, giving the Wiz a bit of breathing room in the standings, but if they want to stay on top of the division, they’ll have to improve their 11-19 record away from the Verizon Center. The Wizards play 11 of their last 18 games on the road.

Photo by Kyle Gustafson. More here.

Filed Under: Agent Zero, agentzero, antawn jamison, antawnjamison, As, caron butler, caronbutler, Chris Paul, city, Darius Songaila, DeShawn Stevenson, deshawnstevenson, downtown, games, gilbert arenas, gilbertarenas, heat, Hornets, Jannero Pargo, Kyle Gustafson, miami, miami heat, new orleans, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Hornets, oklahoma!, orlando, people, photos, shooting, sports, the game, The Washington, The Washington Wizards, The Wiz, The Wizards, thewiz, thewizards, Tyson Chandler, utah, verizon center, washington, washington wizards, wizards,