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…

After a rough stretch that saw them lose five games in a row and six of seven overall, the Washington Wizards rebounded (no pun intended) last night with a 96-89 win over the road weary Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers, playing the last game of a grueling seven game road swing, obviously had that not so fresh feeling after a loss Tuesday night in Philadelphia and had trouble containing the Wizards All Star duo of Gilbert…

The Washington Wizards, fresh off of their first playoff trip in many moons, return to action tonight when the team travels to Toronto and tips off against the Raptors at 7:00 p.m. The Wiz had quite the offseason. They lost Larry Hughes, Juan Dixon and DCist fave Steve Blake in free agency and traded star-crossed former No. 1 pick Kwame Brown to the LA Lakers for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins. Free agents Antonio…

The Wizards just took another step in recovering from the departure of Larry Hughes by agreeing in principle to a deal with Antonio Daniels reportedly worth $30 million dollars over five years. The addition of Daniels, who played the last two years in Seattle for the Supersonics and was highly sought after by the LA Lakers, figures to give coach Eddie Jordan some flexibility with his line ups, particularly in the backcourt. Daniels can…

Shaq or no Shaq, the Wizards fell once again to the Miami Heat on Saturday and with it brought the end of their season. We could pull a Tony Kornheiser and run around screaming “Remember the Caps?” or listen to Mike Wise when he says that a “bright future” doesn’t always turn out the way you envisioned it. We could do that, but we’re not going to. Instead let’s focus on what the Wiz…

Any NBA die-hard will tell you the NBA playoffs are all about matchups. When teams are facing each other up to seven times over a three week period, they become very familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And when teams as evenly matched as the Bulls and Wizards square off, it’s usually the play of the bench that decides the outcome. To wit: Game 1: Ben Gordon scores 12 of his 30 points in…

General thinking in the NBA Playoffs is that a series really doesn’t start until a team wins on the road. Well, after losing their second game in a row in Chicago to the Bulls (and continuing their recent less than stellar playoff history), the Wizards better hope this series “doesn’t start” until they return to Chicago next week. Home games on Saturday and Monday might be the last hurrah for this team if they…

The Washington Wizards ended their longest losing streak of the season last night beating the Milwauke Bucks 119-112 at the MCI Center. The Wiz were powered by Antawn Jamison’s 32 points and a season high 13 assists from Gilbert Arenas, who scored only 8 points on 2 of 9 shooting. Perhaps this was a wake up call for Arenas. Washington is just 1-4 in games when he scores over 40 points. Last night he focused…

>> Despite their propensity to fight through injuries this year, the absence of All Star Antawn Jamison was evident last night as the Washington Wizards fell in Denver to the red hot Nuggets 127-98. Gilbert Arenas led the Wiz with 25, but the team shot just 39% from the field. Coach Eddie Jordan might want to look at the team’s defense too. The Nuggets shot over 55% and it’s never a good thing when…

DCist took in the Wizards impressive victory over the league leading Phoenix Suns on Saturday night at the MCI Center and left the arena feeling good about the immediate future of our new basketball powerhouse. That, however, came to an abrupt end on Sunday morning when we read the news that possible All Star Larry Hughes would miss four to six weeks with a fractured thumb on his shooting hand. The immediate returns from…