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Arenas hopes to guide Wizards to fourth straight win

Jan 31, 2007 - 5:47 PM Washington (27-17) at Toronto (22-23) 7:00 pm EST

TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Washington Wizards have relied heavily on the trio of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. But now someone is missing.

The Eastern Conference-leading Wizards search for their fourth consecutive win Wednesday when they pay a visit to the Toronto Raptors.

Washington will be without its third leading-scorer in Jamison, who sustained a sprained left knee in Tuesday's matchup. He is set to have an MRI on Thursday.

"Antawn is a key part of our team," Butler said. "He is the captain. If he is going to miss an extended period of time, guys will have the opportunity to step up and make plays to help us keep this streak going."

The Wizards are coming off their impressive 104-99 triumph over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. Arenas had 36 points - his 27th 30-point performance - and 11 assists in the win.

Toronto had its three-game winning streak snapped in Saturday's 104-84 loss to the Indiana Pacers. All-Star Chris Bosh scored 26 points to pace the Raptors.

A win Wednesday would let Toronto secure the second-best record in franchise history for January. The Raptors are 10-2 here against conference foes and need only one win to get back to .500.

The Raptors also enter tied with the New Jersey Nets atop the lowly Atlantic Division.

In their first meeting, Bosh recorded a double-double as Toronto posted a 116-111 here on January 7. Arenas paced Washington with 33 points.