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Wizards to break in new coach vs. Warriors

Nov 25, 2008 - 2:52 PM Golden State (5-8) at Washington (1-10) 7:00 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Sometime all a team needs to get in gear is a new voice.

The Washington Wizards will look to turn their season around under interim coach Ed Tapscott when they host the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

The Wizards fired head coach Eddie Jordan on Monday. Jordan, 60, had coached the Wizards to the playoffs in each of the last four seasons.

However, the start of his sixth campaign seemed doomed from the start when guard Gilbert Arenas was ruled out until at least mid-December after undergoing offseason surgery on his troublesome left knee.

Washington also has been without underachieving center Brendan Haywood, who may miss the entire season with a wrist injury.

The Wizards' decision to let Jordan go came less than three months after the club picked up a one-year option to keep him under contract through 2009-10.

Jordan, who had been Eastern Conference's longest-tenured coach, presided over first-round exits in the playoffs in each of the last three years.

Tapscott, Washington's director of player personnel, inherits a team that has dropped five in a row and allowed a season-high 122 points against the Knicks on Saturday.

The Warriors dropped the opener of a five-game road trip, 89-81, at Philadelphia on Sunday. Their 81 points wer the second-lowest of the season and only the third time the team has failed to reach the century mark.

Stephen Jackson leads Golden State in scoring at just under 22 points per game but managed only 12 on 5-of-14 shooting, including 1-of-7 from the arc, against the 76ers.