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Wizards reach double-digit wins, top lowly Clippers

Feb 1, 2009 - 5:28 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Misery, as they say, loves company. With their first win in 10 days, the Washington Wizards got some much-needed company near the league's basement.

The Wizards snapped a five-game losing streak with a 106-94 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, who have now fallen into a tie with Washington for the league's second-worst record at 10-37 - better only than the 10-38 Sacramento Kings.

Antawn Jamison had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Nick Young added 22 points off the bench as the Washington Wizards snapped a five-game losing streak with a 106-94 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.

"We're all to the point where we don't want to lose any game at all," Jamison said. "We've been pretty much embarrassed this season. Every game hurts. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We've got out and play 48 minutes. Just because our record is close to theirs doesn't mean anything."

Caron Butler added 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists as the Wizards won for just the fourth time in January and handed the Clippers their ninth consecutive loss on the road.

The Clippers, who committed a season-high 25 turnovers, have lost 19 of their last 21 games.

Rookie center JaVale McGee had 18 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench for Washington.

"If you look at the stat sheet, it tells the story - 25 turnovers, and then their second-chance points," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "Our guys let McGee come in and control the offensive glass and get a lot of easy buckets. He gained a lot of confidence and played really well. He really hurt us."

The Wizards seized control in the second quarter with two big runs. Trailing by three midway through the period, McGee tipped in Young's miss to spark a 10-0 run that gave Washington a 42-35 lead.

"The scoring production of our bench, specifically the 40 points between JaVale and Nick was great for our team," Wizards interim coach Ed Tapscott said. "It allowed us to take some pressure off of our forwards so that they're not over-burdened every night."

"JaVale played an awesome game," Jamison added. "That's the way we need for him to play - check the rim on the defensive end and offensively go to the rim, and he did that well tonight. In order for us to at least put something together, we need our young guys to be real consistent and really help us out a lot. This is a good opportunity for them to show people that they have the possibility of being something great in this league."

After the Clippers cut the deficit to one later in the period, the Wizards closed the first half with a 12-2 surge - capped by Mike James' 3-pointer at the buzzer - to take a double-digit advantage into the break.

Eric Gordon scored 25 points to lead the Clippers on their second stop on a seven-game road trip.

"He's great," Dunleavy said. "He's got a big motor. He plays hard all the time and plays both ends of the floor. He's a rookie and he's still learning, but he does a great job."

Gordon's three free throws and a floater pulled Los Angeles within 75-72 with 1:51 remaining in the third quarter, but the Clippers never threatened in the fourth.

"We had 25 turnovers that they converted into 27 points," Gordon said. "Any time you get over 20 turnovers, it's almost impossible to win. We had 25, so that makes it really hard. We were just too sloppy.

"They had a record like ours so we knew we had to come in and try get a win. We had a game last night against Cleveland that was pretty tough, but there's no reason that we didn't play up to par tonight. We've got to find a way to get wins, period. We've only won 10 games. We're just in a slump."

Jamison's layup and back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Wizards a 66-54 lead midway through the third. DeShawn Stevenson's buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave Washington an 81-75 lead after three.

Butler's dunk off a backcourt steal gave Washington an 88-75 lead with 9:12 remaining.

Baron Davis and Steve Novak netted 17 points apiece, and Brian Skinner added 14 and 10 rebounds for the Clippers.