Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy new year!

Thanks for being great supporters of the team (and this blog!),
Eric

The Wizards’ five game win streak ended with a 119-102 loss Saturday night in Milwaukee. The loss, combined with Orlando’s win over the Heat drops Washington back into a virtual tie with the Magic for first place in the Southeast division.

Washington was up three points going into the final period when Michael Redd and the Bucks caught fire from the outside and while the Wizards went cold from the field.

“I thought we put up a real great effort,” said Head Coach Eddie Jordan. “They got going, got hot and made some shots. The size factor took its toll as the game went along, we just lost to a better team tonight.”

Caron Butler had a stellar night in his home-state with 29 points and 13 rebounds. Antawn Jamison had 17 points and 8 boards while Gilbert Arenas scored 19 points but had a sub-par night from the field (7-21).

The Wizards have the next three days off before facing this same Bucks team, this time at Verizon Center, on Wednesday. I have a feeling the team will have a late Christmas present waiting in Washington for Redd & Co…

“You’ve got to tip your hat off to them,” said Butler. “The good thing about it is we see them in a couple days. They had a little more energy tonight, but that’s no excuse. We’re professionals and we have to play back-to-backs sometimes. I just can’t wait to see them in a couple days.”

NOTES: One reason for the loss? The absence of starting center Brendan Haywood, who missed the game with a sprained right ankle that he injured versus the Magic Friday night. Coach Jordan expects Haywood to be in uniform Wednesday night. Jarvis Hayes made his first start of the season at forward - Antawn Jamison slid over to center in Haywood’s place.

The Wizards wrap up the week playing their fourth game in five nights as they visit the Bucks and Michael Redd, who is arguably the best left-handed shooter in the world (go ahead, name another one) and Marc Stein’s first trimester East MVP.

About to play some Guitar Hero II. Enjoy tonight’s game!

AUDIO: Jordan | Arenas | Jamison

The Wizards fought through a game that wasn’t going their way through most of the first half, and battled back and forth with the Magic in the final minutes, ultimately hanging on for a one point win over visiting Orlando.

Gilbert Arenas scored 36 points (nine rebounds, seven assists), while Antawn Jamison scored 25 and pulled down 11 boards. Caron Butler scored 20 points, while DeShawn Stevenson added 11.

Butler’s late clutch jumper from the right baseline put the Wizards up 110-108 and Antawn Jamison followed up with two FT’s to give the Wiz what seemed to be an insurmountable lead. But this is the NBA…

Dwight Howard missed a shot from down low, but the loose ball ended up in Keyon Dooling’s hands and he hit a three to pull ORL within one.

So what do the Wiz do? Get the ball in Caron Butler’s hands, who’s shooting FT’s at an 88% clip this season.

He missed both.

“Honestly, I just mentally messed up,” he said. “I just lost focus for a minute. That’s something that will never happen again.”

In the end, Dooling’s jumper to give the Wizards the win was off the mark, giving the Wizards the win.

“We did a good job as far as staying calm and poised and not letting it get out of hand,” said Jamison. “We were fortunate to get the stops we needed down the stretch, those are the things we need to do to be successful. We were fortunate enough to come out with the win.”

The win gave the Wizards sole possession of first place in the Southeast Division, and extended their overall winning streak to a season-high five games. The Wizards have now won four straight games at home - 7 of their last 8 and 11-3 overall. The last time Washington won at least 11 of its first 14 home games was during the 1984-85 campaign when the Bullets started 11-3 at home.

Washington has now won 13 of their last 16 games, and extended their streak of games with at least 106 points to 13 games (The last team to score at least 106 points in 12 consecutive games was the 1994-95 Phoenix Suns - a 14-game streak).

I think that covers it.

NOTES: Congrats to Antawn Jamison and his wife Ione, who welcomed Antwan Cortez Jamison to the world Thursday. Both mother and son are doing well.

Notes, Courtesy of BAS

Tonight’s game marks the second of four meetings between the Wizards and Magic this season. Washington was defeated in the previous meeting, 106-103, in the third game of the season (November 6) in Orlando. The Wizards and Magic will meet again in Florida on January 19 and in DC in the penultimate game of the season on April 17.

* Washington and Orlando enter play tonight in a virtual tie for first place in the Southeast Division. The Wizards (16-12, .571) are ahead of the Magic (17-13, .567) by just .004 percentage points. The last time the Wizards were in first place in their division this late in the season was at the end of the 1978-79 season, when Washington finished seven games ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers at 54-28.

* Entering the month of December, the Wizards stood at 5-9; six games behind Orlando for 1st place in the Southeast Division. With two games to play in December, Washington is currently 16-12; tied with Orlando atop the division.

* With a win tonight, Washington will improve to 11-3 at Verizon Center this season. The last time Washington won at least 11 of its first 14 home games was during the 1984-85 campaign when the Bullets started 11-3 at home.

* Washington has scored 100+ points in 12 consecutive games and averaged 118.5 points in those contests. During that 12-game stretch, the Wizards have improved their record from 6-10 to the current mark of 16-12. The last time Washington scored in triple-digits in 12-straight games was at the end of the 1989-90 season when the Bullets scored 100+ in the final 16 contests.

* Washington’s 12-game streak of scoring 100+ points is actually a 12-game streak with at least 106 points. The last team to score at least 106 points in 12 consecutive games was the 1994-95 Phoenix Suns (14-game streak).

* Entering play tonight at 16-12, Washington is currently a season-high four games over .500. A win tonight would put the Wizards at five games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2004-05 season, when they concluded the regular season at 45-37.

* Washington enters play tonight with a season-high four-game winning streak. A win tonight would give Washington its first five-game winning streak since February 4-12 of last season, when the team also won five straight.

* With 39 points scored on Wednesday in Charlotte, Gilbert Arenas improved his scoring average in the month of December to an NBA-high 35.0 points per game. If Arenas can maintain that average through the final two games in December, Arenas will become just the second player in Wizards’ franchise history to finish a calendar month with an average of at least 35 points per game. (Walt Bellamy, 35.7 ppg in January, 1962).

* Washington’s win in Charlotte on Wednesday marked the team’s sixth win in its last seven road games. After beginning the season 0-8 on the road, the Wizards became the first team in NBA history to win six of seven road games immediately following a streak of at least eight road losses to begin a season.

* In other news…Antonio Daniels still leads the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (4:1)…DeShawn Stevenson will face his old teammates for the second time tonight. Stevenson appeared in and started a career-high 82 games for Orlando last season, and averaged 11.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game…With Gilbert Arenas’ 39-point outing in Washington’s last game, the Wizards improved to 13-1 this season when Arenas scores 30+.