4:32 AM CST….Dave Johnson up early doing the radio….and checking in from New Orleans..Caron Butler is not on the first part of this road trip….The Wizards will need the bench to continue to provide a boost like it did Saturday night when the Wizards picked up 30 points from the reserves…..This feels like we are back on the west coast…and Eddie Jordan said the team will need that type of mind set…it was an approach that almost led to short-handed upsets over the Suns and Warriors before the win against the Clippers..Hornets have lost two in a row (kind of wish they were on a long winning streak instead)…Wizards have not won against the Hornets franchise on the road since November of 2000..that’s 10 straight losses in three cities..Charlotte, New Orleans and Oklahoma City…..yes we are due…..BLOGCAST starts at 8 eastern…hope you can join us..

7:26 PM…EST…..Dave and Glenn checking from the New Orleans Arena..starters are in….daniels, stevenson, haywood, blatche, and jamison…..for the hornets…paul, peterson, chandler, stojakovic, west….

7:35 PM EST….We have a winner of the Spalding Never Flat Pack…..Chris Ramsay of Annandale Virginia…..Again the Spalding Never Flat Pack has a basketball, football, soccer ball, and volleyball…..we will have a winner every game…just send your name and address to wizardspromotions@washsports.com.

10:38 AM…Dave Johnson checking in…one of those nights–short nights—when I was hoping I would wake up and I discover the Cavs one point win was a bad dream…Have to move on…The Wizards competed….I did like that Stevenson drove to the basket at the end of the game…it has not been our year for game winners…Had to feel for Antonio Daniels…gimpy ankle and then ends up with a sprained left wrist on a dunk that ends up not counting…in the end Damon Jones got too hot and we didn’t do a good enough job on the boards…I know I am hand wringing a bit and it is a frustrating time…..that’s why even with injuries it is good we will be back on the court tonight…we need something before we head back on the road…BLOGCAST starts at 7..hope you can join us

 6:37PM…Dave and Glenn checking in…starters are in…No Gerald Wallace….so the Bobcats will go with…felton, mcinnis, richardson, dudley and okafor…….No Caron Butler…..daniels, stevenson, blatche, jamison, haywood…

6:39 PM…..Gilbert Arenas update… the short answer there is no specific date for Gil’s retrun… March 2nd had been out there as a possibility but Eddie Jordan said tonight and Gilbert agreed..March 2nd is not probable.

8:35 AM….Dave Johnson checking in….my phone was buzzing when we landed here about 5 PM yesterday….and with reason…the buzz of the NBA is all about the trade…..The Cavaliers could be short-handed tonight….Ben Wallace, Delonte West, Wally Szcerbiak, and Joe Smith are not exepcted to be available for the game……The talk in Cleveland is of an eventual starting lineup of West, James, Szcerbiak, Wallace and Ilgauskas. The headline in the Cleveland Plain dealer says….Big prize, big risk…..it is in part described as a trade of big money free agents who did not deliver—and that is a reference to Ben Wallace with the Bulls and Larry Hughes with the Cavaliers. In fact Larry was often booed here in Cleveland. In addition to the Cavaliers likely missing their new players, Daniel Gibson…is bothered by a high ankle sprain…Anderson Varejao who has been out with a sprained ankle likely will be activated for tonight’s game. So the banged up Wizards could have an edge in manpower, but they need to have an edge in how they play. The game against the Knicks did not reflect the way the team has been playing during this difficult stretch…..Caron Butler did not practice yesterday and is a game time decision for tonight. BLOGCAST starts at 8…hope you can join us.

11:30am… Hey everyone SportzWiz checking in. Rumor has it that we won’t see the four new additions Cleveland has to offer which means the Cavs will be VERY shorthanded, and it might be the first time in a while the Wizards will have more healthy players than their opponent. The Cavs did sign two D-Leaguers yesterday, one familiar face in Billy Thomas and Kaniel Dickens from the Colorado 14ers.

7:16PM…..Dave and Glenn checking in from the Q in Cleveland…No Caron Butler tonight…said hello Ben Wallace as he arrived at the hotel about 5:30PM today…but Ben and other new Cavs will not play tonight….again you can listen online by clicking the link above. more on ther way…

7:35 PM….Congrats to Jason Cheng of Rockville…our latest winner of the Spalding Never Flat Pack….he was a winner by sending his name and address to wizardspromotions@washsports.com……The Spalding Never Flat pack includes a basketball, football, soccer ball, and volley ball….We are picking random winners from the e-mails…and asking trivia questions during some post game shows

7:53PM….starters are in…eric snow, damon jones, zydrunas ilgauskas, devin brown….daniels, stevenson, haywood, blatche and jamison

Hey everyone, this is SportzWiz checking in. A lot of trade talk going on yesterday on the blog so I figured I would move that over to a new top with the trade deadline coming today. I’ve put a few links below including Bill Simmons trade article which he posted this morning and ESPN’s trade machine which allows you to make mock trades and see if they fit cap wise.

Also we are going to have a Dominic McGuire mailbag coming up on WashingtonWizards.com, so please email all the questions you have for Dominic to WizardsPromotions@washsports.com. Make sure to put MAILBAG in the subject line otherwise your question will not be asked. Also please include your city and first name.

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8:40 AM…..We’re back!!!Dave Johnson checking in…..A big thank you to everyone who blogged with us while we were doing the radio broadcasts through the first 52 games and we look forward to the nights ahead in what we hope will be a big finish. To that end….good to hear Etan Thomas has been cleared to practice….Gilbert Arenas has been cleared to participate in light contact drills…and Caron Butler did practice on Monday and is a game time decision as he tries to come back from that left hip flexor strain. Antawn Jamison reminded us before the break why he deserved to be in New Orleans as he took over the fourth quarter of the win against the Clippers……I had said a couple weeks before the break that I was hoping for a .500 record….we have 25-27….it is not a record you put on a bumper sticker but all things considered it is a reflection of a lot of hard work……on the just completed west coast trip..this team kept showing  up through disappointment(heartbreakers in Phoenix and Oakland) and finally were rewarded…..that approach will serve them well the final 30 games….BLOGCAST starts at 7…hope you can join us

12:04…Hey everyone this is SportzWiz checking in. I just returned from practice and got an update on a couple of things. First off Coach talked about how great it was to finally have 10-12 guys at practice. For the last two months this team really hasn’t been able to scrimmage because they just didn’t have the bodies and it definitely helps everyone when you can go through full speed, full court practices.

On the Caron front he is still a game-time decision. However, after going through his first full practice yesterday, he was a little stiff today and didn’t go through the whole shootaround, so there is a chance the staff might rest him again for tonight.

6:38 PM…..Dave and Glenn checking in courtside…..starters are in….daniels stevenson…blatche jamison..and haywood….so no Caron Butler…..robinson crawford richardson randolph curry