The Wizards cooked up a potent recipe Monday night at Golden State.
It included big games from Roger Mason (32 points, 6 assists), Brendan Haywood (20 points, 10 rebounds), DeShawn Stevenson (18 points, 7 assists), and Antawn Jamison (25 points, 10 rebounds, 6 steals).
But it all added up to another loss, the Wizards’ eighth straight, as theyblew a 23-point lead, 120-117.
Golden State’s comeback was facilitated by a Wizards squad that used only eight players as Gilbert Arenas (knee), Antonio Daniels (knee, ankle) and Caron Butler (hip) were joined on the bench by Oleksiy Pecherov.
“For us to be a good team we have to close games,” said Stevenson.
They also need stops. With Butler on the sidelines, the top scorer in the past five games has been an opposing forward. Stephen Jackson (41 points) wrecked the Wizards Monday night. Denver’s Carmello Anthony (49 points) and Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire (31 points) have also feasted on the Wizards’ lack of a frontcourt stopper on this road trip.
