With center Brendan Haywood and forward Antawn Jamison having career rebounding seasons, the Wizards have had few worries under the boards — until this week.
After getting out-rebounded Tuesday at Portand, 55-36, and Wednesday at Seattle, 49-32, the Wizards have to consider themselves lucky to be 1-1 on this road trip.
Jamison (20 rebounds) and Haywood (13 rebounds) have produced their norm this week, along with Caron Butler (12 rebounds). But the Wizards have been out-hustled by the likes of journeymen Joel Przybilla, who had 17 rebounds in Portland’s 102-82 win Tuesday, and Nick Collison, who matched his career-high with 21 boards in Seattle’s 104-99 loss Wednesday.
In Tuesday’s loss, the Wizards showed the effects of a grueling coast-to-coast flight as they were out-scrapped by a Portland squad that was without second-leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge (sprained ankle) and got only 14 minutes from All-Star guard Brandon Roy (groin).
The next night, the same script was in place as the Wizards fell behind by as many as 17 points. But G Roger Mason (22 points) and F Darius Songaila (10 points) came off the bench to provide a much-needed injection of energy. Mason hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 points in the fourth period, igniting the rally.
“They were doing a good job of getting offensive rebounds and we wanted to cut that out a little bit,” said Mason. “We were able to get our hands on some balls and that was big for us down the stretch.”
In a competitive race for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, Washington (37-34) needs a win tonight to stay clear of Philadelphia (37-35) and Toronto (36-35).
