Blatche and Taylor Get an Opportunity

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Whether out of frustration, desperation, curiosity or some combination of all three, Washington Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan reached deep into his roster during Monday's 97-89 home loss to the Utah Jazz and took his longest look at seldom-used rookies Andray Blatche and Donell Taylor.

Taylor, who went undrafted from Alabama-Birmingham and has been with the Wizards all season after making the team out of training camp, entered the game at the start of the second quarter and wound up playing a season-high 13 minutes.

Taylor missed both of his field goal attempts but he didn't turn over the ball and threaded a nice pass to forward Caron Butler for an easy dunk during a Washington run at the end of the third quarter.

Blatche, who was recalled from Roanoke, Washington's NBA Development League affiliate, on Jan. 2, was 1 of 2 from the field with two points, three rebounds and three assists in seven minutes.

After his team managed a season-low 53 points through three quarters, Jordan opened the fourth quarter with a lineup that included the two rookies, veteran guard Antonio Daniels, forward Etan Thomas and Butler.

That five-man unit hadn't been on the court at the same time all season; but with veteran guard Chucky Atkins not available because he was in Orlando for the birth of his third child yesterday, and with guard Gilbert Arenas struggling to handle a swarming Utah defense, Jordan took the opportunity to see what the two kids had to offer.

"We think the speed and quickness of Donell can help us," Jordan said. "We've always thought that. And now that there may be a window for him to get some minutes, we're trying to find minutes to put him in with a comfort level for him. And he knows that his job is to come in and really pressure the defense and yet, at the offensive end, distribute the ball and don't do anything rookie-like. That's going to happen, but run the offense and stay in the simple set that you know.

"I was very pleased with Andray and Donell, and when they work hard on the floor in practice, when they put in the extra work, that gives you the confidence as a coach that they're getting more disciplined, they're ready to play and they're going to get their shot."

Following his team's fifth loss in six games, Jordan said his decisions to take a look at the rookies and make other rotation tweaks of late -- such as playing seldom-used forward Awvee Storey in the first quarter of Friday's win over Boston and providing more playing time recently for veteran center Calvin Booth -- are a result of his team's performance and not a sign of surrender.

Since opening the season 5-1, the Wizards are 8-18 and have suffered recent losses to a string of sub-.500 teams. Defensively, Jordan's team has been a turnstile, allowing an average of 111.1 points in the last six games. On Monday night, the Jazz took control on the other end of the court by funneling Arenas into help and then watching as Washington's offense broke down.

Arenas, who finished with 16 points, was 4 of 10 from the field with 10 points, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls through three quarters and was visibly frustrated with Utah's defense as well as what he perceived to be a lack of respect from the referees.

"I think our guards did a great job on him and forced a few offensive fouls on him," Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko said. "That kind of stopped his aggressiveness and limited his drives to the basket. He didn't have that much separation between our defenders so he couldn't be as aggressive as usual."</div>

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