<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">MIAMI, March 12 -- Everything appeared to be right with Caron Butler when he took a pass from DeShawn Stevenson and threw down a vicious one-handed dunk over Alonzo Mourning in the third quarter of the Washington Wizards' 106-104 loss Sunday to the Miami Heat. But lately, that kind of explosive play has been missing from the all-star forward's game. Butler finished with four points on 2-of-8 shooting, and following the team's workout at American Airlines Arena in Miami on Monday, he said continued pain and discomfort in his left knee could force him to sit out Wednesday's game at Indiana. "We have until Wednesday and we'll see how it feels," said Butler, who has failed to score at least 10 points only three times all season. "If it doesn't feel any better, I don't want to hurt the team by being out there not right." Before the all-star break, Butler was averaging a career-high 20.4 points on 47.8 percent shooting and had been the team's most consistent performer. Since the break concluded on Feb. 19, Butler has missed three games with back soreness, been bothered by stiffness in his left knee (the product of a kick to the knee area during last Wednesday's loss at Atlanta) and averaged 13.7 points on 39.4 percent shooting. Butler's value to the Wizards was made obvious late last season when the team lost five straight games while he was out with a thumb injury on his right (shooting) hand and again after this season's all-star break when the team went 0-3 while he was out with lower back spasms.</div> Source
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Indiana note: PG Jamal Tinsley and C Jeff Foster are out. C Jermaine O'Neal won't start but will be active and is expected to play.</div> Caron will be starting tonight wearing a sleeve over his left knee, and turns out Coach Jordan put Andray Blatche on the IR? What the hell? He's been doing everything you can asked him to do, he's been hot starting in replacement of Jamison's injury, he's been productive off the bench, and he'll bring a lot more than Ruffin can.
