GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NBA: WASHINGTON (6-6) at MEMPHIS (3-9)

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Antawn Jamison and Caron Butlerhave stepped up for the Washington Wizards in the absence ofsuperstar Gilbert Arenas. But lately, it has not translatedinto wins.


Rookie Juan Carlos Navarro scored 28 points and Rudy Gay added27 and eight rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies secured justtheir second win in their last seven contests with a 124-118victory over the shorthanded Wizards on Saturday night.

Pau Gasol collected 21 points and nine rebounds for theGrizzlies, who shot 53 percent (41-of-78) from the field,including 13-of-29 from the arc.


Memphis coach Mark Iavaroni credited Navarro for much of theteam's offensive success.


"He played his tail off tonight, shot the ball, when he shootslike that, and he gets it going its fun to see," the coach saidof Navarro. "That was one of the games he wanted to play well,there's no question. And when he does, those are fun games."

Arenas, who learned last week that he will be out three monthsthanks to knee surgery, leaves a huge void in the Wizards'offensive arsenal. However, Washington owns one of the highestscoring trios in the NBA - leaving Jamison and Butler to carrythe load.


Butler notched a triple-double in Friday's 123-115 loss to theGolden State Warriors and collected 27 points, seven reboundsand six assists in this one.


But he didn't want to talk about his offense after the game.

"We were just trying to do a good job protecting the paint,"Butler said. "When you are playing good shooting teams, it is alittle bit difficult. As professionals, they are going toknock down shots."


But it was Jamison who stole the show for the Wizards in anotherlosing effort.


The high-scoring forward netted a season-high 41 points on18-of-22 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Wizards, whohave lost two straight since a six-game winning streak. Theyare 3-2 since Arenas went down.


But while the Wizards did not slip offensively, their defensiveeffort left much to be desired.


"Offensively, we did an OK job," Jamison said. "Defensively, wewere trying to stop ball penetration. I don't want to say thatguys were not trusting each other, but we were kind of gettingcaught in between stopping our man and then trying to get backout."


The Grizzlies, who snapped a two-game losing streak, had fiveplayers score in double figures, including Kyle Lowry who netted17 points on 13-of-14 shooting from the line.


Washington coach Eddie Jordan praised the whole Memphis team.

"Lowry is very impressive," Jordan said. "Navarro is prettyimpressive. He is pretty uncanny. We always knew that Gay and(Mike) Miller could make threes."


Antonio Daniels had 10 points and 11 assists for Washington.