<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES, March 25 -- It's just a part of life in the NBA. A team goes on the road, falls behind early to an opponent playing in front of a jazzed-up crowd and makes a late push that winds up being too little, too late. Happens all of the time. However, in losing three of the first four games in a five-game trip that ends Monday night at Utah, the Washington Wizards have not followed the formula. Instead, they've played well early, taken a lead into halftime and then experienced problems in the third or early fourth quarter. On Saturday night, the Wizards appeared to be in good shape against the Los Angeles Clippers. They led, 25-21, at the end of the first quarter and 48-47 at halftime, but in the third quarter, Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas and Darius Songaila made only 5 of 17 shots and the Wizards were outscored, 32-22, en route to a 111-105 loss. The Wizards were similarly stumped in the second half of losses to Portland and Golden State after taking halftime leads and that is why they will go into Monday night's game against the Jazz (45-24) holding only a half-game lead over the Miami Heat, which has lost two straight and hosts Atlanta on Monday night. After watching his team overcome the rough third quarter and repeatedly flirt with catching the Clippers in the fourth quarter Saturday night, Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan talked about the little things that are leading to many of the Wizards' losses. "Number one, we played and competed for 48 minutes and I'm proud of my guys for competing but number two, there were crucial plays and rebounds that we don't make and we don't get and that hurt us because we were able to make a run," Jordan said. "Those are the most important things. We didn't turn the ball over in the fourth quarter and we got looks -- some of them good, some of them not -- but we didn't make the plays we needed to make." The Wizards fell to 2-6 when playing without all-star forward Caron Butler and are 6-10 since winning the first two games after the all-star break. If the postseason started today, the fourth-seeded Wizards would host a first-round playoff series against the fifth-seeded Chicago Bulls, who won at Indiana on Sunday. The team appeared to catch a break late Saturday night when forward Antawn Jamison hurt his left knee -- the knee he sprained earlier in the season, when he missed 14 games -- but was able to shake it off and walk to the locker room. Jamison, who has scored at least 20 points in seven consecutive games, said he was "fine" and will be in the lineup against the Jazz. The availability of second-year forward Andray Blatche remains uncertain. Blatche, who sprained his left knee in the third quarter Saturday night, will undergo an MRI exam on Monday. Following the game, Blatche described the knee as "sore" but not especially painful. The results of the exam will determine Blatche's status. Blatche has started 13 games and finished Saturday's game with nine points, four rebounds and two turnovers in 19 minutes. If Blatche is unable to play against the Jazz, Jordan likely would start Jarvis Hayes, who played well Saturday night, making 5 of 8 shots and scoring 14 points, Michael Ruffin or Calvin Booth. While the Wizards are relieved that Miami has failed to take advantage of their struggles, they understand that they've missed an opportunity. "We're losing and Miami's losing," said guard DeShawn Stevenson, who played his first three and a half seasons with the Jazz. "We're not thinking about Miami, but at the same time we are. We just have to worry about our game and get some wins. "We're a good team and we can pull these out. I know we can do it. We can get our mojo back and start winning." Utah beat Memphis, 118-108, Saturday night and has won five straight home games and 11 of 12 at home overall. The Wizards have won two straight in Salt Lake City. "The important thing is going out and getting a win to end this trip so we can go home, regroup and get ready for the rest of the season," Jamison said. "If we win, it still won't be a successful trip but we can at least get some momentum going. "There's still a lot of basketball to be played."</div> Link Does he see why it's only the 3rd quarter and not the other quarters that put this team in a bad situation for the rest of the game? It's because of the terrible reserves unit he has out there that think they can hold on their ground against teams that have their starters fresh and playing. I know that Eddie Jordan is trying to get his bench players playing significant minutes before the playoffs, but he just puts them in at the wrong time of the game and it comes back to haunt us at the end, when we come up short in the 4th quarter trying to catch back up.
