Wizards struggle to remain in hunt

Washington Wizards coach Eddie Jordan let out a long, heavy sigh after stepping to the podium following Saturday night’s draining 100-97 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.

He searched for a way to begin his postgame analysis, but the words weren’t coming. How could he explain how a team in the thick of a playoff fight could get outplayed by a potential lottery team?

But the Wizards (30-32) aren’t just any playoff team. They are playing without three-time All-Star and leading scorer Gilbert Arenas, who averaged 28.4 points last season but has missed 55 games since knee surgery in November.

They have been without center Etan Thomas, who was a starter for the second half of last season but has missed all of this season after having surgery to repair a leaky aortic valve during training camp. And they’re missing two-time All-Star Caron Butler, who filled Arenas’ role as leading scorer with 21.4 points until tearing the labrum in his left hip socket Jan. 27.

The Wizards have managed to stay in the postseason picture for the last month and a half, retaining the sixth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But the 10 remaining players have their limitations. The seasoned veterans are battling their own assortment of nicks and bruises while being called on to log a high number of minutes. The younger players are being called on for energy, but they lack the experience to perform consistently at a high level.

And so Jordan — admittedly going through his most challenging season — went with the truth after the loss to Charlotte.

“We’re all tired,” he said. “It’s just been a draining last few days for us. We know it’s part of the league and part of the schedule.

“We’ve struggled as far as … it’s hard. We’ve been in this tough situation pretty much the whole year. We’ve tried to rest our guys. We hope to hold on for another month or so. … We need a day to recover. We need probably two days. Our guys, after winning a game in overtime [Friday night in Toronto], travel back, get in late, to play our veterans that many minutes, it’s tough, man. … We’ve been so low on numbers for so long, I’m hoping not to use that as an excuse. We’re just trying to hold on, to stay where we are, to stay in the position that we are in the Eastern Conference, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Jordan has previously conceded that the going has been rough, and even during February’s eight-game losing streak Jordan maintained that “there is no sense of urgency” and that “there is no pressure.”

But it’s not getting any easier, especially with some of the team’s starters starting slowly in the last week.

Jordan — normally more of a fan of veterans — has had to turn to his younger players. Rookie Nick Young has topped 20 minutes in each of his last three games, while averaging 13.3 points — up from 7.0 for the season. Roger Mason Jr. has averaged 27.3 minutes in his last three outings — 14 more than his season average — while scoring 15.7 points, nearly double his season average.

“They have to play because I’m not going to play guys that aren’t getting the job done,” Jordan said. “They help us some nights, and like the NBA, some nights all of them won’t have it all.”

Although they say they don’t focus on it, Jordan and his players are aware that while they were struggling in February, the Philadelphia 76ers — previously comfortably behind Washington — began mounting a charge. The Sixers have won 12 of their last 15 games and now stand a half-game back of the Wizards for the sixth playoff spot.

But the Wizards — who saw Arenas return to practice last week and hope to have Butler back on the practice court today — say it’s important not to get caught watching the teams behind them.

“If we let pressure get to us, it’s no need for me to be here, because this team’s been here for so long,” Antawn Jamison said. “The one good thing is we’re getting some healthy bodies hopefully this week. If not, we’ve still got veterans who know how to deal with certain situations and know how to not let any type of pressure affect this locker room.”

The Wizards will play four more games at home before heading to Orlando and Miami and then playing Detroit at home. After that stretch, they visit Portland, Seattle, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah.

“This is definitely an important stretch for us,” Jamison said. “We have a tough West Coast trip coming up, and we definitely need to be two or three games above .500 before we hit that trip.”