Another night, another loss, another injury - J Pat Carter/AP

After two seasons destroyed by injuries, the Wizards thought they might get a break this year. But that’s not the Wizards Way. The two big acquisitions the Wizards made during the offseason, trading for G/F Mike Miller and G Randy Foye, are out with injuries 8 games into the season. Miller could be out for another week and Foye, who sprained his left ankle and left Miami with his foot in a walking boot, is out indefinitely.

Gilbert Arenas was not supposed to play last night due to a calf strain, but he unexpectedly felt better during the team’s pregame meeting and came out with the starting unit against the Heat in Miami last night. The Wiz got off to a good start, moving the ball well and hitting almost 50% of their shots on the way to a 49-41 half time lead. That’s where things went wrong.

Foye left the game in the second quarter with his injury, leaving Areans as the sole healthy point guard left and Arenas went to pieces in the second half. The Wizards hit only 10 shots in the second half, but turned the ball over 13 times. Arenas himself committed 9 of those second half turnovers, finishing with a career high 11 for the game. Meanwhile, Dwyane Wade out scored the Wizards in the second half all by himself 29-27, finishing with 41 for the game. It was Wade’s second 40-point game of the season against the Wizards.

Once again, the Wizards had more turnovers [22] than assists [16] for the game and after losing 90-76 to the Heat, Washington has now failed to score more than 90 points in a game for the 5th straight game. The shooting woes continued, with the Wiz shooting 40% from the field, 29% on 3-pointers and 66% from the line. By not moving the ball well in the second half, the Wiz wound up taking a lot of contested outside jumpers, which explains the low shooting percentage from the field. What explains the low shooting percentage from the line? Your guess is as good as mine. The Wizards are now 2-6 and each game seems to bring a new low for the team.

The early season agony might not be over, though:

“Randy’s probably going to be out for a while with a sprained ankle. I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve lost three point guards. And the one that was hurt the most coming into the season, is the healthiest of them all,” Saunders said with a laugh to keep from crying. “So we’re going to have to do something there too I’m sure.”

So, look for the Wiz to make a move very soon to pick up another point guard off the scrap heap.

			Field Goals				Rebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
C. Butler	F	45:03	8-18	0-2	3-4	-11	2	5	7	0	4	2	4	0	1	19
A. Blatche	F	38:58	5-13	0-0	3-3	-11	3	7	10	5	4	0	3	0	1	13
B. Haywood	C	39:40	5-9	0-0	3-4	-14	4	7	11	0	4	0	3	4	2	13
G. Arenas	G	42:09	7-20	3-7	4-8	-9	0	5	5	8	2	3	12	0	2	21
D. Stevenson	G	39:50	3-8	1-4	1-2	-25	0	1	1	3	3	1	0	0	0	8
F. Oberto		16:49	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
R. Foye		06:30	0-1	0-0	0-0	+5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
D. McGuire		08:29	1-2	0-0	0-0	-3	0	3	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	2
N. Young		02:32	0-1	0-1	0-0	-2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
J. Crittenton	DNP – Coach’s Decision
P. Davis	DNP – Coach’s Decision
M. James	DNP – Coach’s Decision
A. Jamison	DNP – Coach’s Decision
J. McGee	DNP – Coach’s Decision
M. Miller	NWT – Left Shoulder
Total		240	29-72	4-14	14-21		9	29	38	16	23	6	22	5	6	76
			40.3%	28.6%	66.7%	Team Rebs: 12				Total TO: 22

			Field Goals				Rebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
Q. Richardson	F	33:17	0-2	0-1	0-0	+18	0	5	5	1	5	1	3	0	0	0
M. Beasley	F	33:10	6-17	0-3	3-4	+1	1	4	5	2	0	1	2	0	3	15
J. O’Neal	C	31:12	3-7	0-0	0-0	+17	0	6	6	1	5	0	0	3	1	6
D. Wade	G	38:21	14-29	1-3	12-13	+15	2	3	5	5	2	3	2	1	0	41
M. Chalmers	G	33:23	5-8	3-5	0-0	+16	1	0	1	5	1	4	3	0	0	13
U. Haslem		29:33	1-5	0-0	2-3	+9	2	5	7	1	2	0	0	1	0	4
J. Anthony		16:48	0-1	0-0	1-2	-3	1	2	3	0	1	0	1	1	1	1
C. Arroyo		14:37	4-5	0-0	2-4	-2	1	3	4	2	2	0	1	0	0	10
D. Wright		09:39	0-0	0-0	0-0	-1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D. Cook	DNP – Coach’s Decision
Y. Diawara	DNP – Coach’s Decision
J. Jones	DNP – Coach’s Decision
J. Magloire	DNP – Coach’s Decision
C. Quinn	DNP – Coach’s Decision
S. Randolph	DNP – Coach’s Decision
Total		240	33-74	4-12	20-26		8	29	37	17	18	9	12	6	5	90
			44.6%	33.3%	76.9%	Team Rebs: 10				Total TO: 14