Washington Wizards forward Antawn Jamison had an MRI done on the left thumb that he injured in Wednesday night’s 88-74 loss at Detroit and learned that he has a strain but no further structural damage.
Jamison, who has averaged 19.9 points and 9.7 rebounds this season, suffered the injury while trying to catch a pass from fellow forward Caron Butler with roughly four minutes left in the first quarter of the Detroit game. Jamison continued to play despite the injury but winced every time he touched the ball with his off hand.
“I’ve had fingers and knuckles jammed, but this was kind of different,” Jamison said. “It kind of bent it back and jammed it in. It’s really sore.”
Jamison didn’t participate in Thursday’s practice and is a game-time decision for the Wizards’ home game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
“It’s still kind of sore and bruised pretty badly. But we’ll see,” said Jamison, who still had his thumb heavily wrapped. “They put some medicine on it right now and I’m a fast healer, so we’ll see how this next 24 hours go.”
Teams figuring McGee out
After averaging 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.14 blocks before earning the starting job at center, Wizards rookie JaVale McGee’s production and minutes have declined. But coach Ed Tapscott - who on Monday replaced McGee with Andray Blatche in the starting lineup - said the lack of playing time and decreased production aren’t McGee’s fault.
Instead, it has come as a result of opponents learning how to defend the athletic 7-footer and exploit of his slight frame and inexperience.
“You get a young guy with athletic ability, and all of sudden he’s having some big games,” Tapscott said. “No one’s game-planning for him, no one’s really taken much of an accounting for him. He has some quality performances, and now he arrives on the radar screen. And now you start to look towards doing some things to offset what he does.
“I think it started with the Pistons game where they took a veteran, big-bodied guy and went right at him. And now, he has to make the next adjustment. Remember, we’ve played a bunch of people twice. These guys do their homework. They see what his strengths, are and they also look to expose some of his weaknesses.”
McGee went scoreless Wednesday with only a steal to account for in three minutes - his second lowest total of the season - but Tapscott said he continues to work hard, and the Wizards coaching staff is looking for ways to help his development.
’Some positive things’
The Wizards went back to work Thursday after their 19th loss of the season - a game in which they remained in reach of Detroit until the final 3 1/2 minutes - and Tapscott had a sense of optimism after seeing improvements while reviewing the game tape.
“There were some times last night were we had a few struggles offensively, but for the most part we stayed pretty organized,” he said. “We really did have a chance to win that game had we been able to finish out those last 3 1/2 minutes… .There were some positive things out there. There’s some games where you’re straining to find something. This was not one.”
Blatche, who had two rebounds Monday, accepted Tapscott’s challenge of giving a better effort on the boards and grabbed 11 rebounds to go with 12 points. And Mike James, who finished with team highs in scoring (16 points) and steals (two), made a smooth transition into the starting lineup.
“There are just a few things we’ve got to figure out about our team and our identity because it’s not like we’re a bad team,” James said. “We have a chance. We just keep digging deep, deep holes for ourselves. I keep saying, I’m grateful we’re in the Eastern Conference. Because for us to be 10 games under .500, we’re still fighting for the eighth spot. … We’ve just got to start stringing some wins together.”
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