Arenas escapes injury, Foye unable in Miami loss

Foye (middle) is helped off the court by Butler (left) and Oberto
(right).  Foye brought Washington consistent offense this season,
and the games he will miss will be counted twice.
(AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Dwyane Wade led another scorcher last night with 41 points as Washington fell to the Miami Heat, 90-76.  Despite an injury scare, Gilbert Arenas played nearly the entire game and scored 21 points for Washington, however, Randy Foye became the next name to surface on that injury list.

Only the Washington Wizards could be without Gilbert Arenas at 6:30 p.m., then with him an hour later, minutes before tip-off.  Then after all of that craziness, lose another player in Randy Foye, as the young guard tweaked his ankle in the second quarter last night down in Miami.

Newsflash: As a result of the lack of guards, Washington recently named Earl Boykins a new Wizard, and waived Paul Davis to make room on the roster.  Boykins, the second shortest player in league history at 5'5" (Muggsy Bogues the shortest at 5'3"), is an odd choice for me, but the guy is a veteran and will look to fill in that empty point guard depth chart for Washington.  It also tells me that Mike James may consider a surgery -- just speculation here, but I wonder.

Foye was carried off the court and sent straight to the locker room, where results came back negative, meaning the injury should be minor.  Foye is currently listed on the day-to-day list, however, I'll update his condition if there is a news break.  Hopefully Foye will be back in shape for this Saturday's game against Detroit or perhaps Washington's only home game against Cleveland this season next Wednesday.  Reports indicate Mike Miller and Antawn Jamison might be back as early as this weekend or for that Cleveland game, which is good news for the team.

I think Washington Times writer Mike Jones penned last night's game the best by a title: "Sloppy Arenas provides scare."  Arenas, who suffered a sore left calf on the same leg he had knee surgery on last season, played a whopping 42 minutes and change against the Miami Heat due to the absence of Javaris Crittenton and Mikes James, both listed out until mid-December (Crittenton was early-December a few days ago).  Arenas' sore calf was suffered sometime after Phoenix last Sunday and kept the franchise player out of Monday's practice, but not off the court Tuesday.

Washington, with Arenas in their line-up, looked pretty solid in the first half against Miami, and the Wizards led 49-41 after two quarters due to strong defense.  Washington limited Quentin Richardson, a problem the Wizards faced last week when Miami came to Washington, and the Wizards had some balanced scoring from Arenas, Andray Blatche, and Brendan Haywood.

In the second half, Dwyane Wade exploded, and Miami beat Washington 49-27 in the last two quarters.  Part of the reason Washington's offense lagged behind was because of Arenas turnovers, a career-high 12 for Gil, while overall, none of the Wizards were getting especially hot.  Of course, when Wade drops a line of 41 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and a block, and Quentin Richardson is limited to 0 points in 33 minutes, what can you say.  Carlos Arroyo did come up strong with 10 points in 14 minutes, while Washington's bench scored only 2 points (Dominic McGuire).

It was risky putting Andray Blatche in at starter; fans have been wanting Blatche there after his early season success, but who would have imagined Foye would get injured.  The Wizards remaining bench, Fabricio Oberto, Nick Young, and and Dominic McGuire, is sort of like a who does not belong as a non-scorer?  Young is going to need to step up his O-game somehow.

During the game I held a chat via Comcast SportsNet, which you will be able to check out for the next week.  I want to thank everyone who came to read and participate, especially Dave and Lil Wizzy for being there the whole time as well as Mark Noe, jmanjason, Wizard of Wizards, willywonka, AJ, and Shaqtus for contributing to the chat.

Speaking of Shaqtus, tonight is the first time Shaquille O'Neal and the Cleveland Cavaliers will battle Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

[ Game Highlights: MIA vs WAS ]

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