Turnovers hinder Wizards in loss to Hornets

Mike Miller (left) reaches for New Orleans Hornets guard
Chris Paul during the second quarter.  Miller would leave the
game with 9:54 left in the third. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Wizards' Record: 12-23 (11th in East)
Tuesday's Game: Washington vs Detroit
Game Time: 7:00 p.m. ET. on Comcast SportsNet
and 106.7 The Fan.  Nationally on NBALP.

The Washington Wizards hustled for a win this afternoon but three turnovers in the final three minutes of regulation cost them a 115-110 home loss to Chris Paul (26 points, 14 assists) and the visiting New Orleans Hornets.  However, the greater concern is Mike Miller's calf.

With just under 10 minutes left in the third quarter, Miller, guarded by Peja Stojakovic (20 points), drove to the paint after he received a pass from the wing.  In the paint, Miller was doubled by Paul, who swiftly popped the basketball out of Miller's hands.  Miller, caught between his forward momentum and an airborne ball, jerked his body back and up and landed awkwardly when he came back down to the court.  As Miller landed, he re-aggravated the calf injury, the Wizards would later report, which had kept Miller out since November 21st.  He is expected to undergo an MRI on Monday.

Miller returned last Friday and proved to an important factor in a Wizards victory over the Orlando Magic.  If Miller is once again sidelined, the Wizards are going to need some help.  However, even if injury curse talk resurfaces, the Wizards still rallied.  No Miller, let alone Gilbert Arenas, who, thanks to DeShawn Stevenson, remains a fixture in the headlines (more on that later), yet the Wizards still battled it out.

Washington, down as many as 14 points to New Orleans, tied the game 101-all with three minutes left in the fourth.  And while Nick Young positioned the Wizards for that tie, his two turnovers which followed, and one by Randy Foye, gave the Hornets too many opportunities to put points on the scoreboard.  The Wizards played the foul game but the Hornets made their shots, and Washington couldn't make up the difference.

Aside from Miller, getting back to Stevenson, his socks and sneaks pictured above, the third biggest Wizards story aside from the actual game might have been Stevenson's continued support of Arenas.  In fact, Stevenson went so far as to write (I'll assume he wrote the lettering) Gil's nickname, "Agent Zero," onto his socks. 

Mixed reactions from people on Twitter about this one.  Some think it's not newsworthy, and some are sick of Arenas in general right now.  In my opinion, Gil doesn't have as many friends now, I would imagine, and Stevenson, who has always been by Gil's side no matter what the issue, is just being Stevenson.  I just hope Stevenson doesn't make the same mistake Gil did, because I'm sure NBA Commissioner David Stern has his eyes peeled and I'm not sure how Stevenson's silent socks campaign will be perceived.  Although, if the socks improve Stevenson's looks from out deep, I say keep them.  He was a DNP this afternoon, so we might not know for awhile.  How do you feel about the socks issue?  Feel free to drop me a comment below.

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