Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan left the game in the first quarter with a virus, returned, then left for good in the second quarter to be treated for dehydration, but his club was able to hold off the Hawks without him, escaping with a 102-99 win.

Larry Hughes scored 26 points, Etan Thomas had 16 and Jared Jeffries had a career-high 10 assists.  

Washington players have lost 271 games due to injury this season.

``Everybody has to take their turn,'' said guard Larry Hughes, whose turn consisted of 20 games on the sidelines with a broken thumb earlier this season. ``It's something we have to deal with. We have to go out and win without Coach.''

Al Harrington had 20 points and Josh Smith had 17 for the Hawks.

Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed forward Damone Brown to a second 10-day contract.

Brown originally signed his first 10-day contract with the Wizards on March 19. He has appeared in six games (all with the Washington) this season and is averaging 4.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

Seattle SuperSonics General Manager Rick Sund announced today that forward Danny Fortson has been suspended for one game for his refusal to enter Friday night?s game vs. the New York Knickerbockers.  

Fortson sat out tonight?s game vs. the Washington Wizards in which the Sonics lost 95-94 thus prolonging their clinching of the Northwest division.

Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld today announced that the team has placed center Brendan Haywood on the injured list and has activated center Peter John Ramos.

Ramos, who has appeared in four games, has averaged 1.5 points and 1.0 rebounds this season.

After the Washington Wizards lost last nights game against the Clippers, nearly overcoming a 17-point second half deficit only to lose 98-94, big-men Kwame Brown and Brendan Haywood had some words for each other on the bench.  

With 4 minutes 1 seconds left in the third quarter, Brown began chirping at Haywood on the bench. Haywood began shouting back, "Okay! Okay!" Then Haywood stood up out of his chair and had to be held back by teammate Laron Profit. Brown kept yelling toward Haywood in anger, until forward Antawn Jamison, who is on the injured list with right knee tendinitis, jumped out of his seat behind the bench and placed a hand on Brown to calm him down. The situation was diffused when the Wizards placed Ramos next to Brown, with Ramos serving as an obstruction and keeping Haywood out of Brown's vision during their time on the bench and during timeouts

Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld today announced that center Brendan Haywood is expected to miss 2-4 weeks after fracturing the tip of his left thumb.  

Haywood suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Friday night?s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

He will travel back to Washington on Saturday and consult with a hand specialist on Monday.

In a season full of injuries, Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko broke his left wrist Thursday night in a collision with Washington's Kwame Brown, effectively ending his season.

Kirilenko, Utah's leading active scorer at 16 points per game, drove to the basket and crashed into Brown just 3:02 into the game. Kirilenko's feet went out from under him and he put his hands down to break his fall, landing hard on his tailbone and left wrist.

Kirilenko remained on his stomach for several minutes before going to the locker room, holding his left wrist and in obvious pain. The Jazz announced early in the second quarter that the wrist was broken and Kirilenko, an All-Star last season, was done for the season.

Kirilenko missed 26 games after spraining his right knee Nov. 30 against San Antonio. He also missed a game Feb. 15 with a sprained right ankle.

Gilbert Arenas waited for the 2nd half to score and score he did, finishing with 22 points in a 96-95 win over the Jazz.  The game was one of the most physical of the year, with 50 personal fouls, five technicals and one ejection.

``It was physical. Refs were going both ways with it,'' Arenas said. ``At any point, they could have just kicked anybody out. ... Players were giving each other cheap shots. We've seen it on the film that they're a very physical team. We had to come out from the beginning and be physical, too.''

``It was tough,'' said Washington's Larry Hughes, who scored 21 points. ``We didn't know what was a foul, what wasn't a foul, what was a good play, what wasn't a bad play. It was just one of the games where you had to tough it out and hope that things work out in your favor at the end.''

Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld today announced that the team has signed forward Damone Brown to a 10-day contract.

?Damone is a good outside shooter who has NBA experience,? said Grunfeld. ?He will provide depth at the forward position.?

This season, Brown (6-9, 200) has appeared in 32 games for the Huntsville Flight of the NBDL and has averaged 15.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 34.1 minutes per game. He currently ranks fifth in the NBDL and second on the Flight in scoring.

A second-round selection out of Syracuse (37th overall) by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2001 NBA Draft, Brown has played in 25 career games with the 76ers, Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets, averaging 2.2 points and 1.0 rebounds.  Brown was teammates with current Wizards center Etan Thomas at Syracuse.

Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has released forward Samaki Walker and has placed forward Antawn Jamison on the injured list with right knee tendinitis.

Walker, who was signed by the Wizards as a free agent on August 4, 2004, appeared in 14 games this season, averaging 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. In his nine-year NBA career, Walker is averaging 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Jamison, who was selected to his first All-Star team this season, is ranked third on the Wizards in points per game (19.6) and first on the team in rebounds per game (7.8).