Given rare start, Blatche steps up

BY ADAM HIMMELSBACH

WASHINGTON--

During the Wizards' pre-game shootaround yesterday, coach Eddie Jordan told his players that Caron Butler would miss the game against the Toronto Raptors because of a strained hip flexor.

Andray Blatche realized he would start, and he hurried home to get some extra rest. Rookie Dominic McGuire, who entered the night averaging just six minutes per game, had a feeling he might get the chance he had been waiting for.

And when the game began, there was the 21-year-old Blatche, spinning through the lane and hitting jumpshots with a veteran's aplomb. And as the game progressed, there was the 22-year-old McGuire, tussling and scraping for rebounds like his body was made of rocks.

"Without those two performances tonight," forward Antawn Jamison said, "this game probably would have been a different story."

Even with those two performances, though, the story nearly had a sour ending for Washington. But after Toronto's Anthony Parker sent the game to overtime with an improbable buzzer-beating 3-pointer, the Wizards took control in the extra session and took a 108-104 victory.

Blatche finished with 19 points and eight rebounds and McGuire added 10 rebounds--six at the offensive end--in 21 minutes. Jamison had 24 points and 20 rebounds.

Raptors forward Chris Bosh tallied 37 points and 12 rebounds, but after a dominant first half in which he dunked the ball seemingly whenever he wanted to, the Wizards slowed the lefthander a bit by forcing him to his right.

"They did a good job of keeping me from getting good looks," Bosh said. "DeShawn Stevenson did a good job of coming over and making me hold the ball a little more."

Jamison played 52 minutes and Bosh played 50, but neither star will have much time to recuperate.

After the game, both teams boarded flights to Toronto, where they will face each other again this evening. Butler, who is likely to be named an all-star reserve tomorrow, is expected to miss his second consecutive contest.

Last night, the forward sat at the end of the Wizards' bench wearing a dress suit, and he watched helplessly as Toronto rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 4 minutes, 11 seconds of regulation.

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