Washington, DC--

Caron Butler made a comment after tonight's game that spelled out why the Washington Wizards have had sucess as a team, everyone one of the stars on the team have spelled out the value of teamwork and giving positive reinforcement if they miss a shot or make a bad play... Tonight Caron rallied his troops again the absence of Antawn Jamison who missed his third game since the knee injury

The Wizards bench combined for a total of 23 points and got some amazing play from Andray Blatche, who hit for 14 points in 17 minutes off the bench. He also had two huge blocks in the fourth quarter to pull the momentum away from he Sonics who kept the game close until the final five minues of the fourth quarter.

"It's not going to be an easy thing of just going out there thinking the big three are going to score," Jordan said, referring to Jamison, Butler and Gilbert Arenas, who finished with 16 points and nine assists. "We have to find somebody who can help. We said it even before Antawn got hurt, what's going to happen, how are we going to survive when one of our scorers gets hurt? Those guys who come in have to be defenders first and not be thinking about scoring 20. We're still searching so we're going to try some different rotations, some different things and we'll see."

The Sonics shot 61.9 percent and took a 59-56 lead into halftime, but the Wizards took control in the third quarter.

Ray Allen led Seattle with 29 points, but he shot only 3-for-14 after halftime. He has been the strongest player for the Sonics, but has not been able to get it done on the road, as the Sonics lost their 15th straight on the road tonight.

"Ray is doing about as much as he can,'' Seattle coach Bob Hill said. "I don't know if you can ask much more from a man than what he's done to carry this team.''

For Maryland Terp Chris Wilcox, came home and had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Sonics, who have lost five in a row overall.