Hours after suspended Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was ordered to spend 30 days in a halfway house for a felony gun charge, Washington allowed Charlotte to shoot 55 percent to continue its on-court futility. Raymond Felton added 19 points and 11 assists for the Bobcats (38-34), who won their third straight to move four games above .500 for the first time in their six-year history.
Alonzo Gee, playing on his second 10-day contract and starting for the injured Al Thornton, scored a career-high 19 points for the Wizards (21-50), who last won Feb. 28. Andray Blatche added 18 points, but had six of Washington's 18 turnovers. Players were at their hotel about three hours before tipoff when they heard Arenas would not go to jail for bringing guns into the locker room in December. He's been suspended since Jan. 6.
Saunders used his 24th different starting lineup after Thornton (hip flexor) was scratched. Besides Gee, James Singleton, who had a career-high 21 rebounds in Wednesday's loss to Indiana, started ahead of JaVale McGee. Gee, who was playing in the NBA Development League, shot 5 of 9 and made 7-of-10 free throws in 32 minutes. But despite hitting 12-of-20 3-pointers, the Wizards couldn't contain the Bobcats at the other end.
Charlotte's second meeting with Washington this week completed one of the easiest stretches of any NBA team. The Bobcats, who handed Minnesota its 14th straight loss a day after beating the Wizards the first time, became only the third team in league history to play three straight games against teams with losing streaks of least 10 games. The Elias Sports Bureau said the Grizzlies did it in 1998 and the Jazz two years earlier. Wallace shot 8 of 12 and Felton 8 of 10, while Charlotte held an opponent under 100 points for the 13th straight game.
Gerald Wallace scored 23 points, Stephen Jackson added 20, and the Charlotte Bobcats ended an eventful day for the Wizards with a 107-96 victory that sent Washington to a franchise-record 14th consecutive loss.
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