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.

Tom Gugliotta was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1992 and since then has played for several teams including the Warriors, Wolves, Suns, Celtics and now the Hawks, is hinting that this might be his final season.

"I went into this season thinking this was it," said Gugliotta, whose Hawks will take the floor against Washington Wednesday night at the MCI Center in the same town his NBA career began. "It's just the way I approached this whole thing, that I'd retire after this year and get one with the life."

"Teams in this league have this thing about going young. It's an epidemic," said Gugliotta, 35. "If you're not the future you're not the present. And that's just a fact. And to be honest, I like it the way it is now, me playing on year-to-year contracts. That way I can sit back and evaluate my options and then decide what I want to do.

"Sometimes guarantees in this league don't mean a whole lot," Gugliotta said. "I had guarantees (in Boston) from both the GM and the coach that I'd get a legitimate chance to play and do some things and it didn't happen. And I thought that was a pretty good guarantee."

Magic rookie guard Jameer Nelson underwent an MRI today which confirmed a small tear of the intercostal muscle (rib cage muscle). He will be out four to seven days, depending on how he responds to treatment. Nelson left last night?s game vs. Atlanta with 3:11 left in the first quarter after playing just three minutes.

Orlando returns to action Wednesday night vs. Toronto, before hosting Washington Friday night and then traveling to New Jersey Saturday night (Apr. 2).

Chris Bosh scored 32 points for the Toronto Raptors to lead them to a 109-104 victory at Atlanta.

``Just stay positive, that's my biggest thing,'' Bosh said of his conversation with Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. ``No matter what happens, just stay positive. The minute you start forcing things, that's when you shoot yourself in the foot.''

``We talk al the time about getting off to a good start,'' Rose said. ``I'm pretty sure every team in the league does. You've got to find a way to get it when it counts. Fortunately for us, we were able to get it in the fourth quarter when things were crucial.''

Atlanta's last victory came against the Raptors in Toronto.

``I try to tell people, 'Don't look at records,''' Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. ``Everybody's playing for something. Whether it's the playoffs, respectability or jobs. Everybody's got something that's important to them.''

With a 105-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, the Phoenix Suns became just the ninth team in NBA history to follow a 50 loss season with a 50 win season.

The win was very similar to the Suns' previous 49 this season, double-doubles from their big 3. Amare Stoudemire had 40 points and 13 rebounds, Steve Nash had 13 points and 10 assists and Shawn Marion had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

``We're right there offensively,'' Nash said. ``Defensively, we're starting to show signs that we can be good. It's just the defense. We've got to keep improving little by little going into the playoffs. If we're a solid defensive team like we were earlier in the year, we've got a great chance.''

The Hawks played the Suns surprisingly close, trailing by just two points heading into the 4th quarter.

Josh Smith had 14 points and 12 rebouns and Al Harrington had 16 points and 8 rebounds.

Al Harrington (sore back) is probable for toinghts game verusus the Chicago Bulls.

Hawks Injury Report - Michael Stewart (low back spasms) and Kevin Willis (lower back strain) are on the injured list.

The Atlanta Hawks will be without two starters tonight -- Al Harrington (low back soreness) and Josh Childress (flu).  Their replacements in the starting lineup have yet to be announced.

The Hawks will entertain the New York Knicks at 7:30 est. tonight.

The Detroit Pistons got a 114-108 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, but they needed an overtime session in order to get it done.  They scored 114 one night after scoring a franchise low 62 in a win versus Utah.

TayShaun Prince scored a career-high 31 points for the Pistons.

``They were making shots and we were making shots,'' Prince said. ``We didn't establish our defense at the beginning of the game. We didn't defend like we should have.''

``We just made some shots early on,'' Prince said. ``We didn't play well last night, but we had an idea the shots were going to fall tonight.''

The Atlanta Hawks today activated guard Tony Delk from the injured list, and placed Michael Stewart on the list due to low back spasms.  Delk missed the last nine games due to a left hand contusion.  Stewart joins Kevin Willis (lower back strain) on the Hawks' injured list.

Delk is averaging 11.1 points per game.

The Hawks snapped a 23-game road losing streak last week in Toronto.

All good things come to an end and fortunately for the Atlanta Hawks, bad things come to an end too.

Tyronn Lue had a season-high 29 points and Al Harrington scored 28 as the Atlanta Hawks ended their 23-game road losing streak with a 116-112 overtime win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

The win also snapped an overall 13-game losing streak.

``Twenty-three and 13 is a lot losses,'' Harrington said. ``Guys can start to believe they can't win. This is huge for us.''

``We have the worst record in the league but we still like to win,'' Lue said.