Wizards forward Caron Butler will miss his sixth straight game and his eighth in the last two weeks as he continues to heal from a strained left hip flexor. Andray Blatche will again start in place of Butler.

"He practiced yesterday," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "And he went further along in practice than he had done in the past, and yet, in shootaround, he started shootaround and thought that was enough. There is some progress, there's gonna be some setbacks here and there, and this was a setback."

Butler first suffered the injury Jan. 27 in Milwaukee with just over two minutes left in an overtime loss in which he scored a career-high 40 points. He missed the next three games and returned against the Lakers on Feb. 3. Two nights later against Philadelphia, Butler left in the third quarter after reinjuring his hip.

Butler, who admits he rushed back prematurely the first time around, missed the entire four-game West Coast trip and this past weekend's All-Star game. He said over the weekend that he was making progress, but that he didn't want to return unless he was 100 percent so he wouldn't run the risk of having the injury flare up again during the final stretch of the season.

Blatche, who has started every game in place of Butler, is in his third year and has averaged 13.4 points and 9.6 rebounds as the starting forward.