Before last night's game against Phoenix, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan wasn't too optimistic that his team would have the services of shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson. After seeing the guard slowed by a chronic knee problem during the Wizards' shootaround yesterday morning, Jordan didn't think Stevenson would be able to play much.

The soreness in Stevenson's left knee was nothing new, it was just getting worse. But Stevenson did start last night, and despite twisting the same knee and hopping off the floor at one point in the first half, he recorded 18 points (including three 3-pointers), two rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes in the Wizards' 108-107 loss to the Suns.

"DeShawn was a warrior, just a warrior out there," Jordan said. "He's out there on one wheel. Hopefully we can get him out there tomorrow [today against Golden State] and monitor his minutes a bit more, but he was a Warrior. Everybody else, but he certainly led the charge."

Tonight's game against Golden State would mark Stevenson's 218th consecutive start.

"He just likes to play. He's built that way. Built to get through pain I guess," Jordan said.

Stevenson received treatment for his knee after the game and hopes to go tonight.

"It's just hard for me to sit out games. I've been playing since I was a kid and it's just hard for me to watch my team go out there and be sitting on the bench. My knee hurts pretty bad, but I've just gotta go out there and suck it up. ... Just gotta suck it up. If I don't go out there, we don't have nobody else. I don't care if I'm out there on one knee, I just gotta do it."

Watching Stevenson hobble around the locker room like an old man after he gutted it out on the court, fellow guard Roger Mason Jr. was basically in disbelief.

"I got so much respect for you, Dog," Mason said to Stevenson. "Seeing you out there with all the pain you're going through. I've just got so much respect for you."