Wizards

The local combo So Many Wizards has a bit of Vampire Weekend's humid single-string guitar riffery to it, but the band approaches songwriting in a nonlinear fashion that makes the twee-ness of its vocals seem studied and wry instead of cloying. Here the band releases a new single, "Inner City/Best Friends. " The Smell, 247 S. Main St., L.A. 9 p.m. Fri. $5. thesmell.org .

Having cast a spell in Orlando and planted his flag in Los Angeles, Harry Potter is now taking his theme park magic across the Pacific. Universal Studios Japan on Thursday will unveil plans to build the first international version of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the blockbuster attraction that has drawn millions of fans to Universal's Orlando resort and is expected to do the same at a planned Hollywood location. The Osaka destination, which will begin construction in the next few weeks with a planned opening in late 2014, is the latest in a series of expansions underway at major parks around the world that has followed an uptick in attendance, particularly in Asia.

at Washington 108, Minnesota 99: Andray Blatche, a last-minute substitution for Antawn Jamison, scored a career-high 33 points and had 13 rebounds for the Wizards. San Antonio 90, at Indiana 87: Tony Parker scored 28 points for the Spurs after missing the final game before the All-Star break because of a strained left hip flexor. Memphis 109, at Toronto 102 (OT): Rudy Gay scored eight of his 29 points in overtime as the Grizzlies snapped a five-game losing streak.

Standing by his locker after his debut with the Clippers, Nick Young stressed that there is one thing that he must do before he truly feels like a part of the team. Create a handshake. Clippers center DeAndre Jordan has a special handshake that he does with each of the players before they take the court. The handshakes often include intricate dance moves, jumps and elbow bumps. Young, who was acquired by the Clippers on Thursday, was the only player who was left out of that pregame ritual on Sunday.

Bonfire of the Wizards Day 27 of Gilbert Held Hostage . . . . With sentencing put off until March, the prosecutors got what they needed, insisting Gilbert Arenas plead guilty to a felony, not a misdemeanor, recommending only six months in jail. That must be the difference between getting busted in the District of Columbia and the suburbs, like Cleveland's Delonte West . West was charged with four misdemeanors for carrying two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun on his motorcycle, may beat jail with his bipolar history and is playing, amid no controversy.

at Washington 107, Denver 97: Former Clipper Al Thornton scored 21 points in his debut with the Wizards. at Philadelphia 106, San Antonio 94: The Spurs have lost eight of their last 10 in Philadelphia. Dallas 95, at Orlando 85: Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points and the Magic shot 16% on three-pointers. at New Orleans 107, Indiana 101: Rookie Darren Collison had his first triple-double (18 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists). Milwaukee 91, at Detroit 85 John Salmons had 18 points, including a game-clinching three-pointer, in his debut for the Bucks.

Washington 106, at Toronto 102: Antawn Jamison had 30 points and 12 rebounds and Gilbert Arenas had 22 points and nine assists for the Wizards. Arenas had been held below 10 points in each of his last two games, the first time he'd failed to score at least 10 in consecutive games since his rookie season in 2002. Boston 108, at Charlotte 90: Led by Ray Allen, who broke out of his shooting slump with 27 points, the Celtics had little trouble slowing the Bobcats, who had won four straight.

Eleven days ago, the Clippers turned the Verizon Center in Washington into their playground. They had rolled in to commence a 10-day, six-game trip and moved on after a no-sweat, 26-point demolition of the Wizards, their largest win in the nation's capital. On Wednesday, the Clippers were home, seemingly safe and sound, with their first game back in their quarters against those same lowly Wizards. Only those woebegone Wizards made the Clippers look jet-lagged and heavy-legged, turning what was expected to be an L.A. blowout into a grinder, which the Clippers won by a deceiving score of 102-84, before 19,135 at Staples Center.

Phoenix 102, at Washington 90: Jason Richardson scored 22 points, Steve Nash had 17 assists, and the Suns maintained their dominance of the Wizards, whom they defeated for the sixth consecutive time, including five in a row at the Verizon Center. Phoenix improved to 6-1, matching the best seven-game start in franchise history. Washington has lost four straight. at Detroit 88, Philadelphia 81: Ben Gordon scored 23 points and Ben Wallace added 16 rebounds for the Pistons, who held the 76ers without a field goal the final six minutes.

at Washington 97, Portland 92: Antawn Jamison scored 21 of his 28 points after halftime for the Wizards, who won a second consecutive game for only the fourth time in a distressing season that includes last week's guilty plea to a felony gun charge by three-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas. Portland, which is missing several regulars due to injuries, was without leading scorer Brandon Roy, who has a hamstring injury. at Memphis 125, Phoenix 118: Rudy Gay scored 31 points, O.J. Mayo had 28, and Zach Randolph added 27 points and 11 rebounds and the Grizzlies extended their franchise-best home winning streak to nine games.

The Clippers acquired shooting guard Nick Young from the Washington Wizards for Brian Cook on Thursday. Cook said he was informed of the trade by Clippers' management that he would be sent to the Wizards. The Clippers have been looking for a shooting guard since Chauncey Billups suffered a season-ending torn left Achilles' tendon injury Feb. 6. Young was averaging 16.6 points per game for the Wizards this season, and he has a career average of 11.6 points over four seasons.

1. The Lakers need to bring better focus against Washington. The Lakers overreacted to their signature win Sunday against the Miami Heat. They can't overreact to their 88-85 overtime loss Tuesday to the Detroit Pistons, but they need to bring sharper focus. Questionable shot selection, stagnant ball movement and poor transition defense all caught up to the Lakers, and allowed bottom-dwelling Detroit contending in a game that should've been a blowout. Even against the lowly Wizards, the Lakers can't afford to stray away from playing fundamental basketball.

The Lakers can't possibly lose tonight to the Washington Wizards. Then again, everyone thought the same thing about their game against the Detroit Pistons. Instead, the Lakers lost, 88-85 in overtime. Kobe Bryant's two different masks couldn't camouflage his eight-of-26 mark from the field. Despite Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum combining for 50 points, the Lakers mysteriously went away from their strengths. Metta World Peace finally came back to Earth and struggled. So did the bench, the team's transition defense and its late-game execution.

Reporting from Washington — Why, yes, the Lakers' season could get worse than a shoddy showing in Detroit. The Lakers fumbled away a 21-point lead to the sorrowful Washington Wizards in a 106-101 loss Wednesday, and that was only the beginning. Andrew Bynum admitted to "loafing around" on the court. Coach Mike Brown critiqued Kobe Bryant's shot selection. Bryant didn't seem overly thrilled by that. Welcome to the Lakers' 2011-12 season. A victory against Miami on Sunday was supposed to be a turning point, but the Lakers turned two thumbs down with lame losses to two downtrodden teams.

Clippers tonight vs. Washington When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 980, 1330. Records: Clippers 17-9, Wizards 6-22. Record vs. Wizards: 1-0. Update: The Clippers beat the Wizards by 26 points 12 days ago at the start of a six-game trip. Blake Griffin came within two assists of a triple-double without playing in the fourth quarter. He had 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. The Wizards have the third-worst record in the NBA. John Wall is the starting point guard and former USC star Nick Young is the starting shooting guard.

Eleven days ago, the Clippers turned the Verizon Center in Washington into their playground. They had rolled in to commence a 10-day, six-game trip and moved on after a no-sweat, 26-point demolition of the Wizards, their largest win in the nation's capital. On Wednesday, the Clippers were home, seemingly safe and sound, with their first game back in their quarters against those same lowly Wizards. Only those woebegone Wizards made the Clippers look jet-lagged and heavy-legged, turning what was expected to be an L.A. blowout into a grinder, which the Clippers won by a deceiving score of 102-84, before 19,135 at Staples Center.

at Chicago 121, Washington 119 (2OT): Derrick Rose scored a career-high 37 points and made the go-ahead basket with 5.4 seconds left in the second overtime. Antawn Jamison had a season-high 34 points and 18 rebounds for the Wizards, hours after teammate Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty to a felony gun charge. at Charlotte 92, San Antonio 76: Boris Diaw had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Gerald Wallace added 21 points and the Bobcats used stifling second-half defense for their franchise-record sixth consecutive home win. The Spurs went more than nine minutes without a field goal during a 19-2 run by the Bobcats.

Washington 102, at Dallas 91: Gilbert Arenas had 29 points and nine assists to help lift the Wizards. Dirk Nowitzki scored 34 points for the Mavericks. Shawn Marion had 16 points and seven rebounds in his Dallas debut. at Portland 96, Houston 87: Travis Outlaw scored 23 points for the Trail Blazers, who out-rebounded the Rockets, 51-33. Houston's Aaron Brooks had 19 points. Boston 95, at Cleveland 89 at Lakers 99, Clippers 92 -- associated press

The Clippers' game Saturday against the hapless Washington Wizards was both the end of a brutal five-game week and the start of a six-game, 10-day trip. And the easiest part of the difficult week and the softest part of this road schedule against the Wizards made for a successful ending and start for the Clippers. They dominated the Wizards in a 107-81 victory at the Verizon Center, improving their road record to 4-4. And they survived last week's schedule of five games in seven days with a 4-1 record.