Despite losses, positive signs for Wizards

The Wizards have lost all three games with Rashard Lewis in uniform, and they are just 1-4 since Josh Howard returned from his left knee surgery, but could the team be nearing a breakthrough? After defeating the Wizards 100-93 on Monday, Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman came away impressed with the collection of talent in Washington and felt that a turnaround was possible.

"I'd say that team has Lewis, with [John] Wall coming back, and Josh Howard coming back, and down the road if they don't get hurt again, that team is going to be a lot better team than what their record indicates," Adelman said.

Since Lewis joined the team, the Wizards have utilized three different starting lineups, and will soon make another change whenever Wall is moved back to starting point guard. But they have been more competitive, especially considering that the competition during their three-game losing streak was Chicago (first-place team in the Central Division), San Antonio (holders of the league's best record) and Houston (the hottest team in the NBA, with a five-game winning streak).

"They have talent at every position and now they have some new pieces, so they're trying to find themselves and see how everyone is going to help out," Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks said. "Wall is coming back and playing good basketball. They're a good team."

The Wizards (7-22) have had 14 different starting lineups though the first 29 games, which leads the league, and Coach Flip Saunders has been unable to settle on any consistent rotation. But as the team prepares to play its next two games against the Indiana Pacers, Saunders is hopeful that things will start to settle down.

"We have to keep this group together and get better as a team," Coach Flip Saunders said. "We need to start having some continuity."

Although he is still in search of his first win as a Wizard, Lewis believes that it won't be long. "We're playing well," Lewis said after the loss in Houston. "We're playing good defense. I can definitely say that we're going to start winning ball games. You can tell by the attitude in this locker room."

Laura Govan Fourth Time Pregnant, But Still No Ring On It?

Dimewars : Laura Govan and her Basketball Wives sister Gloria Govan were seen on the red carpet together and Laura was carrying an extra package. Laura Govan and her Baby Daddy Gilbert Arenas is on their fourth child even though the two have not wed yet.

The question is will this be the man trap that makes the catch or will the Shaq rumors get in the way?

Basketball Wives' Gloria Govan Hosts Welcome Party for Matt Barnes

Shelly Renee attending as VH1 "Basketball Wives" star Gloria Govan hosts a welcome to Los Angeles Party for Matt Barnes at Supperclub Los Angeles on December 4, 2010. Photo copyright by Steve Solis / PR Photos.

Off the court, Arenas is missed, too

The nine-year relationship of Gilbert Arenas and Laura Govan has been a famously stormy one - breakups interspersed with reunions, babies and one elaborate marriage proposal.

But this time, with the former Washington Wizards star's recent departure for Orlando, the drama appears to have gone nuclear. A representative for Govan - yes, there are reps involved this time - told The Washington Post that Arenas has cut off communication and funds from her and their three children.

Govan, who is four months pregnant with their fourth child, "has not heard from Arenas the whole month of December," said publicist Laura Wright in an e-mailed statement. "Govan and the children feel like they have been abandoned."

Wright - who has worked for Govan's sister Gloria and her fiance, Los Angeles Lakers forward Matt Barnes - said that Govan was left at their Great Falls home "with no money to purchase food or Christmas gifts."

A representative for the Orlando Magic, playing in Cleveland on Tuesday night, said they had not been able to reach Arenas for comment by press time.

The breakup happened around Thanksgiving. Though he didn't reveal a relationship rift at the time, Arenas recently told reporters he had been staying with Wizards teammate Nick Young for about a month.

Other public comments, when the Wizards traded him to the Orlando Magic on Dec. 18, seemed like jokes or exaggerations at the time. He told The Post after his Dec. 20 debut with the Magic that he was so eager to move that he bought a same-day ticket to Florida the minute he'd heard about the trade: "I went to the airport and left. I didn't have a chance to say bye to anybody. I didn't even say bye to the kids." (But Arenas also said that Washington would remain "in my heart" because "that's where I raised my kids and have my family.")

Arenas, 28, and Govan, 31, were known in Washington as high-flying homebodies, rarely out on the town and mostly known through the comical stories he shared on his short-lived blog - like the time he hired an FAO Schwarz window dresser to set up the train set he bought for the kids.