Arenas’ sharp shooting leads Wizards over Raptors

Caron Butler finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Wizards, who won their third straight game. Antonio Daniels added 18 points off the bench for Washington.

Arenas, who came into the game 8-for-43 on three-point tries over his previous five games, made all five attempts from beyond the arc, on the way to a 9-for-13 shooting night.

Chris Bosh scored 25 points, but had only one rebound for the Raptors, who lost their third straight. T.J. Ford and Juan Dixon scored 14 points each for Toronto, and Jose Calderon added 13 points off the bench.

Arenas caught fire early in the second half, scoring 11 straight Wizards points to extend an already large lead. The Washington star nailed three treys, adding a two-pointer for good measure, with the last three pushing the Wizards lead to 86-64 with 8:25 left in the third quarter. Washington led 101-83 entering the fourth quarter.

The Wizards opened the fourth quarter with eight straight points, and a 14-3 run to stretch their lead to 114-87 with just over seven minutes left.

Two Arenas free throws in the final seconds of the first quarter gave the Wizards a 31-28 lead heading into the second.

The Wizards were able to put some distance between themselves and the Raptors in the second quarter, but an Andrea Bargnani three and a Calderon jumper pulled Toronto within 52-48 with 5:44 left in the half. Washington exploded, though, ripping off a 17-4 run to blow the game open. Arenas made two treys on the run, which Brendan Haywood capped with two free throws to put Washington up 69-52 with 1:35 left.

The Wizards led 71-57 at the half.

Game Notes

Washington dominated on the boards, outrebounding Toronto, 49-27...The Wizards made 10-of-23 three pointers (43 percent). Toronto made only 4-of-14 threes (29 percent).