Arenas boosts Wizards past Cavs

Antawn Jamison scored 16 and grabbed eight rebounds for the Wizards, who ended a three-game losing skid. DeShawn Stevenson scored 15, and Caron Butler added 11 and 10 boards for the Wizards.

LeBron James scored 20 points for the Cavaliers, who had a five-game winning streak snapped. Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 points for the Cavs. Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic contributed 12 points each off of the bench.

The Wizards took control of the game with a 10-0 run in the last two minutes of the third quarter, eight of those points coming from Arenas, whose three at the buzzer gave the Wizards a 93-74 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Arenas’ hot hand continued into the fourth quarter, as he hit two more three- pointers early on, including one with 9:19 left that put the Wizards up 24, at 100-76. Washington led by as much as 26, at 111-85 with just over four minutes left, but the Cavaliers closed the game with a meaningless 14-0 run that provided the 111-99 final score.

The 45 points were two shy of Arenas’ career high.

The game took a serious turn late in the fourth quarter, as Washington’s Jarvis Hayes came down hard on his lower back after trying to block a lay-up. Hayes did not get up, and the game was stopped for the Wizards forward to be immobilized, and carted off of the court on a stretcher.

The Cavs scored the first five points of the game to take an early lead, but the Wizards quickly fought back into what was a tight game through the first half. A Stevenson jumper with one second remaining in the quarter cut the Cavs lead to 29-26 going into the second quarter.

Jamison scored Washington’s last five points of the half, including a lay-up at the buzzer that gave the Wizards a 62-58 lead going into halftime.

Game Notes

Arenas is the only player in the NBA with three 40-point games this season...The Wizards unveiled their new gold and black alternate uniforms...The Cavaliers bench outscored Washington’s, 50-15.