Arenas ends his season
Gilbert Arenas' lost season is over.
Arenas, who missed most of the regular season following knee surgery, decided to end his season moments before the Washington Wizards faced an elimination game in their first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers lead 3-1.
"Instead of me blocking the team from success, we just decided just go ahead and shut it down,'' Arenas said an hour before tip-off.
Hobbled by a bone bruise, the three-time All-Star played in the first four games of the series but was not the sharpshooting "Agent Zero" who has led the Wizards in the past.
He missed the past two days of practice to rest the knee, but then decided along with the team trainer that he would not play again this season regardless of whether the Wizards advance.
Arenas missed 66 games during the regular season and an MRI taken before Game 3 revealed that his surgically repaired left knee has a bone bruise and a pinched nerve.
"This nerve pinch, it just came out of the blue,'' Arenas said. "The swelling and the achiness -- I can play through that -- but the nerve pain where each step feels like you're hitting my funny bone, eventually, that was wearing and tearing. It's not going anywhere.''
He averaged 10.8 points and shot 39 percent in the series, averaging just 23 minutes. His final shot of the was a potential tying 3-pointer at the end of Game 4 against Cleveland.
"It's frustrating because I was willing to do anything. I ended up taking the shot,'' said Arenas, referring to his hesitancy to numb the knee because he was "scared'' of the needle.
"I'm taking four different kinds of pain pills ... just to play in a game, and it still doesn't work.''
In true Agent Zero fashion, Arenas surprised even his coach with the news.
Wizards coach Eddie Jordan knew it was a possibility Arenas wouldn't play, but he found out the guard couldn't go at about the same time reporters did.
"We've performed very well without Gil. Look, we are a different team with Gilbert, very explosive. But we're ready to go without him,'' Jordan said.
The typically chatty Arenas didn't talk to the media for months while he was out, then ripped the Cavs in a blog entry before the series.
"I think everybody wants Cleveland in that first round,'' Arenas wrote. "We want Cleveland for our own reasons; we don't think they can beat us in the playoffs three years straight.''
The comment was the first volley in a series that's been known more for the Wizards verbal jabs at LeBron James, than anybody's play on the court.
In spite of the jousting, the Cavs forward, who is freinds with Arenas, said, "I know he wants to play so bad, but the knee hasn't responded the best way. It's not good for him, but maybe it's the best thing for him so he's ready for the '09 season. He's a very good player and I know it's going to be tough for him not to be out there.''
Arenas thanked his teammates for giving him the chance to play in the postseason. He said they understood his decision.
"I did everything I can. I went out there wounded and all just to play in the playoffs,'' he said. "It's my duty to let these guys go out there and just fight it - put out some healthy bodies and beat this team. I can't go out there hobbling trying to help this team win because at the end of the day it's hurting us.''
Arenas will play game 2 against Cleveland Cavaliers, despite a sprained wrist
Washington guard Gilbert Arenas is expected to play in Game 2 of the Wizards' series against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night despite a sprained right wrist.
Arenas scored 24 points in the opener but apparently hurt his wrist in the fourth quarter while fouling LeBron James. Arenas was already slowed by a surgically repaired knee.
He participated in Monday's shootaround with a wrap on his wrist. Arenas spent several minutes after the workout launching long shots, trying to win money from teammates betting he'd miss.
"He seems to be ready to go," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan.
Arenas, who missed 69 games during the regular season after having surgery on his left knee, did not speak to the media following the shootaround.
Arenas came off the bench in Game 1 with 3:24 left in the first quarter. One of the NBA's deadliest outside shooters, he ended the period by dropping a 35-footer in the final second, draining the shot with a flick of his wrist over an unsuspecting Delonte West.
Arenas followed that shot with a pair of 3s early in the second quarter as the Wizards built an 11-point lead they couldn't hold.
West knows he can't give Arenas any room to shoot.
"Once he steps in the gym, I don't think there is any shot that's out of his range," West said.
Arenas made 8-of-16 shots in Game 1. Jordan doesn't plan to start Arenas anytime soon, but that could change if the Wizards fall behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
Cleveland and Washington are meeting in the opening round for the third straight year. The Cavaliers won in six games two years ago and swept the Wizards in four straight last year.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Gilbert Arenas can still be dangerous, even after his surgery
April 20 -- Gilbert Arenas proved he is still dangerous, even while playing on a surgically repaired left knee, by scoring 24 points in the Wizards' 93-86 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday. Now he'll have to show that he can perform with a sprained right wrist as well.
Arenas, who is expected to play Monday night in Game 2 of the best-of-seven first-round series, injured the wrist when he fouled LeBron James with 21 seconds remaining in Game 1.
Before the Wizards practiced Sunday morning, Arenas took a couple of jump shots that missed everything. He started fidgeting with the wrist while calling team athletic trainer Eric Waters over to take a look.
Arenas did not practice on Sunday, after coming off the bench on Saturday to hit 8 of 16 shots in just under 28 minutes. He did not mention the wrist during his postgame news conference and did not speak to the media on Sunday.
If Arenas is limited in any way Monday night, the Wizards will face an even greater challenge as they attempt to even the series and steal home-court advantage from the Cavaliers, who have beaten Washington seven straight times in the playoffs.
The Wizards did plenty of things right in Game 1 and held a two-point lead with 4:38 to play but lost because they missed 11 straight shots late in the game.
They also couldn't stop James from scoring four points on drives to the basket late in the fourth quarter.
'We had the game pretty much where we wanted it, and then we let it get away from us,' said Wizards all-star forward Caron Butler, who was held to 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting in just over 40 minutes. 'If we just continue to come out with that same energy we had, we'll be okay. I don't think we're going to have another drought like we had. Play the same type of game, do a few things better, and we'll be fine.'
Before practice Sunday, Coach Eddie Jordan danced around a question about starting Arenas on Monday.
"What time is it right now?" Jordan asked. "As far as right now, at this minute, he's still coming off the bench but it could change two or three times before game time."
Starting Arenas may help the Wizards get off to a better start in Game 2 -- Washington made just one of its first seven shots and managed 10 points in the first six minutes in Game 1 -- but other drastic changes may not be necessary.
The Wizards know they aren't going to shut down James, who finished with 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting Saturday and is averaging 32.5 points in 11 career playoff games against Washington, but they do feel that they can be better offensively.
DeShawn Stevenson, Darius Songaila and Roger Mason Jr. shot a combined 2-of-19 Saturday afternoon, and Butler learned that he has to adapt to the defensive strategy Cleveland Coach Mike Brown has employed on him.
For much of the game, slow-footed Wally Szczerbiak was assigned to Butler. But when Butler received the ball in one of his sweet spots -- such as on the wing where he likes to either take a jump shot or penetrate, or on the block where he likes to post up -- the Cavaliers often sent a second defender to force the ball out of his hands.
Striking the right mix of looking for his own offense and moving the basketball will be crucial for Butler as the series continues.
"It was a big adjustment because it was the first time back to live action," said Butler, who missed the final three games of the regular season with a bruised right knee. "And they were playing me a little different. They were redding me [running a second defender at him] on cuts and doubling on all of the [isolations] I get, so I just have to be a facilitator for the most part. But at the same time, I have to look for ways to assert myself into the offense and find my rhythm."
The other matchup the Wizards must exploit is Antawn Jamison against Ben Wallace. Jamison estimated that Wallace, who is not as quick laterally as he used to be and does not like to leave the paint defensively, was assigned to him about 70 percent of the time in Game 1. As a result, Jamison got just about any shot he wanted.
He finished with 24 points and a career-playoff-high 19 rebounds, but made 10 of 24 shots and only one of eight three-point attempts. Many of the shots were wide open.
"Of the 24 I took, maybe four or five of them were tough shots, but the rest of them were in the flow, shots I normally take," Jamison said. "On a couple of those threes I could've drove to the basket, so I have to be more patient with that. But those were good shots. I just need to make them."
Getting more efficient offensive production will be a major key for the Wizards, who won only 10 games during the regular season when they scored fewer than 100 points. Meantime, the Cavaliers won only nine games in regulation when they allowed at least 100 points.
James understands that the Wizards are capable of breaking out in Game
Arenas Won't Start In Game 1
Arenas Won't Start In Game 1
Gilbert Arenas came off the bench in the five games he has played since making his return on April 2, and he will be in that role again for Game 1 of the Wizards' best-of-seven first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
However, Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan did not rule out making a change as the series goes along.
"Right now, we are looking at Game 1 and he is going to come off the bench," Jordan said. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to Game 2."
Since returning after missing 66 games following left knee surgery, Arenas averaged 14.6 points on 41.8 percent shooting with 3.8 assists in 21.6 minutes. Jordan said he hopes to expand Arenas's minutes in the playoffs. Antonio Daniels will start Game 1.
'Whether he starts or comes off the bench, I don't know if it's really different for an opponent,' Orlando Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said. 'You would rather have him on the bench as long as you could if you are the opponent, I know that. No disrespect to their other players, but when you have a player like Gilbert Arenas, who is one of the best scorers in the league, every minute he is on the bench I would think is a good thing.'
After calling LeBron James overrated and making several other bold statements, Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson fully expects to be public enemy number one when Game 1 tips off today at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.
"I have to expect that, I mean, it's LeBron James so it's pretty much everywhere on the streets right now," Stevenson said. "I'm not worried about it. I have to go out there and stop LeBron; and Gilbert, Antawn [Jamison], and Caron [Butler] have to do the scoring. I think my job is easier."
Stevenson, who took a charge on James late in Washington's 101-99 win over the Cavaliers on March 13, will almost certainly be reminded by fired-up Cleveland fans that he shot a dreadful 19.6 percent during last year's first-round series, won by the Cavaliers 4-0.
During that series, center Brendan Haywood became something of a villain in Cleveland after engaging in a shoving match and exchanging trash talk with then-Cavalier Drew Gooden in Game 2. 'I don't think they're going to worry too much about me,' Haywood cracked. 'I think that right now, their focus is going to be on somebody else.'
