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LeBron James had the last word.

In an NBA playoff series filled with trash talk, hard fouls, 13 technicals, one ejection, one suspension and plenty more, James was everywhere and did a little bit of everything in Game 6. And, in what's become his personal rite of spring, he led the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Washington Wizards.

James compiled 27 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for his third career playoff triple-double, all the while helping slow Caron Butler at the defensive end, and the Cavaliers beat the Wizards 105-88 on Friday night to close the contentious series.

"Cleveland is advancing. We won the series 4-2. That speaks louder than me saying anything about the fans here, anything about DeShawn Stevenson," James said, referring to the Wizards guard who called him overrated. "Cleveland is advancing. That's all that matters."

It's the third consecutive postseason that the Cavaliers eliminated the Wizards in the first round -- ending each of those series on Washington's home floor.

"Three times in a row. It's tough," Washington's Antonio Daniels said. "But who knows what happens if we have a healthy team? A healthy Gilbert Arenas? If we had Darius Songaila for Game 6 -- who knows what happens?"

Songaila, a reserve forward, was barred from Friday's game by the NBA for hitting James in the face at Cleveland in Game 5, a one-point Washington victory that extended the series.

Cleveland, which reached the NBA Finals a year ago, now faces Boston or Atlanta. The Celtics host the Hawks in Game 7 on Sunday, and whoever wins will have to try to do something Washington certainly could not: stop James.

"We have LeBron on our team, and there are 30 other teams or 29 who don't," Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said, "and that's the biggest difference."

Indeed, James was involved in pretty much every key sequence, including when he was whistled for one of the game's three technical fouls. And when Butler drew another for throwing an arm across James' waist. And when James lit into his teammates at the end of the third quarter for allowing Daniels to cut through the lane for an uncontested dunk.

"We can't allow that," James said. "Not in the postseason."

He was more of a passer than a scorer early, with twice as many assists (four) as shot attempts (two) in the first quarter. That allowed his teammates to get in a rhythm, and Wally Szczerbiak scored a career playoff-best 26 points, Daniel Gibson added 22, and they combined to make 10 of Cleveland's 11 3-pointers.

"He passed up a couple of wide-open shots to get even more wide-open shots for me," Szczerbiak said.

Butler considered the contributions from the Cavaliers' lesser-known players and said: "The thing was we wanted somebody else to beat us, and that's kind of what happened."

Perhaps. But check out these stats: James' triple-double was accomplished before the third quarter was over, and he dished out more assists than the entire Wizards team (11).

"LeBron puts so much pressure on your defense," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said.

James put in work at the other end, too, where Cleveland knew it needed to hound Butler more than it did in Game 5, when he scored 32 points on 50 percent shooting.

Before the opening tipoff Friday, Butler was alone on the court, skipping and waving a hand in the air, encouraging the fans in a sellout crowd of 20,173 to twirl their white towels. Then, taking a breather with Washington leading by six points in the second quarter, the two-time All-Star stood on the sideline and spun his warmup shirt overhead.

But on the court, Butler didn't have nearly as much pep. He entered the third quarter only 2-for-9 for seven points with zero assists or steals, and wound up with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Antawn Jamison led Washington with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

The Cavaliers were ahead 56-48 at halftime, thanks in large part to a 15-0 run during the second quarter and 7-for-12 shooting on 3-pointers. The Wizards? They were 3-for-12 on 3s to that point.

It never really got competitive in the second half, and it didn't help matters for Washington that it didn't manage a fourth-quarter basket until Butler made one 3 1/2 minutes in.

The Wizards didn't learn about Songaila's punishment until after their morning shootaround. That left Jordan with a seven-man rotation, because he already was without Arenas, who ruled himself out for the rest of the season before Game 5 because of his surgically repaired left knee.

Arenas held up Songaila's No. 9 jersey on the sideline, then set it down on a chair in tribute. Some fans in the stands raised signs reading, "Free Darius."

In the end, all that really mattered was that James was on the court.

He ignored the booing and chants of "Ov-er-ra-ted!" from the stands. He set aside his war of words with Stevenson, which wound up dragging in a pair of rappers: James' pal, Jay-Z, and Stevenson's supporter, Soulja Boy. He dealt with Washington's suddenly hard-hitting defense.

"We had a lot of things go on besides basketball in this series, which was fun. But at the same time, we took care of business," James said. "Soulja Boy, DeShawn Stevenson, my big brother 'J,' myself, the crowd, 'overrated.' All that. It comes down to us winning a really gruesome series."

Notes: Szczerbiak's previous career high for the playoffs was 25. ... This was the 30th game between these teams since 2005-06, counting preseason, regular season and postseason. The Cavaliers hold an 18-12 edge. "We play them a lot. You almost know the hotel personnel by name, you know? 'Good to see you again. Good to see you again.' For some bizarre reason, we keep running into each other,'' Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "It's good and bad. Good, because we know each other so there's not much surprises. But at the same time, there's some bad blood.'' ... Arenas said before Friday's game he'd be getting his left knee drained of excess fluid.

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Kevin Durant Named T-Mobile Rookie of the year
Kevin Durant of the Seattle SuperSonics is the recipient of the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced today.

Durant received 90 first-place votes (545 points) from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Atlanta’s Al Horford finished second with 390 points and Houston’s Luis Scola finished third with 146 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.

Drafted with the second overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Durant averaged a rookie- and team-high 20.3 points – 7.6 points higher than any other rookie – to go along with 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 80 games (all starts). Durant was the only rookie to lead his team in five statistical categories, including points, blocks, steals, free-throws made and free-throw percentage. Durant also blocked more shots than any other guard in the league (75). He is the first SuperSonic player to win the award.

Durant led Seattle in scoring 47 times, including a career-high 42 points against Golden State on April 16. A five-time T-Mobile Western Conference Rookie of the Month selection (November, December, January, March and April), Durant scored at least 20 points 47 times and at least 30 points seven times. Durant represented the SuperSonics in the 2008 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, finishing with 23 points.

Throughout the 2007-08 season, for every point scored by the T-Mobile Rookie of the Month, T-Mobile USA pledged to donate $20 per point scored during the month the player won the award to the New Orleans Recovery School District. T-Mobile will donate a total of $49,700 to the school district, with $28,500 coming from the 1,425 points scored by Durant alone during the five months he won T-Mobile Rookie of the Month. This philanthropic component is new to the T-Mobile Rookie Program and builds on T-Mobile’s strong appeal to the nation’s youth as the official wireless partner of the NBA. Other highlights of T-Mobile’s partnership with the NBA include the T-Mobile Rookie of the Year, T-Mobile Rookie of the Month Awards, and the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, an All-Star competition between NBA rookies and second-year players. During NBA All-Star 2008, T-Mobile Huddle Up and NBA Cares hosted more than 5,000 local students in the lower bowl of the arena to watch this year’s Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam.

The Eddie Gottlieb Trophy is named in honor of Eddie Gottlieb, one of the NBA’s founders who coached the Philadelphia Warriors to the NBA championship in 1946-47.

Attached are the voting results for the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year Award and the all-time list of winners: Year

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.''

Late in the first quarter of Wednesday evening’s Wizards at Cavaliers Game 5 playoff game (Cavs lead series 3-1), LeBron James drove down the left baseline at the rim, guarded by Darius Songaila. Their arms got tangled, and LeBron went up to try to score, was aggressively holding Songaila off with his arm in what appeared to be totally legal fashion but his other arm and Songaila’s arm were entangled the whole time, and as LeBron landed and they untangled, Songaila, using his left hand side-arm back-handed Lebron in the face. It clearly seemed intentional.

It wasn’t a full-on punch, but it was like a clear back-hand to the face. A pimp-slap, if you will.

LeBron just took the jab and stayed backed away, not retaliating.

I thought Songaila should have been ejected, yet the refs just called a personal foul and a technical foul on him, which was surprising.

And during the discussions after the incident, DeShawn Stevenson and Anderson Varejao had a very minor disagreement, and the refs quickly slapped a double-tech on them. I hate that call. Neither player needed a tech called on them.