Gilbert Arenas’ season is over. The Washington Wizards’ season isn’t.
Arenas, who missed most of the regular season following knee surgery, decided he was done shortly before the Wizards faced an elimination game Wednesday night in their first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
With Arenas out, Caron Butler led the way and made a layup with 3.9 seconds left to give Washington an 88-87 victory and pull the Wizards to 3-2 in the series.
“Instead of me blocking the team from success, we just decided just go ahead and shut it down,” Arenas said an hour before tipoff.
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.