Wizards Shock Cavs; Celtics Trounce Hawks

Caron Butler led Washington with 32 points, nine in the fourth quarter, to go with nine rebounds and five assists.

Caron Butler’s driving layup over LeBron James with 3.9 seconds left helped the Wizards extend their season, as Washington rallied late for a thrilling 88-87 victory over the Cavaliers in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series at Quicken Loans Arena. Photo courtesy: Washington Wizards

CLEVELAND - Caron Butler’s driving layup over LeBron James with 3.9 seconds left helped the Wizards extend their season, as Washington rallied late for a thrilling 88-87 victory over the Cavaliers in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series at Quicken Loans Arena.

James had one last chance to win it, but his runner bounced off the front of the rim as time expired. Instead this spirited series extends to a Game 6 on Friday in Washington.

Cleveland leads 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

The Wizards trailed this one 87-82 with 1:04 left, but scored six unanswered points to win it and snap a five-game playoff losing streak in Cleveland. They also limited the Cavs to just 36 percent shooting from the field.

Butler led the way with a career playoff-high 32 points, nine in the fourth quarter, to go with nine rebounds and five assists. He was 11-of-22 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range. DeShawn Stevenson added 17 points and Antonio Daniels had 10. Antawn Jamison grabbed 11 rebounds.

Washington played without guard Gilbert Arenas, who announced before the game that his season was over because of his ailing knee.

James scored 24 of his game-high 34 in the second half. He also posted 10 rebounds and seven assists.

The Cavs trailed by two at halftime, but James helped fuel a strong second-half performance. Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte West were the only other Cavs in double figures with 19 and 12, respectively.

Boston 110 - Atlanta - 85 (Boston Leads Series 3-2)

In his postgame interview with TNT's Cheryl Miller, Kevin Garnett said it was time his team got back to "Celtics basketball." In Game 5 against the upstart Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, that's exactly what Boston did. Dominating the contest from start to finish, the Celtics trounced the Hawks 110-85 at TD Banknorth Garden to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

From the opening tip, the Celtics bore down on defense, limiting the younger and quicker Hawks to jumpers and sending Joe Johnson to the bench with two fouls at the 4:12-minute mark in the first quarter. Johnson finished with 21 points, but got off only 11 total shots as Boston owned an 84-69 edge in field goal attempts.

The Celtics seemed determined not to take chances on offense, either, as only Boston's "Big Three" attempted any Celtic field goals until Rajon Rondo got off a layup at 5:45 in the first quarter. Team Green's three All-Stars needn't have worried -- six Celtics scored in double figures, led by Paul Pierce, who hit for a game-high 22 points. Garnett added 20 and Ray Allen, who nailed five 3-pointers, finished with 19 as the Celts shot 54 percent from the floor on the night.

Trailing by 15 at halftime, the Hawks tried to restart their engines coming out of intermission. Using a 9-0 run halfway through the third quarter, Atlanta pulled within six at 60-54 -- but the Big Three answered again, with KG and Pierce hitting buckets and Allen sinking another trey to take the game out of Atlanta's reach for good.

Al Horford notched his third double-double of the series with 14 points and 10 boards, but he didn't get as much help in the paint Tuesday as the Celtics outrebounded the Hawks 39-28. Josh Smith added 18 points and five rebounds, and Marvin Williams chipped in 12 points.

The series heads back to Atlanta's Philips Arena for Friday's Game 6. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ESPN.

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