Cavaliers succumb to Arenas, Wizards

Gilbert Arenas forced LeBron James into another bad shooting night.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Gilbert Arenas scored 26 points, Jerry Stackhouse had 19 and the suddenly healthy Washington Wizards snapped an 11-game road losing streak with a 106-88 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
Stackhouse added 11 assists and Kwame Brown had 20 points and 10 rebounds to help the Wizards win away from home for the first time since Dec. 6 in Milwaukee.
Finding a rhythm
Arenas, who has missed 26 games with a strained abdomen and was playing just his third game since coming off the injured list, scored only one point in the first quarter before taking over.
He scored 15 points in the third and did a nice job shutting down Cavs rookie LeBron James, who lit up the Wizards for a season-high 38 points a week ago while Arenas was out.
James scored 14 points, but went just 3-for-10 after scoring eight points in first quarter.
Before being benched with just under six minutes to go, James went 1-for-5 in the fourth period with Arenas draped all over him. In his last seven games, James is shooting just 16 percent (7-of-45) in the final period.
Carlos Boozer had 19 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavs, who have lost three straight.
Arenas' 15 points in the third quarter matched Cleveland's team total in the period, as the Wizards opened a 15-point lead entering the fourth.
Arenas sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around another jumper and scored 13 points in the final 5:50 of the third to give Washington a 78-63 lead.
Closing time
Cleveland was still hanging around in the first minutes of the fourth, but Arenas' 3-pointer with 6:26 left made it 93-71 and fans in Gund Arena started heading for the exits.
The Wizards missed their first five shots and had four turnovers as the Cavs built a nine-point lead in the second quarter.
However, after being slapped with a technical foul, Arenas scored seven points in the final 2:22 to help Washington move within 48-45 at halftime.
Following Arenas' technical, the Wizards outscored the Cavs 68-43.