Arenas snaps slump, helps lift Washington

LeBron James was limited to 20 points for Cleveland.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For once, Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards got the better of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Arenas came out of a recent personal slump by scoring 45 points -- 25 more than James -- and the Wizards ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Cavaliers 111-99 on Saturday night.
Cleveland had won its last five games.
There was a scary moment for the hosts, though, when guard Jarvis Hayes went down to the floor after a collision with Cleveland's Shannon Brown with 21/2 minutes left. Play was stopped for about 10 minutes while Hayes was immobilized and taken away on a stretcher. There was no immediate word on his condition.
Players from both teams have acknowledged that they're building a bit of a rivalry, and if so, it's been rather one-sided. Cleveland eliminated Washington in the first round of last season's playoffs, then beat the Wizards again in a 2006-07 opener.
In that Nov. 1 game at Cleveland, Arenas was limited to seven points, part of the reason he's been averaging 18.3 on the road, where the Wizards are 0-4. He entered Saturday averaging 34.5 at home, and increased that while tying an NBA season high with seven 3-pointers.
Overall, he was 14-of-22 from the field for his 22nd career 40-point game. He scored 18 of Washington's 20 points in a stretch from the third quarter into the fourth as the Wizards pulled away with a 17-2 run.
Turnaround
It was quite a reversal for Arenas, held under 30 points in his previous four games, his longest such stretch since opponents kept him below that threshold 10 games in a row in March 2005.
His output against Cleveland was only two points shy of his career high on a night that he arranged for the sellout crowd of 20,173 to receive white T-shirts with his last name and number -- zero -- on the back, and his nickname, "Agent Zero" on the front.
Arenas' work was done when he went to the bench with more than six minutes left. By then, the Cavaliers' starters were on the sideline, too.
They were soon joined by Damon Jones, who hit the go-ahead shot that eliminated Washington last postseason. He was ejected Saturday after drawing two quick technical fouls for arguing an offensive foul call with about 41/2 minutes left. He continued to scream at the officials before being escorted toward the locker room.
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