Arenas Puts His Defense To the Test

Wizards 93, Cavaliers 89

CLEVELAND, Oct. 14 -- Gilbert Arenas has talked about becoming a better defensive player this season and he has even asked Washington Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan to assign him to defend some of the game's best scorers.

Arenas showed he is serious about those aspirations by opening Saturday night's preseason game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with one of the toughest assignments in the NBA: LeBron James.

Though giving up at least four inches and 35 pounds to the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James, Arenas held his own. James made a pair of contested jump shots over Arenas in the first quarter but didn't explode past him for any easy layups or dunks and James also committed a pair of turnovers.

James finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 22 minutes.

The Wizards won, 93-89, but the stakes will be much higher when they return to Quicken Loans Arena for the Nov. 1 regular season opener. One key will be how they approach James, who was almost exclusively defended by former Wizard Jared Jeffries during last spring's first-round playoff series.

The Wizards likely will rotate several defenders on James, including DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler and Jarvis Hayes, but Arenas wanted to see how he stacked up so he asked to switch assignments with Stevenson right after tip-off Saturday night.

"I just wanted to find out just how great that weight difference is," joked Arenas, who only attempted two shots in 20 minutes. "I had my fun little 20 minutes but seriously, defense is something I'm focused on. I want to be in the right spots, not get caught on screen-and-rolls and just try to stay consistent. I can't come out five minutes and play defense, then the next five minutes save my energy. I have to play both ends of the floor."

Asked why he was not his usual aggressive self offensively Saturday night, Arenas laughed.

"I know I can score, that's not what I'm worried about right now," he said. "I wanted to get the other guys involved. The offense will be there opening night, don't worry."

The Wizards charged back to win thanks to a unit that included Roger Mason Jr., Donell Taylor, Mike Hall, Andray Blatche and James Lang. The reserves helped erase a 15-point Cleveland lead with a run that was keyed by Mason, a former University of Virginia star who scored all 11 of his points, including a pair of three-pointers, in the fourth quarter.

Taylor, who finished with 12 points and five assists, iced the win by making a difficult pull-up jump shot over Daniel Gibson that gave the Wizards a four-point lead with 17 seconds to play.

Blatche provided another highlight when he drove baseline and threw down a spectacular two-handed dunk over Dwayne Jones. Lang made all three of his shots, including a pretty turnaround jump hook with 2 minutes 6 seconds remaining, and finished with six points.

"We're the practice crew," said Hall, the former George Washington star, who bounced back from a rough game against Chicago on Wednesday by making both of his shots and scoring four points during the fourth quarter run. "We got flowing as a unit and were able to take the game over. We wanted to get the win."

Wizards Notes: Hayes suffered a mild left ankle sprain late in the second quarter and did not return. . . . Antonio Daniels, who left practice Thursday with a sprained left ankle, made 6 of 7 shots and scored 15 points in 16 minutes. . . . Former Wizard Larry Hughes has looked like his old self so far this preseason for the Cavaliers. After missing 45 regular season games with a fractured finger on his right (shooting) hand, Hughes is healthy and shooting with more consistency. Hughes made 6 of 12 shots and finished with 13 points and three assists in 20 minutes. . . .

Washington's next game is Monday at Charlotte. The unusual 10 a.m. tip-off was scheduled because the Charlotte Bobcats are hosting 17,000 students and teachers representing 43 cities in North and South Carolina.