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'Tough' Love

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Members of the Washington Wizards discuss their 88-87 victory over Cleveland in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

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Add Arenas's knee injury to the mix -- the fact that he shut it down for the season before Game 5 -- and everything was shaping up for another disappointing defeat here.

By necessity, Butler became Washington's best player this season, a ruthless veteran who tore up the league the first half of the season en route to his second all-star selection.

The only quality that trumped his skill was his will. In playground vernacular, he had plenty of "dog," a desire to get to the basket that transcended all but a few NBA players' desire.

But a torn labrum in his left hip in late January sidelined him for more than 20 games. And as much as he tried to rehabilitate the injury and get back fast, he never completely got his legs under his jump shot. He never had the same unbridled explosiveness that shook Paul Pierce and rattled Joe Johnson.

The most underreported story of this series has been the lingering effect of his injury and how adversely that had come to hurt the Wizards.

Yet when the season appeared over, when another loss against LeBron looked certain, he found something inside of him to push this series back to the District, back to D.C., just as he told his all-star counterpart in those closing seconds.

"TOUGH JUICE! TOUGH JUICE!"

They kept chanting Caron Butler's name as he rumbled down the corridor, finally embracing him as he entered the locker room, on what would not be the last night of the Wizards' season after all.

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