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Wizards work some magic

Washington's Caron Butler shoots over Cleveland's Wally Szczerbiak during first-quarter play.Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review
Washington's Caron Butler shoots over Cleveland's Wally Szczerbiak during first-quarter play.Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Caron Butler saved Washington’s season.

Butler made a layup with 3.9 seconds left and the Wizards held their breath as LeBron James missed a potential series-ending layup at the horn, giving Washington an 88-87 victory Wednesday night in Cleveland, and adding at least one more game to this overheated NBA playoff series.

After Butler scored on a drive past James, the Cavs had one more chance, but their superstar couldn’t get a banked runner to drop and the Wizards headed home for Game 6 on Friday night down 3-2 in the best-of-7 series.

Butler scored 32 points and DeShawn Stevenson had 17 for the Wizards, who played without guard Gilbert Arenas. Arenas announced before the game that his season was over because of a bothersome knee. Arenas’ absence figured to be the decisive blow for the Wizards, but they fought to the finish and, at least for now, prevented the Cavs from ending their season for the third straight year.

James scored 34 points – 24 in the second half – but was unable to make a final shot in traffic that would have sent the Wizards, who began talking trash weeks ago and haven’t stopped, quietly into the summer. The Cavaliers led by five with 1:47 left, but Washington scored the final six points to end a five-game playoff losing streak in Cleveland.

Celtics 110, Hawks 85: Paul Pierce scored 22 points and Ray Allen hit three 3-pointers in the middle of the third quarter to turn back Atlanta’s last charge, leading the Celtics to a victory in Boston and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Kevin Garnett scored 20 and Allen had 19 to put the Celtics one game away from advancing to the second round. Boston got a huge lift from its bench in the second quarter, when Sam Cassell scored nine points and Leon Powe had seven with five rebounds while holding Al Horford to a pair of baskets.

Joe Johnson scored 21, and Horford had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta.

The first five games have all gone to the home team, with Game 6 in Atlanta on Friday night. A seventh game, if necessary, would be played in Boston on Sunday, an advantage the Celtics earned with their NBA-best 66-16 record in the regular season.

•Celtics forward Paul Pierce, fined $25,000 for what the NBA called a “menacing gesture” during Game 3 of Boston’s playoff series against Atlanta, denied that the sign was gang-related.

The league fined Pierce for flashing a hand gesture toward Atlanta’s Al Horford, holding up his right hand, forming an “O” with his thumb and index finger and extending the other three fingers. Although the gesture has been interpreted as a gang sign, Celtics basketball boss Danny Ainge said the three fingers represented “blood, sweat and tears.”

Pierce does it before every game, Ainge said, adding that the fine would be appealed after the season.

Mavericks fire Johnson

The Dallas Mavericks fired coach Avery Johnson, the first of what’s likely to be many off-season moves after the team with the league’s highest payroll again flopped in the first round of the playoffs.

Johnson leaves with an impressive resume after three-plus seasons, but Mavs owner Mark Cuban couldn’t tolerate two straight years of first-round exits – or the fact that Dallas has gone 3-12 in the playoffs since taking a 2-0 lead in the 2006 NBA finals against Miami.