Arena’s 30 leads Wizards past Pacers 103-90

Tonight’s game between the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards may have went a long way towards proving that Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas may be back physically. He scored 20 first-half points, which enabled the Wizards to beat the Pacers 103-90 at Washington.

Arenas’ game tonight was completely different than his previous contests; he had more spring in his step, so to speak. He was shooting at a 35% clip prior to tonight, but he hit half of his shots tonight, so perhaps this was a preview of better things to come for both Arenas and Washington.

Washington led the first period 28-15, with Wizards forward Caron Butler nearly by himself matching the Pacers’ scoring output for the period, scoring 14. The game, in and of itself, wasn’t as close as the score indicated. One could even have called the Gilbert Arenas Show, highlighted by the last 2 minutes of the second period. Arenas made a 3-pointer, then proceeded to block a 3-point attempt by Indiana forward Danny Granger, made yet another 3-pointer then drove hard to the basket and drew a foul with 0.9 seconds left in the half.

It was pretty much more of the same in the second half, between Arenas scoring for himself and creating opportunities for other Wizard players. Arenas’ basket at the 7-minute juncture of the 3rd quarter gave Washington a 75-55 lead, which turned out to be insurmountable.

Arenas led Washington with 30 points along with 11 assists, while Butler added 25 and center Brendan Haywood chipped in 16 and grabbed 11 boards. Indiana, which shot 39% in this game, was led by G Marquis Daniels with 19 points; F Jermaine O’Neal contributed 17 and 9 rebounds and G Jamaal Tinsley punched in 15. Washington (2-5), now on a 2-game winning streak, flies to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves for a Friday night tilt; Indiana (3-5), losers of 5 straight, fly to eastern Canada to take on the Toronto Raptors.