Arenas ends his season a bit early

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CLEVELAND — The Washington Wizards' season will continue after an 88-87 victory over the host Cleveland Cavaliers last night.

Gilbert Arenas', on the other hand, will not.

The three-time All-Star guard shelved himself for the remainder of the year roughly two hours before Game 5, saying the pinched nerve in the back of his surgically repaired left knee continues to cause him pain and discomfort and that he hurt his team's chances because of it.

Arenas — who missed 69 games this season while recovering from a Nov. 21 knee surgery — suffered the pinched nerve, along with a bone bruise in the same knee, in the Wizards' Game 2 loss at Cleveland. He left in the second quarter of Washington's Game 3 win with two points in 10 minutes. He played 32 minutes in Sunday's Game 4 loss, but he labored running up and down the court.

In yesterday's shootaround, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said the guard experienced more aches in his knee, but he still expected him to play.

But after testing out his knee and consulting the trainer during the pregame, Arenas decided to hang it up.

"My teammates did a great job of getting us here and giving me a chance to play in the playoffs," Arenas said. "I tried my best to go out and play and be a part of it. But my leg wasn't recovering fast enough after each game. This nerve pinch just came out of the blue. The swelling and achiness I can take that. But each step feels like you're hitting my funny bone. Eventually that is wearing and tearing."

He said there is no structural damage in his knee and no surgery is required to correct the pinched nerve. Today he begins a no-impact rotation, light-motion rehabilitation regimen. He is prohibited from running for two months.

Arenas returned from surgery April 2 and played as a reserve in five of the last eight regular-season games. He averaged 14.6 points in 21.6 minutes during that span.

In the last week, Jordan — who didn't learn of Arenas' decision until the guard told reporters in the locker room — juggled watching the guard's minutes on and off the court. He couldn't play Arenas for extended stretches but couldn't rest him for more than three to five minutes because Arenas' knee would stiffen.

But while they would rather have a healthy Arenas in uniform for the rest of the series, not having to juggle his minutes will simplify things.

"Oh, absolutely," Jordan said. "It's a tough thing to have to play Gil, and we were prepared to do it. But it's a tough thing to have Gil for five or six minutes and only rest him for three minutes and then put him in so he wouldn't get stiff. You couldn't play him long, and you couldn't rest him long. ...

"It's a tough way to go. But our guys have been professional, and they understand it. And we understood that if we could bring Gil to a level where he could be effective for us that he could do some wonderful things for us. That's why we were willing to sacrifice that continuity to do that for him."

Arenas, who previously said he planned to opt out of his contract so he could sign a long-term, maximum-dollar deal, said he doesn't know whether he still will do so. He has no regrets about coming back this season.

"No, no, no, no. You never second-guess your decision," Arenas said. "There are a lot of players that never even played in the postseason, and the team did a great job of getting us here and giving me the opportunity to go out there and play. So I went out there and did everything I could. I came off the bench. I did everything I could to keep this team intact and not interrupt. But at the end of the day when you're playing five on 4½, you're interrupting, and you need to have five healthy people to win a series."