Game 6 feet under

So much for the third time being the charm.

The Washington Wizards faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the third time in as many years. And for a third straight season, the Wizards lost.

This time, the Wizards lost in six games after last night’s 105-88 defeat at Verizon Center.

Photos: New year, old story

It was better than last year’s Cleveland sweep, when the Wizards limped into the playoffs having lost both Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler for the season and never really had a chance.

Again this season, the Wizards didn’t have the luxury of a roster at full-strength.

Arenas — after hobbling through the first four games of the series with a pinched nerve in his surgically repaired left knee — pulled the plug on his season before the Wizards’ Game 5 victory on Wednesday.

Center Etan Thomas missed the entire season after having surgery to repair a leaky aortic valve in October.

And last night, the Wizards played without backup forward Darius Songaila, who was suspended by the NBA after a technical foul on LeBron James in Game 5.

So the Cleveland hump remains for the Wizards, who dressed only 10 players last night.

“It’s definitely tough,” Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said. “You always have expectations before the season gets started, and we’ve been through a lot. A lot of ups and downs and road blocks, but one thing about this team is we always showed good character. We always fought. But it’s disappointing. That’s how the season went.”

James led the Cavaliers with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists. Wally Szczerbiak scored 26 points and Daniel Gibson added 22 off the bench.

Jamison scored 23 points — 11 in the first quarter — and pulled down 15 rebounds to lead the Wizards, who had only 11 assists. Butler added 18 points and Brendan Haywood had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Wizards started hot, shooting 55 percent and holding James to two points in the first quarter for a 31-27 lead. The only thing that kept the Cavaliers within striking distance was a strong performance from Szczerbiak, who scored 11 in the quarter.

But the Wizards went cold in the second quarter, shooting just 35 percent, which proved their undoing.

Washington lead 41-35 with 7:22 left in the first half but then miss four straight shots and committed two turnovers in the next four minutes. Cleveland capitalized with a 15-0 run that included two 3-pointers from Gibson and one from James for a 50-41 lead.

Gibson benefited from James facing defensive overloads from the Wizards. When James was under pressure, he zipped the ball to an open teammate on the perimeter, and they converted. Gibson scored 13 points in the second quarter, and he and finished with four 3-pointers while Szczerbiak had six.

“I thought we had the juice going early, and then they started making shots with their bench people,” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. “They picked up their intensity right before the half, and we lost some organization, trying to match them.

“But LeBron puts so much pressure on the defense, and when they have people making shots on the perimeter and their bigs are diving and taking care of some paint scores, then they really have you in a bad way.”

Things got no better for the Wizards in the third quarter, when they shot 26.3 percent and scored only 16 points. Cleveland, meanwhile, scored 23 points and added to a lead that swelled to as many as 25 in the fourth quarter.

“It was a total team effort,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “We kept telling guys on our team that when our guy, LeBron James, has the ball he is going to draw a lot of attention. We just have to be ready to shoot the ball because it’s coming. Terrific, terrific, terrific, terrific, terrific performance by our guy LeBron James. Terrific.”

The loss thrusts the Wizards into an offseason of uncertainty. Jamison, who led the team this season with 21.4 points and 10.2 rebounds a game, will be an unrestricted free agent, as will Roger Mason Jr., who had a career year with 9.1 points while serving as the team’s sixth man for much of the season.

Arenas said last summer — and has maintained all season — that he would opt out of his current deal following this season to become a free agent and sign a long-term max deal.

On Wednesday, however, he said he wasn’t sure if he still would opt out and that he would make that decision in the summer.

SEEN AND HEARD AT VERIZON CENTER

With Wizards forward Darius Songaila suspended by the league for his technical foul on LeBron James in Game 5 and prohibited from attending last night’s game, the Wizards kept a spot open on the bench and draped his white No. 9 jersey on the seat.

The 20,173 fans — most of them sporting the white playoff T-shirts the Wizards handed out for their white-out campaign — all gave a mighty cheer in support of the forward. Some of them held up “Free Darius” signs.

Although he wasn’t in uniform — because a pinched nerve in his surgically repaired left knee still has not healed — Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was in full support last night, cheering, clapping and even offering some coaching to his active teammates. Agent Zero even wore a cream-colored suit to do his part for the “white-out.”

“Does cream count?” he asked. “I couldn’t find anything pure white.”

— Mike Jones

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Daniel Gibson, Cleveland

The diminutive guard came off the bench to score 22 points, including four 3-pointers. His 13-point second quarter sparked a Cavaliers comeback that resulted in a 56-48 halftime lead that Cleveland never relinquished.

QUOTABLE

“We knew it was going to get a tech with the way LeBron’s been acting. Whether it’s me or Brendan or me or anybody bumping up against him, he acts like it’s the end of the world. So you knew a tech or maybe a fine. But suspended? That’s unfair.”

— Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson on Darius’ Songaila’s foul