Arenas leaves game, may play Sunday

Apr 25, 2008 - 6:44 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas left Thursday's convincing 108-72 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Three of their Eastern Conference first-round series in the second quarter with a bone bruise in his surgically repaired left knee.

However, he did not do further damage to the knee and is expected to play in Game Four on Sunday.

"He's got two days to get his legs back under him, and I think he's going to be OK for Sunday afternoon," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "He didn't re-injure it. It just aches, it's sore. It may be a pinched nerve, which to us is very manageable."

Arenas returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench for the first two contests of the best-of-seven series. He scored just two points on 1-of-2 shooting in 10 minutes Thursday.

The former All-Star guard missed 69 games during the regular season after a second surgery on his left knee.

"The most important thing is that, collectively as a group, we had to play better than what we did in the first two games," Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said. "Gilbert started tonight. It's been a while since we've seen that. When we found out he wasn't coming back in the second half, that's when our mind frame changed.

"That's when I needed to be aggressive on offense and defense, and that same thing happened with the rest of our team. When Gilbert is not out there, a lot of guys have to step up."

And that might be a positive for Washington, which looked out of sorts while trying to work its best player back into the fold. Arenas clearly was not 100 percent but continued to play the role of the Wizards' top scoring option in the two brutal losses to open the series.