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Arenas, Wizards hope to send Sonics to another road defeat

Feb 5, 2007 - 3:19 PM Seattle (17-30) at Washington (27-19) 7:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- All-Star Gilbert Arenas loves playing against the Western Conference.

Looking to bounce back from a poor shooting stretch, Arenas hopes to continue his dominance against the West when he leads the Washington Wizards against the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday.

Enjoying his best season, Arenas has notched some incredible performances - mostly against Western opponents.

Arenas scored a career-high and franchise-record 60 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on December 17. Less than a week later, he cooled off red-hot Phoenix, netting 54 points. He also poured in 51 against Utah on January 15.

It is no surprise that the Wizards have thrived this season on the strength of Arenas' stellar play. Arenas has scored 40-plus points seven times, and Washington is 6-1 in those games.

In his last four contests, however, the superstar guard has not played well, shooting 39 percent (33-of-84) from the field in those games, including a 9-of-29 performance against the Lakers on Saturday. Despite the poor shooting, Arenas scored 37 points in Washington's 118-102 loss to Los Angeles.

The Wizards routed the SuperSonics, 137-96, on November 11 with Arenas scoring 32 points. It was Washington's third straight win over Seattle, which hopes to avoid its franchise-record 15th consecutive road loss.

Seattle has not won a road game since defeating the Los Angeles Clippers on November 22. The Sonics also have lost four straight overall, including Friday's 107-101 home loss to the Chicago Bulls.