While the Washington Wizards were preparing to take on the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers, point guard Gilbert Arenas, who took the night off, was busy doing summer planning. Using a specialized chart and calendar, the point guard - who has played twice after missing the first 73 games of the season following knee surgery - was drawing up his offseason workouts and what moves he needs to improve on the court. Arenas said the plan is to work on one move for a certain amount of days, perfect it and then move onto another to fully reload his arsenal.
Wednesday night's game was the fourth game Arenas has sat out since making his return against Detroit on March 28. In the week leading up to his comeback, Arenas said he would play five to six games -the four remaining home games, the game at Cleveland because he had "a love-hate relationship with their fans," and possibly the season finale at Boston on April 15. But after helping the Wizards defeat the Cavaliers 109-101 at Verizon Center on April 2 - a victory that snapped Cleveland's 13-game winning streak - Arenas said he didn't feel the need to play Wednesday night. Wizards coach Ed Tapscott said Arenas' knee was fine but that he was experiencing some overall soreness from being inactive for the first six months of the season.
On what cured his desire to stick it to the hosting Cavalier fans, Arenas had a simple answer.
"Eh, I did it already - on national television. That was enough," said Arenas, who in two games back is shooting just 26 percent from the field. "First game back with all of us, them coming into the building with a 13-game streak, one of the worst teams in the league ends it and wins comfortably? Yeah, that was enough."
Arenas said he now plans to play just one more of the three remaining games, that one matchup being Monday's home finale against the Toronto Raptors.
