Agent Zero leads the way: Gilbert Arenas scores 31 to help Wizards beat 76ers 105-98

Arenas scores 31, leads Wizards over 76ers 105-98

WASHINGTON — Brilliant at the beginning and end, and basically silent in between, Gilbert Arenas scored 31 points Tuesday night to lead the Washington Wizards to a 105-98 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, ending a three-game home losing streak.

Arenas scored the game’s first seven points and finished the opening quarter with 15. After adding only two points in each of the next two periods, he came back out of his shell in the fourth, scoring 12. He finished with eight rebounds but only two assists.

During a key 16-6 run in the fourth quarter that put Washington ahead for good, Arenas and Caron Butler combined to score every point for the Wizards. The spurt ended with Butler dunking off a pass from Arenas.

Elton Brand led Philadelphia with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Reserve guard Earl Boykins scored 18 for Washington, which had lost seven of eight. Butler added 14 points, but captain Antawn Jamison wasn’t much of a factor, finishing with only seven points — he shot 1 for 6 — and five rebounds.

Philadelphia led by four points before Arenas and Butler spurred the comeback with their two-man show that put Washington up 96-90 with about 4 minutes remaining.

This wasn’t exactly a showdown between league powers: Philadelphia entered the game 7-20, and Washington came in 8-17. The only Eastern Conference team with fewer victories is New Jersey, which is an NBA-worst 2-26.

Still, the Wizards had to be pleased with the way they pulled out this victory after dropping their past three home games by a total of five points. Plus, Washington lost by 26 in its last outing, at Phoenix on Saturday, a performance coach Flip Saunders called “extremely disappointing and pretty much unacceptable.”

Speaking before Tuesday’s game, Saunders wondered aloud about the “concentration level from the guys.”

Things didn’t look good for his club when Thaddeus Young’s three-point play gave the 76ers their first lead, 51-49, less than 2 minutes into the second half.

A few minutes later, the 76ers were ahead 58-52, and Saunders made wholesale substitutions, leaving no starters on the court. As Jamison walked to the sideline, he kicked the advertising sign along the nearby baseline.

Philadelphia extended its lead to 79-72 entering the fourth quarter. But Butler’s two free throws capped a 12-5 Wizards run that tied the game with 8½ minutes left, before he and Arenas took over.

Arenas opened the game with a personal 7-0 run by making a 3-pointer, a 20-foot fadeaway and a 19-foot jumper, while the 76ers began by going 0 for 2 plus two turnovers.

By the end of the first quarter, Washington led 27-21. After going 6 for 9 in the opening quarter, Arenas took only two shots in the second and finished the half with 17 points. Washington led 47-44 heading into the third.

NOTES: Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson missed a third consecutive game because of arthritis in his left knee and a bruised left shoulder. … Randy Foye replaced DeShawn Stevenson at guard in Washington’s starting lineup. Saunders wanted to give Foye a chance to play more minutes and be less worried about being penalized for mistakes. “That’s what I struggled with when I wasn’t playing: I felt as though if I made one bad play, I was coming out. Or if I didn’t make a shot, I was coming out,” Foye said. “It was tough on me, at times. But I never pouted. I never complained. I kept my head up.” … Wizards G Mike Miller is about 1½ weeks from returning from a calf injury, Saunders said. … Washington last dropped four home games in a row in December 2008.