CLEVELAND — It was two years ago during the Cavaliers’ first-round series against the Wizards that LeBron James stepped up to Gilbert Arenas at the free throw line and whispered, “You know, if you miss these shots, the game is over.”
In Wednesday night’s Game 5, Caron Butler returned the favor.
Butler, who single-handedly kept Washington in the game with his 32 points, nine rebounds and five assists, walked up to James before Cleveland began its final possession with 3.9 seconds left and whispered in James’ ear.
“I told him, ‘C’mon and miss this so we can make this thing interesting,’” Butler said. “Let’s take it back to D.C. and see what happens.”
Just like Arenas missed both free throws two years ago, James’ final shot fell off the rim and the Wizards came away with an 88-87 victory, keeping Washington alive in the best-of-seven series.
While one Wizards player after another referred to Arenas as their “closer” — or the guy they expect to take the final shot in a close game — the perennial all-star was on the bench in street clothes after suffering a pinched nerve in the back of his knee during Game 4.
So Wizards coach Eddie Jordan called on Butler to take the final shot with Washington down 87-86 with 11.2 seconds left.
“It worked out,” Jordan said. “Caron made a terrific drive that I throught he got bumped on, but that’s OK, you live with that.”
“I saw LeBron back up and I thought about taking the jump shot,” Butler said. “But I didn’t want to settle and bail out the defender. I didn’t want to not make that shot and think during the offseason that I settled for a jump shot when I should have been aggressive.”
Butler said his coach and his teammates have kept his spirits up while he has struggled during the regular season and during the early portion of the series with the Cavs. Butler scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds in Game 1, and scored just 12 points during the second game.
“I’m feeling more comfortable because my body is finally coming around,” Butler said. “I’ve been battling a lot of injuries during the second half of the season, but I knew I had to leave it all out on the floor tonight.”
“Caron came out and he hit his shots,” James said. “He’s an all-star and he put his team on his back tonight. They just sat on Caron’s back and he led them to victory.”
Finally, something James and nemesis DeShawn Stevenson can agree on.
“We rode his back and we’ve got to do that at home now,” Stevenson said. “I knew he was going to have a great game in the first quarter — he came out strong.”
Butler seemed to do it all in the Wizards’ victory. Besides making the game-winner and helping defend James during the final shot of the game, Butler hit four big 3-pointers, went 6-of-7 from the free throw line and even made the smart decision to foul Ben Wallace — a career 42 percent free throw shooter — late in the fourth quarter when the Wizards were trying to stay in the game.
“It was a spontaneous thing, nothing that we talked about before,” Butler said. “Guys were just looking around and we decided to foul him and see what happens.”
Wallace missed both shots.
“We heard quotes about how the series was over,” Butler said. “We’ve proven all the doubters wrong all season and this is just another opportunity.
“The flight back to Washington is one hour and five minutes long. We can celebrate during that time, but when we land we immediately have to start worrying about how we’re going to deal with the Cavs.”
Contact Shaun Bennett  at 329-7137 or sbennnett@chroniclet.com. 

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