Wizards hang on, squeak past Cavaliers in Game 5

Boston—Paul Pierce scored a playoff-high 22 points to lead Boston to a victory over Atlanta, 110-85 that gave the Boston Celtics back the lead, 3-2 in their best-of-seven NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoff series yesterday.

Ray Allen hit three 3-pointers in the middle of the third quarter to turn back the Hawks’ last charge, and put the Celtics one game away from advancing to the second playoff round.

The first five games have all gone to the home team, with Game 6 in Atlanta on Friday. A seventh game, if necessary, would be played in Boston on Sunday, an advantage the Celtics earned with their NBA-best 66-16 record in the regular season.

Wizards 88,
Cavs 87

In Cleveland, Washington’s Caron Butler made a layup with 3.9 seconds left and Cleveland’s LeBron James missed a potential series-ending shot at the horn, giving the Wizards an 88-87 victory over the Cavaliers to cut the deficit in their playoff series to 3-2.

After Butler scored on a drive past James, the Cavs had one more chance but their superstar couldn’t get a running shot to drop and the Wizards headed home for Game 6 on Friday in the best-of-seven series.

Butler scored 32 points for the Wizards, absent guard Gilbert Arenas who announced before the game that his season was over because of a knee injury. Arenas’ absence looked like a decisive blow against the Wizards, but they fought to the finish and, at least for now, prevented the Cavs from ending their season for the third straight year.

James scored 34 points — 24 in the second half — but was unable to make that final shot that would have sent the Wizards, who began talking trash weeks ago and haven’t stopped, quietly into the summer. The Cavaliers led 87-82 with 1:47 left, but Washington scored the final six points to end a five-game playoff losing streak in Cleveland. /ap