Editing Washington Wizards (section)

====2005–06====
[[File:JamisonWizards.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Antawn Jamison]] shooting a free throw in 2006 while wearing the team's gold alternate jersey.]]
The [[2005–06 Washington Wizards season|2005–06 season]] was filled with ups and downs. During the off-season, Washington acquired [[Caron Butler]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nba.com/wizards/news/butler-atkins_050803.html|title=Wizards Acquire Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins|work=Washington Wizards|publisher=NBA|date=July 29, 2005|access-date=December 14, 2022|archive-date=December 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214095359/https://www.nba.com/wizards/news/butler-atkins_050803.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Antonio Daniels]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nba.com/wizards/news/daniels_050802.html|title=Wizards Sign Guard Antonio Daniels|date=July 29, 2005|access-date=December 14, 2022|work=Washington Wizards|publisher=NBA|last=Hernandez|first=E.|archive-date=December 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214095401/https://www.nba.com/wizards/news/daniels_050802.html|url-status=live}}</ref> During the regular season, the Wizards again had the best scoring trio in the NBA, this time consisting of Arenas, Jamison and Butler as the "Big Three".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nba.com/wizards/news/big-3-back-in-d-c-gilbert-arenas-caron-butler-and-antawn-jamison-reunite|title=Big 3 back in D.C.: Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison reunite|work=Washington Wizards|date=November 19, 2022|access-date=December 14, 2022|last=Askew|first=Luke|publisher=NBA|archive-date=December 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214090158/https://www.nba.com/wizards/news/big-3-back-in-d-c-gilbert-arenas-caron-butler-and-antawn-jamison-reunite|url-status=live}}</ref> The Wizards started the 2005–06 season at 5–1, but went on an 8–17 funk to go to 13–18 through 31 games. Then, they went 13–5 in the next eighteen games. On April 5, 2006, the team was 39–35 and looking to close in on the 45-win mark achieved the previous year, until Butler suffered a thumb sprain and the Wizards lost all five games without him.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2006/04/16/butler-is-still-out-with-ailing-thumb/cdb3dd73-34b1-41c8-9a0c-13170289fcee/|title=Butler Is Still Out With Ailing Thumb|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 16, 2006|access-date=December 14, 2022|location=Chicago|last=Carter|first=Ivan|archive-date=August 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827193956/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2006/04/16/butler-is-still-out-with-ailing-thumb/cdb3dd73-34b1-41c8-9a0c-13170289fcee/|url-status=live}}</ref> Butler returned and the team pulled out their final three games, against the Pistons, Cavaliers and Bucks, all playoff-bound teams, to finish the year at {{Win-loss record|w=42|l=40}} and clinch the fifth seed in the [[Eastern Conference (NBA)|Eastern Conference]]. They averaged 101.7 points a game, third in the NBA and best in the East and clinched a playoff berth for the second consecutive season for the first time since 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WAS/2006.html|title=2005-06 Washington Wizards Roster and Stats|work=Basketball Reference|access-date=December 14, 2022|archive-date=December 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214095404/https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WAS/2006.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Their first-round match-up with Cleveland was widely seen as the most evenly matched series in the [[2006 NBA playoffs]]. The teams exchanged wins during the first two games in Cleveland, with game two highlighted by the Wizards holding [[LeBron James]] to 7–25 shooting from the floor while [[Brendan Haywood]] gave James a hard foul in the first quarter that many cited as the key to shaking up the rest of James's game. In game three at the Verizon Center, James hit a 4-footer on the way down with 5.7 seconds left to take the game and the series lead for the Cavs with a 97–96 win. Arenas missed a potential game-winning three-pointer on the other end to seal the win for the Cavs. Game 4 saw the Wizards heat up again, as Arenas scored 20 in the fourth quarter after claiming he changed his jersey, shorts, shoes and tights in the room and the Wizards won 106–96. Yet in games five and six, the Cavs took control of the series, both games decided by one point in overtime. In game five, despite the Wizards being down 107–100 with 1:18 to play, the team drove back and eventually tied the game on Butler's layup with 7.5 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime, where James scored with 0.9 seconds left to send the Cavs to a 121–120 win. The series returned to the Verizon Center for game six, where the game went back and forth all night. The Wizards blew a 14-point first-quarter lead, then for 24 minutes, from early in the second quarter to early in the fourth, neither team led by more than five points at any time. The Wizards blew a seven-point lead with just under five to play and needed Arenas to hit a 31-foot shot at the end of regulation to take the game to overtime. In overtime, Arenas missed two key free throws. Cleveland rebounded the ball, went downcourt and [[Damon Jones]] hit a 17-foot baseline jump shot with 4.8 seconds remaining to give the Cavs the lead for good. Butler missed a three-pointer on the other end to seal the game, and the series, for the Cavaliers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2006-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-wizards-vs-cavaliers.html|title=2006 NBA Eastern Conference First Round Wizards vs. Cavaliers|work=Basketball Reference|access-date=December 14, 2022|archive-date=December 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214095359/https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2006-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-wizards-vs-cavaliers.html|url-status=live}}</ref>