Washington 88 Cleveland 87 Caron Butler’s layup with 3.9 seconds remaining, followed by LeBron James’ missed running back shot at the buzzer sent this series back to Washington, where Cleveland will try again to advance to the 2^nd round. Caron Butler scored 34 points while leading the Wizards, who will be without Superstar Gilbert Arenas for the remainder of the playoffs after he announced prior to Game 5 that he was shutting it down due to lingering knee pain. The Wizards have play better with Gilbert off the court this season so this move may not damage the team as one might think. Personally, I think that the Wizards are a better team without Gilbert because Caron Butler isn’t differing to Gilbert and he is able to play like the All-Star that he is. The Cavs were lead, as usual, by LeBron James who had another great game with 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists but it wasn’t enough to close out the pesky Wizards. In a series that has been full of trash talk, the latest comes from Caron Butler who told this to LeBron James seconds before the final play went down, “I was messing with LeBron before the play started, I told him, 'Miss this shot, make it interesting and let's take this thing back to D.C.'" Game 6, in Washington, is on Friday on ESPN.

Boston 110 Atlanta 85 So much for all of that talk about Atlanta coming in and stealing Game 5 from the Celtics. Boston came out focused from the get go and took it to the Hawks to take the 3-2 series lead as this one heads back to Atlanta. The Boston Three Party dominated the ever critical Game 5. The Three combined for 61 points, 15 rebounds, and 17 assists. Game 4 hero Joe Johnson, got into early foul trouble, was held to 21 points, as Doc Rivers also finally decided that he should probably double team him. Josh Smith shot 4-13 from the field, finishing with 18 points. Boston dominated this game throughout, winning every quarter, except the 3^rd, by 7+ points. Game 6, in Atlanta, is Friday on ESPN2.

• Caron Butler: 32 pts, 9 rebounds, 5 asts, 2 stls
• Paul Piece: 22 pts, 7 rbs, 6 asts
  
• Ray Allen: 19 pts, 5-8 3FG, 3 rbs, 4 asts
• Kevin Garnett: 20 pts, 5 rbs, 7 asts, 3 blks
• LeBron James: 34 pts, 10 rbs, 7 asts, 2 blks