By CHRIS ALTRUDA, STATS Editor
The Milwaukee Bucks may have finally cooled off offensively, but Washington
Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas continues to be hot.
Arenas and the Wizards visit the Bradley Center on Saturday trying to extend
their winning streak to six games at the expense of the Bucks.
The sixth-year guard had 36 points, nine rebounds and seven assists Friday
as Washington (17-12) claimed the lead in the Southeast Division with a 112-111
victory over Orlando. He scored 14 fourth-quarter points for the Wizards,
topping the 30-point mark for the fifth consecutive game and continuing his
month-long scoring binge.
"It wasn't a smooth game," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. "But
Gilbert just took control and willed his personality on the game."
Arenas is averaging 30.5 points this season, but has averaged 35.1 points in
15 games this month, shooting 41.9 percent from 3-point range. He has a 40, 50
and 60-point game among his efforts in December, highlighted by his career-high
60-point effort in a Dec. 17 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Wizards are 12-3 in December and leading a division this late in the
season for the first time since 1978-79, the last time the franchise won a
division title.
"It's 29 games into the season, we're not worried about first place," said
Arenas. "It means nothing until the end of the season.
"We're playing great basketball now and that's the reward. This whole
December, making shots at the end, getting stops and we're playing good
basketball."
Arenas is averaging just 22.5 points in 14 lifetime games against the Bucks,
but he has averaged 32.8 in the last four matchups against them. He had 29
points and 11 assists in Washington's 116-111 victory Nov. 10 over Milwaukee.
The Bucks (15-15) had their season-high, six-game winning streak snapped
with Friday's 109-99 loss at Cleveland that also ended a string of three
straight road victories. Michael Redd scored 24 points and Mo Williams added 21
for Milwaukee, which shot just 40.5 percent from the field and allowed 11
3-pointers, seven by Donyell Marshall.
"Give Cleveland credit," Redd said. "Marshall made some big threes. We
really couldn't solve that, and LeBron hit some big threes."
Milwaukee's shooting percentage was its second worst of the season, better
than only a 38.4-percent effort in a 101-88 loss to Utah on Dec. 4. The Bucks
had averaged 113.8 points during the winning streak while making 51.3 percent of
their shots from the field.
The Bucks will try to extend a six-game home winning streak, their longest
at the Bradley Center since a 10-game run from Dec. 10, 2003, to Jan. 15, 2004.
Milwaukee has also won 12 of its last 14 home games against Washington since the
start of the 1998-99 season.
Updated on Saturday, Dec 30, 2006 1:29 am, EST
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