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 WASHINGTON (AP) - Gilbert Arenas scored 30 points, including a pair of four-point plays, and the Washington Wizards finally won a game without Caron Butler, 125-103 over the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday night.
The Wizards had lost eight straight when Butler wasn't in uniform — five when he had a sprained thumb late last season and three when he had back spasms a few weeks ago — but his latest ailment, a bruised knee, didn't derail the Wizards this time as they shot a season-high 58 percent from the field to move one-half game ahead of Miami atop the Southeast Division.
Butler will miss all of the upcoming five-game road trip, but the Wizards can live without him if they keep getting contributions from everyone — the entire active roster had scored by the end of the third quarter — and if they keep encountering struggling teams like the Hornets.
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