In line with the Wizards’ attempt to turn around their season without Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler has raised his production with 19.8 points and 8.8 rebounds over the last five games, a nice step above season averages of 17 and 6.8. But his behavior has started to raise eyebrows.
Normally one of the last guys out of the locker room, Butler all but ducked the media on Monday despite making a couple of crucial buckets down the stretch in Washington’s 97-92 win over Portland. He didn’t speak to the media Tuesday or Thursday, and in between paid the price for freelancing on a potential game-winning possession Wednesday against Dallas, getting his final shot attempt of the game blocked by Shawn Marion.
“It was drawn up to either get myself the ball up top or get somebody coming to the corner,” said Butler, who owned up afterward. “I obviously wanted the ball. Kind of had my mind made up what I was going to do with it already, just mistimed it.”
But taking the blame won’t make up for costing the Wizards (14-27), whose margin for error already is thin given its distractions and disappointments. Washington remains four and a half games out of the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and seven games behind Miami (21-20), which arrives in D.C. seeking redemption after setting a franchise scoring low in a 104-65 loss at Charlotte.
