Everything was in place for the Washington Wizards to mail in Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs. Shortly before tip off, they learned that Gilbert Arenas was going to sit out the remainder of the playoffs with a left knee that still had not fully recovered from surgery. The Wizards were also faced with the arduous task of trying to win in a building they had not won in since February 2006. And then, last and certainly not least, they had to face a team that was hungry to close out the series and rest. So, what happened?

The Wizards ignored the odds that were stacked against them and they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 88-87 in a hard fought game. Caron Butler, who up until this point had been battling a hip injury himself, led the team with a Lebron-like stat line of 32 points, nine rebounds and five assists. DeShawn Stevenson, despite getting constantly booed and ridiculed from the crowd at the Quicken Loans Arena, came through with 17 points. Antonio Daniels and Roger Mason Jr. did a more than ample job of filling in for the injured Arenas by combining for 20 points.

The first half of this game played out similar to Game 4’s. The Wizards played well in the first quarter, getting contributions from one of their big three, in this case, Butler. On the other end, James shot an open jumper here and there, but mainly looked to set up his teammates. And then, in what seems like a daily ritual by the Wizards, one of their players committed a hard foul on James, followed by a minor fracas. The role of enforcer for Game 5 was played by Darius Songaila who hit James in the face after their arms were tangled. During the game, when Eddie Jordan was interviewed, he implied that the contact was unintentional, despite the replays showing otherwise.

The second half is where the Wizards switched up the script a bit. Unlike in Game 4, when the Wizards allowed James and his sidekicks, specifically Daniel Gibson and Delonte West, to beat them, the Wizards did a much better job on the defensive end. They allowed him to drive the lane (sometimes with a little too much ease), but they did an excellent job of denying the ball to his teammates when he had to pass. Even when West and Gibson were getting the same open looks they had in Game 4, Washington kept a hand in each of their faces. James seemed to feel the effects of the Wizards hard play on defense, and showed it when he drove the lane and missed what would have been the game winning shot at the buzzer.

On the offensive side of the ball for the Wizards, it was all about Butler. He hit all the necessary free throws, he took the big shots, grabbed the offensive rebounds and assumed the role of alpha dog on a night when Antawn Jamison was off and Arenas was in street clothes. For the times Butler was off for a bit in the second and third quarters, the aforementioned Mason and Daniels were there to bail him out.

This improbable Wizards’ victory sets the stage for a contentious Game 6 at the Verizon Center on Friday night. So what do both teams have to do to come out victorious?

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, it is all about James. Up until this point, he has been perfectly content to take a shot here and there in the first half, and then take over in the second half, but considering his team is bound to be feeling a bit of a letdown following the loss at home, James will definitely need a big first half to offset that. He may even need to take a cue from Michael Jordan in Game 1 of the 1992 Portland/Chicago NBA Finals when he scored 35 in the first half. If he can came out with a performance like this, it would quiet the crowd, demoralize the Wizards and it would let his teammates know that this game is indeed winnable on the road. This would also force the Wizards to focus so much on James, that shooters like Gibson, West and Devin Brown would find themselves much more open than usual.

Oddly enough the Wizards, despite being down 2-3, really don’t have to change much in order to be victorious. The assumption is that Jamison will not have another nine point performance at home, in yet another do or die game. Even if Butler doesn’t score another 34 points, a 15-20 point game from Antawn will suffice. The Wizards’ role players like Daniels, Mason Jr. and even Andray Blatche will need to feed off the crowd and have big games to offset a possible James explosion. On the defensive end of the ball, the Wizards cannot get complacent and lose that defensive intensity that frustrated the Cavs at times in Game 5.

Aside from a hungry Lebron James, a motivated Antawn Jamison, a raucous crowd at the Verizon Center and a chance for the Wizards to push this to a magical Game 7, what more could a hoops addict ask for?