CLEVELAND — Caron Butler whispered in LeBron James' ear, one last word in case the Washington Wizards' season was about to end.

With only a few ticks of the clock left, desperate times called for desperate measures.

"I was messing with LeBron before the play started," Butler said. "I told him, 'Miss this shot, make it interesting and let's take this thing back to D.C."'

Seconds later, the Wizards were on their way home — for Game 6.

Butler made a layup with 3.9 seconds left and the Wizards held their breath as James missed a potential series and season-ending layup at the horn, giving Washington an 88-87 victory Wednesday night and adding at least one more game to this overheated NBA playoff series.

After Butler scored on a tough drive past James, the Cavs had one more chance, but their superstar couldn't get a banked runner to drop as the Wizards, who have had their past three seasons ended by Cleveland, pulled within 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Once off the floor, Butler ran down the hallway toward the Wizards' locker room. He pulled off his jersey and shouted: "D.C., stand up! D.C., stand up!" before joining his excited teammates.

Butler scored 32 points and DeShawn Stevenson had 17 for the Wizards, who played without guard Gilbert Arenas and got only eight points from the normally reliable Antawn Jamison. Arenas announced before the game that his season was over because of a bothersome knee. His absence figured to be the decisive blow for the Wizards, but they fought to the finish and, at least for now, prevented the Cavs from ending their season.

Butler made sure of it.

"He played it like it was his last game, which it could have been," Arenas said. "He showed leadership and poise out there. Great players make great moves and he did it tonight and he's on his way to stardom because he's doing it on a big stage."

Butler also stole a page from James.

In Game 6 two years ago at Washington, James approached Arenas at the foul line in the final seconds and warned him not to miss his free throws or the game was over. Arenas misfired on both attempts and the Cavaliers ended the series on a last-second jumper by Damon Jones.

This time, it was James who came up short.

"He told me to miss the shot so we would go back to D.C.," James said. "There it was."