Caron Butler led the way for the Washington Wizards, who won 105-86 over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

Butler led in scoring with a team-high 27 points and had seven rebounds and four steals to go with that. He was helped by Antawn Jamison who added 17 points and hauled 12 rebounds, Brendan Haywood finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while reserve Nick Young had 14 points, two rebounds and two assists for the Wizards, who last season were swept by the Cavaliers 4-0 in the first round of the conference playoffs.

"There's a specialness. We were suffering in the playoffs and we had to repay them,'' Jordan said.

Washington started well and by the half time they were 53-34 ahead by outscoring the Cavs 31-13 in the second quarter. Then they just stopped Cleveland’s repeated comeback attempts.

The Cavaliers had five players that finished the game in double figures. Daniel Gibson, Shannon Brown and Drew Gooden scored 13 points each, while Zydrunas Igauskas had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Ira Newble chipped in with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Cleveland are at their fourth straight game without their star player LeBron James, who is out of action due to a sprained left index finger. The Cavs have lost their last five games.

"More than anything, as a team offensively we've really been struggling. Our shot selection, our decision-making - it's just not been good,'' Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said.

The cavaliers also couldn’t use   Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, and Anderson Varejao, who did not play this season because of a contract dispute.