NEW YORK (AP) - After 10 months away, Gilbert Arenas needed three quarters to get warmed up.
Arenas made his regular-season debut Friday, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter of the Washington Wizards’ 112-91 loss to the New York Knicks.
“First couple of them I rushed it, just being nervous out there. In the fourth quarter I felt comfortable,” Arenas said. “It’s really been a long time, they kept yelling at me to be aggressive and I was like, ’I forgot how to.’”
Arenas replaced Kirk Hinrich with 2:35 left in the first quarter for his first action of the season. He missed the first three games with a strained tendon in his right ankle and returned to practice Wednesday.
The former All-Star guard and Wizards’ franchise player hadn’t appeared in a regular-season game since Jan. 5, before he was suspended the final 50 games of the season for bringing guns into the Verizon Center locker room.
He said he was nervous before the game, just as he was in his first preseason home game. He worried about interfering with the offense now being run by No. 1 pick John Wall.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Arenas said. “It’s just one of those things, my nerves kicked in. Human nature I guess.”
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