Gilbert Arenas made a surprise return Wednesday after 66 games away with a knee injury, but Ramon Sessions provided the Arenas-like dramatics with a 19-foot jumper at the buzzer to give the Milwaukee Bucks a 110-109 victory over the host Washington Wizards.

The Bucks, who never led by more than a point, set up the perfect inbounds play to win. With 1.1 seconds left, Royal Ivey threw the ball in to Andrew Bogut, who found Sessions open in the corner. The celebration took some of the sting away from the news that the Bucks were was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by Atlanta’s victory.

Arenas scored 17 points in 19 minutes, shooting 5 of 9 from the field and 5 of 7 on free throws.

The Wizards, who missed a chance to clinch their fourth consecutive playoff berth, also welcomed back Caron Butler (strained left hamstring) and Antonio Daniels (sprained left wrist) after both missed Monday’s loss to Utah.

Arenas kept himself under wraps all day, missing the shootaround, the pregame warmup and even the national anthem. He waited until 5 minutes 30 seconds were left in the first quarter to emerge from the locker room.

MAVERICKS 111, WARRIORS 86 Dirk Nowitzki unexpectedly returned to the starting lineup and scored 18 points after missing four games with a high ankle sprain, and host Dallas finally beat a winning team since acquiring Jason Kidd.

Kidd matched his season high of 17 assists, and also had 11 rebounds and 5 points.

CELTICS 92, PACERS 77 Kevin Garnett had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and host Boston tied the N.B.A. record for the best single-season turnaround.

With the league’s best record (60-15), the Celtics have 36 more wins than they did last season, when they finished 24-58. The other team to improve that much was San Antonio, which went from 20-62 in 1996-97 to 56-26 the next season.

CAVALIERS 118, BOBCATS 114 LeBron James scored 29 points before fouling out for the only the third time in his career as Cleveland ended a six-game road skid.

HORNETS 106, HEAT 77 Tyson Chandler had 20 points as visiting New Orleans stayed atop the Western Conference.

JAZZ 117, TIMBERWOLVES 100 Mehmet Okur had 22 points, including four 3-pointers, as Utah won its 24th in 25 home games.

HAWKS 127, RAPTORS 120 Mike Bibby hit a tying 3-pointer in regulation, and host Atlanta won its fifth straight.