Celtics 89, Cavs 73

–The Cavs now have some serious regret about Game 1, that turned out to be their chance to steal one. The Celtics blow teams out at home, they have done it all year and they will continue to do it as long as they advance in the playoffs. This game had all the markings of one of their typical blowouts. This series is far from over, but the trends obvious do not favor a drastic turnaround. However, I would advise you to limit your frustration from this game and not to rule the Cavs out yet. But they have a lot of work to do.
–The Celtics defense is excellent and very sound, they don’t make many mistakes. The reason for this is they have athletic and generally intelligent players. Even Kendrick Perkins does what he is supposed to do. They are very good when they can set up and they are good defending the pick and roll because they bring in their athletic big men to form a back line. With LeBron they are allowing him to come around the screen (as in not trapping him unless he’s way out on the perimeter) and then the big is guiding him to the baseline so he can’t turn the corner and create a scoring angle. They are also extending their arms outward instead of upward to take away passing lanes. None of this is unheard of. Again, though, I do not understand why the Cavs continue to play into this strength by running the same pick-and-rolls. I asked LeBron this after the game and he said that pick-and-rolls are 85 percent of the offense. OK, but not from the exact same spot on the floor. Anyway, adjustment time for Mike Brown. Didn’t work so well from Game 1 to Game 2.
–In the first quarter, Zydrunas Ilgauskas made five shots and four of them came off passes with assists (as opposed to straight post ups). This is a result of ball movement. Guess how many more he got in the game? One. An example, again, of the Cavs offense getting stuck in a rut. But I’m not going to rehash old discussions.
–It is still not clear what happened to Ben Wallace. He said he started having an allergy attack and then he got dizzy about three minutes into the game. He said he thought some of the smoke from the pregame fireworks contributed to it. When it got bad, he just committed a foul and walked over to the Cavs’ bench with a wild look in his eyes. Everyone on the bench got up and it was a chaotic scene for a few moments, LeBron came over while the game was going on to ask what was happening and so many players were standing up around him that the bench was pouring onto the court. First the Cavs said he had vertigo and was not coming back, then they said he was. He warmed up for the second half and didn’t seem to be unsteady on his feet but he went back to the locker room and did not play. He’s going to get some tests in the morning.

Here’s what he said: “It was like a tough headache, my head was spinning, I couldn’t really turn my head up or down…I got light headed, my head started spinning, there was smoke in the first quarter. You cant play basketball with your head spinning like that.”
–Anderson Varejao is now 8-of-32 from the field in the postseason. Last year he was a great pick and roll partner with James because he was great finishing at the rim, it was a weapon the Cavs needed. Right now he’s an offensive disaster across the board. I understand his season took a turn when he stepped on Sasha Vujicic’s ankle on that afternoon in L.A. I believe that ankle is still not right. But how do you explain his offensive breakdown. I cannot.
–Brown is going to have to make some personnel adjustments in my opinion. I believe Devin Brown needs to play, as I have written several times. Also, Daniel Gibson and Delonte West are a combined 5-of-23 and 1-of-8 on 3-pointers. If they do not get it going soon, I would consider Damon Jones. Mike has abandoned him because of defensive issue, but the Cavs offense needs 3-point shooting so badly to be successful. Though I doubt it will happen. Not that these really will turn the tide, LeBron needs to return to form for there to be any chance.

Recap:

Pregame

Starting lineup

Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kedrick Perkins

Officials
Derrick Stafford, Joey Crawford, Bill Spooner

–LeBron was named first team All-NBA today. He got 117 out of 127 votes first team votes. You’d have to wonder which 10 people thought he wasn’t one of the top five players in the league, but whatever. He was first team two years ago and got all 127 votes then. Last year, though, he slipped to second team. He is the first Cav ever to be named to the first team twice. Mark Price is the only other player to make the All-NBA team.
–Expect the Cavs to attempt to move the ball more from side-to-side in this game. It was too easy for the Celtics to set up on half the floor. But the real point is there can’t be so much dribbling, from LeBron especially. You have to make the Celtics move on defense, otherwise they’ll shut you down.
–I expect the Celtics to reallt try to get Ray Allen going and early. I also expect the Cavs to look to double team Garnett more when he’s got the ball in the post, which would open things up for Allen. Him getting just four shots in Game 1 was as surprising as him not scoring.
–Mike Brown said he was happy with the way Sasha Pavlovic played at both ends in Game 1, so he’ll see more time tonight. I guess that is bad news for Devin Brown, who I honestly believe helps the team because he actually runs the offense all the time. But there is only so much room and Mike believes in Wally, too.
–Cavs are going back to their blue uniforms tonight, for whatever that means. They were 2-1 in the reds.
–Game 1 was a defensive struggle and all that, but the teams combined for more than 40 turnovers which made it sloppy. I figure those will drop tonight and it will become a cleaner and higher scoring game from that perspective alone.

Halftime — Celtics 44, Cavs 36

–Total failure in the second quarter at both ends of the floor. The Cavs made two baskets in the period, going 2-of-17. The Celtics are playing strong defense and they are really swarming in the paint. But the Cavs are making it easier by not moving the ball. Dribbling and waiting for picks does not work against the Celtics, I am not sure why it is taking the Cavs so long to figure this out. They had eight assists in the first half and most of them were passes to Zydrunas Ilgauskas, passes that made the defense move. Also, LeBron has lost faith in his outside shot right now and he’s turning tenative. At the end of the quarter he started attacking more and got to the foul line.
–The Celtics bench was fantastic in the first half, especially Sam Cassell and Leon Powe. The bench points are 26-3. Ball game right there. Also, I though Mike Brown made a strange choice when he kept LeBron in to start the second quarter. This meant he had to take him and Ilgauskas out for a spell and it resulting the beginning of the offensive woes. Again, I might suggest Devin Brown. He is not a great scorer but he moves the ball and he gets junk points, which is what the Cavs could use right now.
–The Cavs have no fastbreak points and just four second chance points. The reason is because the sluggish offense is allowing the Celtics to get settled in the paint and box out. When they are moving more they can’t get rebounding position.
–It is not clear to me what is going on with Ben Wallace. We were told he was suffering from dizziness and that he would not return. They we were told he was going to come back but he has not. Neither Joe Smith nor Anderson Varejao is playing well. I do not understand why Andy feels he must dribble, I just don’t. He got a rebound and decided he needed to dribble.

Postgame

Stars
Pierce, 19 points, six rebounds
Garnett, 13 points, 12 rebounds
Leon Powe, 11 points, seven rebounds
Z, 19 points, five rebounds

Quotes:
LeBron: “I think defensively they’re very, very aggressive; they’re very good. I’m just missing the shots that I normally make. They haven’t fallen in this building the last two games. The layups that usually go down for me are just jumping out of the rim. The jumpers that I usually make are not going down for me. So I’m going to stay positive and get my way through.”
Mike Brown: “I will go back and watch the tapes. But I thought LeBron James had some good shots, good looks that he has hit before, and he got to the rim a couple times but the ball just rolled out. We will watch tape, but some of our looks were pretty good looks, you need to give the Celtics credit- they are a great defensive team, and they stay aggressive the whole game, and we need to stay aggressive the whole game. If LeBron is open, I want him to shoot. From inside the 3 point line or from outside, he needs to step in and knock it down, he has done it plenty of times before.”
Doc Rivers: “You know, LeBron is missing some shots he could make and we understand that. We understand also like I was saying before that game that he is going to get shots and it’s the defense that we are going to want to play and he’s going to make those shots. What we can’t do is overreact to that. We have to just stay solid and trust even if he gets it going. This is what we want to do, this is what we want to try at least to force him to play in. If we force him to make those shots.”

Celtics 76, Cavs 72

–The Cavs shot 31 percent, LeBron James probably had the worst playoff game of his career, and they were playing on the floor of the No. 1 seed. The Cavs having a chance to tie the game with 20 seconds left is pretty remarkable. Then, the other side of the things is Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were as bad as LeBron on offense and the Celtics got away with 23 turnovers in a game they easily could’ve lost. So what do you call it? 1-0 Celtics.
–If the Cavs play them this closely the rest of the series, they like their chances. If they lose all the close games, then they’ll tip their cap. Regardless of whether the Cavs shoot 31 percent, which is an all-time low in the playoffs, or shoot 50 percent, they were ahead by a point with 1:30 to go and down two with 20 seconds to go with the ball in LeBron’s hands. The Cavs’ offense was terrible at times but their defense was excellent for much of the game, especially their rotations and backside protection. This is why Mike Brown preaches the style he does, the defense enabled them to stay in the game when they were awful.
–LeBron shot 2-of-18 and so did Pierce and Allen combined. LeBron had 10 turnovers, so did Pierce and Allen combined. You can break it down and analyze it, but history says none of those guys will play like that again. Allen hadn’t gone scoreless in 852 games over the last 11 years. So I guess call it a wash. This series is probably going to be ugly, both teams are good defensive teams.
–The Celtics didn’t do anything super special to LeBron. They stayed up on everyone, which made it tough for LeBron to find shooters a lot of times. They doubled him on pick-and-rolls, which happens like every game, and many times he found guys, he had nine assists. But he made a bunch of bad decisions, too with those 10 turnovers. Him getting those two offensive fouls in the third quarter caused him not to be very aggressive in the fourth for awhile, he took three or four bad jumpers. At the end of the game he was aggressive in getting to the basket he just couldn’t finish. He got to the rim with nine seconds left and had a great chance to tie, he just missed it. That play summed up the night, but so did another play late. When he got trapped and traveled with the ball in front of the Celtics’ bench. It was a breakdown, he didn’t know what to do. Again, part good Celtics defense, part him not handling the game well.
–A big moment in the game was when Mike Brown put Joe Smith in for Ben Wallace on offense with 50 seconds left. That made sense at the time, but it backfired when the Celtics didn’t called timeout after Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ tip in that tied the game. The Celtics went right to Kevin Garnett, who made a great move for the go ahead layup. Wallace played pretty good tonight, he made Garnett get most of his points shooting jumpers and that is something they’ll live with. Maybe he couldn’t have stopped that move, either. But you’d rather have Wallace in there than Smith at that point. Z could’ve come over to double, which was what they were doing with him, as soon as he saw him make his move but he didn’t.
–The Cavs specifically made defensive moves aimed at slowing Pierce and Allen and letting Rajon Rondo go. They are going to live with what he can do. In the first half, he killed them. In the second half, Sam Cassell did. The Cavs can’t guard everyone with the way they play, so this is where they appear to have decided to take their chances.
–A couple other things I noticed: During the preseason junk, Garnett does a throat slash thingy. Is that a menacing gesture? After not shaking hands with the Wizards during the last series, LeBron greeted all the Celtics before the opening tip. Doc Rivers acts like a catcher at times and signals plays to his point guards under his jacket so the Cavs can’t see. There was smoke in the air for the first five minutes of the game. Was it the pregame fireworks or all the power KG and LeBron throw in the air?

Pregame

Starting linueps

Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins

Officials
Eddie F. Rush, Scott Foster, Michael Smith

–The Celtics are experts at blowing out people at home. They will come out with a lot of energy and try to build a big lead. The Cavs will have to try to absorb it and stay close. Their goal is to get it to the fourth quarter and try to win it in.
–Huge key for the Cavs is how well West and Daniel Gibson handle the pressure, which the Celtics will bring on them heavy. Both have been inconsistent in handling it, though they were both pretty good after that bad Game 3 in D.C.
–The Cavs have some matchup issues defensively, especially Ray Allen. I don’t think Wally can stay with him, they run him through lots of screens and all over the court. You also would prefer not to have LeBron on Pierce for huge stretches. The Cavs are going to have to rely a lot on switches and help defense, especially when Allen is lurking on the backside.
–The Cavs traded for Ben Wallace to deal with players like Garnett. Obviously he’s not going to shut him down, but Ben needs to be effective in guarding him around the basket where he sets up in the post a lot. The Cavs don’t want to have to bring double teams, they want Ben to be effective 1-on-1 even if KG scores, they want the scores to be hard.

Also, Nike started a new viral marketing campaign for LeBron. Touching but not nearly as cool as the Kobe viral spot with him jumping over that car.

Halftime — Celtics 41, Cavs 37

–LeBron James has one basket, the Cavs are shooting 29 percent, they have three second chance points, they have not made a 3-pointer, they are on the road. And they are down by just four points. All in all, they have to be thrilled. They have stayed in the game by forcing turnovers (Boston has 12) and by getting to the foul line and making them. The Celtics are upset with the calls, but all in all other than a miss or two it has been pretty fair.
–Whenever Gibson is on Rondo, the Celtics see a green light. From the Celtics perspective, Pierce has two points and Ray Allen has none yet they are still winning. Most of it is due to Rondo and his drives. The Cavs are willing to give up the mismatches because they are deploying their defenders elsewhere.
–Garnett has 16 points and he’s played well, but most of his shots have been jumpers either contested from the mid-range or long range. The Cavs will have to live with that.
–Mike Brown has altered his rotation, putting Sasha Pavlovic in for Devin Brown. Sasha was back in midseason form, playing seven hollow minutes with a missed layup. I understand the need to kick the tires with him, but Devin Brown is a producer and a junk scorer and this has been a junk scoring game.
–The Cavs have been very active in trying to swat at the ball as the Celtics come into the lane, as a result they have nine steals. This must be the result of a game plan tactic, they are not usually as aggressive.
–Assume Pierce and Allen will start making shots in the second half, but the Cavs have to shot something respectable, like, say, 43 percent, to have a chance. The Celtics have done a good job of taking them out of their sets by staying so close to everyone, but there’s also been oodles of missed open shots.

Postgame

Stars
Kevin Garnett, Celtics, 28 points, eight rebounds
Sam Cassell, 13 points
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 22 points, 12 rebounds

Quotes
Mike Brown on LeBron: “He one thing he tried to do in attacking the rim, he didn’t get the call, especially down the stretch. Guys have nights like that, but it is unusual to see him have a night like that from the field. He very seldom has a game like this, but he will bounce back and play a terrific game in game 2.”
LeBron: “I missed a lot of shots that I can usually make. A few layups I know a can make, a few pullups I know I can make. That (late play) symbolized the night I had, those layups I’ve made my whole life, I put it right over the rim. That play right there was the type of night I was having. I’ll watch the film, get a better grasp on the game and come back in Game 2 with a better approach. We still had a chance to win, they made one more play than we did. It’s going to be like this almost every game.”

Five keys to victory

1. Make it a game or make it a blowout — The Celtics spent most of the season routing teams, especially on their home floor. They beat the Hawks by an average of 25 points at home in the first round. The Cavs, meanwhile, played close games the entire season. They were actually outscored by their opponents over the 82 games, yet still were eight games over .500. The Celtics did not respond well in the close games in the Hawks series and there is a question as to whether their players are conditioned after taking so many fourth quarters off. The objectives for each team seem simple.

2. Handle the pressure — The Celtics are one of the most physical defensive teams in recent NBA history. They overplay the perimeter and apply lots of extra pressure to the opposition’s ball handlers. The Cavs have not handled this well at times in the past, especially on the road as Delonte West and Daniel Gibson have been inconsistent. For the Celtics, they are expected to win and easily. The tigher the Cavs play them the more they will battle not just the opponent but the lofty expectations of a very intense local and national fanbase.

3. Beware the backside — Both the Cavs and Celtics have similar defensive styles. They play shrink the floor defense, where they will bring lots of help to the side of the floor where the ball is. For the Cavs, this means where LeBron James is. For the Celtics, this is where Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are. This will give chances for Ray Allen and James Posey and Gibson, West and Wally Szczerbiak to have open shots. Which team takes advantage will have an edge.

4. Big 3 or Super 1 — In just five years in the NBA, James as more playoff series victories than Garnett, Allen or Pierce. He’s been a much better clutch performer and he’s dominated in crunch time. Combined, the Celtics powerful trio just put together an amazing 66-win season but they have yet to show they can get it done in the postseason and their opening series against the Hawks was shaky. The Celtics have the talent advantage, but the Cavs have the best player. Which will be the difference-maker?

5. Doing it on the road — The Celtics were the best road team in the NBA this season but they were 0-2 in Cleveland 0-3 in Atlanta in the first round. The Cavs were in the middle of the pack on the road during the regular season and lost twice in Boston. But they have won 10 times on the road in the playoffs over the last three years. Whichever team can score a road victory will have a huge edge in the series.

Matchups

Point guards

Delonte West
6-3, 180, 4th season
Postseason: 10.2 ppg, 5.0 apg
vs. Celtics: 20.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Comment: Former Celtic who was well-liked but injury prone in Boston. Has been inconsistent since he’s been a starter with the Cavs which showed in the Wizards series. Big challenge will be to keep Celtics guards in front of him. Shot 50 percent on 3-pointers against Washington.

Rajon Rondo
6-1, 170, 2nd season
Postseason 11.6 ppg, 7.3 apg
vs. Cavs: 10.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.3 apg
Comment: Developed a great deal this season and is a excellent distributor. Against the Hawks he had 51 assists and just seven turnovers. Will pressure the ball on defense. Not a strong jump shooter.
Edge: Celtics

Shooting guards

Wally Szczerbiak
6-7, 245, 9th season
Postseason: 10.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg
vs. Celtics: 12.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Comment: Has been in a shooting slump since coming to the Cavs, though he may have had a breakout game with 26 points in Game 6 vs. Wizards. Big challenge for him will be keeping up with Allen as he crosses the court and gets screens for 3-pointers.

Ray Allen
6-5, 205, 12th season
Postseason: 16.1 ppg, 3.1 apg
vs. Cavs: 23.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Comment: Shot just 42 percent vs. the Hawks and was spotty with his production. He is a serious threat against the Cavs because he often operates on the backside of the defense where the Cavs will often gamble and leave him.
Edge: Celtics

Small forwards

LeBron James
6-8, 250, fifth season
Postseason: 29.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 7.7 apg
vs. Celtics: 32.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 9.7 apg
Comments: He has thrived against the Celtics in the recent past, especially when playing at home. His challenge will be to react properly to the double teams and look to make the correct passes as the Celtics will try to bait him into turnovers. Will be challenged defensively guarding either Pierce or Allen.

Paul Pierce
6-7, 235, 10th season
Postseason: 18.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.7 apg
vs. Cavs: 13.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.0 apg
Comment: Dynamic scorer who can run very hot and cold from the field. He will often settle for jumpers but is very skilled at creating his own shot and getting inside and drawing fouls when he feels like it. He sometimes gets personally involved in rivalry with James.
Edge: Cavs

Power forwards

Ben Wallace
6-9, 240, 12th season
Postseason: 3.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg
vs. Celtics: 6.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg
Comment: With his back healthy, Wallace seems to be jumping several inches higher and being more active on both ends over the last two weeks. His challenge will be to deal with Garnett when he leaves the post area and pulls him from the basket and keeping him off the boards.

Kevin Garnett
6-11, 220, 13th season
Postseason: 21.0 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 3.9 apg
vs. Cavs: 15.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 4.3 apg
Comment: Has been the emotional leader of the team and plays the role well. Is the defensive captain and will often run the offense from the post on offense. He will look to set up other teammates first but can score from anywhere on the floor and is long enough and quick enough to impact numerous plays at the defensive end.

Edge: Celtics

Centers

Zydrunas Ilgauskas
7-3, 260, 10th season
Postseason: 14.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg
vs. Celtics: 14.0 ppg, 12.5 rpg
Comment: Has been very solid in the postseason over the last few years because he’s difficult to guard and is an excellent offensive rebounder. His challenge will not be to allow Perkins easy baskets and putbacks on the weakside, where he thrives opposite Garnett.

Kendrick Perkins
6-10, 265, 5th season
Postseason: 7.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg
vs. Cavs: 8.8 rpg, 4.5 rpg
Comment: Has improved but is still the weak link for Boston in the starting lineup. He’s foul prone and get out of position too much. However he’s a developing shot blocker and often benefits from having little attention paid to him.
Edge: Cavs.

Bench

Cavs: G Devin Brown, G Daniel Gibson, F/C Anderson Varejao, F Joe Smith, G Sasha Pavlovic.
Comment: Smith and Gibson both played excellent minutes against the Wizards with Gibson showing his best shooting touch. Varejao rebounded well but both he and Brown suffered at the offensive end. Pavlovic is just coming back from injury and his minutes may be limited.

Celtics: F James Posey, G Sam Cassell, F/C P.J. Brown F Leon Powe, G Eddie House, F Glen Davis, G Tony Allen.
Comment: Posey is a strong defender and good 3-pointer shooter and Cassell is veteran leader. Powe and Davis are energy players who can change the game. House is a gunner who has a history of success against the Cavs.
Edge: Celtics

Coaches
Cavs: Mike Brown, third season, 145-101 regular season, 23-16 postseason.
Comment: He is one of the best defensive coaches in the NBA and is in the second round for the eighth consecutive season as a coach. He’s got a 5-2 series record as the Cavs’ head man and has shown he can make excellent adjustments between games in a series.
Celtics: Doc River, seventh season, 339-328 regular season, 12-17 postseason.
Comment: He’s a good motivator who has successfully developed a deep and sound rotation that maximizes his team’s talents during the season. However, he’s only won one playoff series and his moves in close games against the Hawks did not pay off.
Edge: Cavs.

Cavs 105, Wizards 88

–Perhaps the most complete game played by the Cavs since the trade and quite a stepping stone as they move onto the next round. If losing Game 5 because their offense shut down was the catalyst to get the offense to move the ball like this then it was more than worth it. Watching the Cavs operate with the ball tonight was like watching the Lakers and the Spurs and I am being dead serious there. But it was combined with some excellent defense, which I will discuss in a moment. This is the type of confidence the Cavs had on the road in the playoffs last year. We’ll see if it lasts.
–This was LeBron’s best game of the postseason. Not only was he leading the way in getting the ball moving — he took just two shots in the first quarter — but he was the emotional leader too. After he was hit in the face and the groin in the end of the third quarter, he looked like a general in the timeout before the fourth. He was marching up and down while Mike Brown was huddled with the coaches and he was yelling at his teammates to keep up the defense and finish the Wizards off. He was upset that Antonio Daniels was allowed to get the dunk at the end of the third. Then you consider his stat line: 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists with two steals and a blocks and, ahem, one turnover. A superior effort. To see him lead and play like this, you just understand where it all comes from. The Nike money, the other teams dreaming of 2010, all the praise. To watch him grow from when he was an 18 year old just figuring this out to the sort of all around performance he gave in this game has been special for Cavs fans.
–Wally Szczerbiak has been due to have this sort of game for about a month. He said tonight this was the worst shooting slump of his career. Who knows if it will last, but it did remind all of Donyell Marshall’s performance in Game 6 at New Jersey last year. What was impressive about him and Daniel Gibson tonight is they often didn’t settle for the 3-pointer, the drove the ball a great deal too. That’s how the Cavs ended up with 29 assists and just seven turnovers. Gibson was tremendous in handling the ball and Delonte West, in case anyone didn’t notice, had 15 assists in the last two games. Both of them shot 50 percent from 3-point range in the series, which was huge. Last Sunday I wrote a piece about how the Cavs had to really watch West and Gibson in these playoffs to decide how large of a commitment they needed to make in the offseason as both are free agents. This was after Game 2, when they’d been awful. Play no attention to the headline, it doesn’t convey the story’s real topic. Both have made a strong case in the four games since.
–Mike Brown and the coaching staff get points tonight for making some fixes in the offense, especially with where the 3-point shooters were positioned. Washington had a hard time finding them after really doing a good job in Game 5 of protecting the corners because they knew Gibson and West would always be there.
–The Cavs defense in this series may have been overlooked a bit since there were three blowouts. They ended up giving up just 92 points a game, four times holding the Wizards to 88 points or less, and just 43 percent shooting. Tonight after the first quarter they really cut down the Wizards’ drive-and-kicks. By using crisper rotations, the Cavs forced lots of late shot clock shots and many were low percentage. Also, double teams on Caron Butler were effective.
–Also maybe overlooked in the series was Joe Smith, who is moving on to the second round for the first time in his 13-year career. Or as LeBron said: “When he got to the league, I was like nine years old and I had just started playing basketball.” Smith had eight points and five rebounds and he averaged 5.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in the series. His mid-range jumper has been off for the last few weeks, but he sure did come up with a lot of loose balls.
–After all the talk about the officiating in the series, the Cavs were called for 139 fouls, the Wizards 137. The Cavs shot 175 free throws, the Wizards shot 174.

Pregame

Staring lineups

Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Wizards: Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood

Officials
Steve Javie, Ken Mauer, Tom Washington….Javie and Mauer both are known for taking over games and are not afraid to dole out punishment. Mauer does not mind the camera on him and Javie is known for having a short fuse. Washington is a total pro, lower key. All three are lead officials during the regular season.

LeBron on the Darius Songaila suspension: “It was something that wasn’t basketball related. They asked me if I thought it was intentional or if I had anything with Songaila in the past. Was it intentional by him? I don’t know if it was intentional or not. (Will suspension clean things up?) I’m not sure if that was their intentional, we’re going to play basketball. It’s going to be physical, it should be physical. But at the same time you have to draw a line what’s physical and what’s not, what’s not basketball-related plays.”

Eddie Jordan: “Darius was very important to us, his numbers may not speak volumes but his play does. I stood my ground and said what I had to say and I’m not going to fight the league or the officials.”

NBA Vice President Stu Jackson: “Following the game, the next day we conducted an investigation that included interviewing both of the players involved and also taking input from the officials on the floor. After that, we reviewed the video and then ultimately gathered all of the information and made a decision…In viewing this many times, we do feel that this was intentional contact.”

–Jordan said Andray Blatche will get extended minutes. He has been inconsistent in this series but at times has played very well.
–Expect the Cavs to make some adjustments with their offensive sets, they may move Daniel Gibson and Delonte West around so it is harder for the Wizards to stay attached to them.
–Sasha Pavlovic probably will play. You have to expect some rust.
–Caron Butler played great in Game 5, but a big reason was because his jumper was going. He actuall started feeling it at the end of game 4. He was just 1-of-9 on 3-pointers in the series and he hit 4-of-8 and Game 5. I expect the Cavs to double team him closer to the basket, but they will live with him shooting outside shots. With double teams on him, though, Antawn Jamison may get open looks.
–The Cavs have had some success in the last few games with LeBron catching the ball on the move after it reaches the halfcourt in transition, usually though a dribble hand off at the top of the key. This is actually a Wizards-style play. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of it.
–Look for Zydrunas Ilgauskas to get the ball early to apply pressure on Brendan Haywood.

Halftime — Cavs 56, Wizards 48

–This game is being played at the Wizards pace, but the Cavs are executing better on offense. They have 17 assists on 23 baskets, which is remarkable for them. Daniel Gibson and Wally Szczerbiak’s ability to hit the outside shot has had a major impact on the game. LeBron is also distributing very well, he has seven assists with six rebounds and 10 points.
–The reason the Cavs were able to surge into the lead, though, was they finally got some stops on defense. The Wizards missed some shots, like the Cavs surely will in the second half, but the jumpers were more contested and they repeatedly made them wait until late in the shot clock. The Cavs gave up just 17 points in the second quarter after 31 in the first.
–It seemed to me like Gibson may have tweaked his right ankle on the last play of the half. We’ll have to see if that affects him at all, he is just now getting back a rhythm after that right high ankle sprain.
–The Cavs have changed up on Butler, using LeBron on him a lot more and lots of double teams. He’s only got five points. Jamison has gotten some looks as a result and he had 16 points, whic is good, but he’s also taken 14 shots. The Cavs will live with some of that, they have decided.
–It’s obvious the officials are giving no leeway tonight. Already two very quick technicals, including the one on LeBron. All parties will have to keep their cool in what promises to be a tight second half. You have to figure this is going to come right down to it again.

Postgame

Stars
LeBron, 27 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists
Gibson, 22 points
Szczerbiak, 26 points
Jamison, 23 points, 15 rebounds

Quotes
Mike Brown: “Terrific, terrific, terrific, terrific, terrific performance by our guy, LeBron. Our guys had a close it out mentality.”
LeBron: “Cleveland is advancing. That speaks louder than me saying anything about the fans here or DeShawn Stevenson. It was a gruesome series, there were a lot of things going on in this series besides basketball and it was fun.”
Eddie Jordan: “”He’s a load, man. He puts so much pressure on your defense if you got support people to make shots.”

¶

Of all the hits in this series, it is surprising that the one Darius Songaila gave to LeBron James in Game 5 was the one that earned a suspension. Eddie Jordan maintained that not only was the hit accidental, but that LeBron embellished the contact. As Jordan said yesterday: “I thought he got tangled up with LeBron and LeBron tried to get untangled and in his method of getting untangled, Darius’s arm flew up and at his chest. And LeBron’s a terrific actor. We’ve all seen his commercials.”

But here is the thing, it was obvious that Songaila hit James in the face and it happened after a play, there was no ball to go after. Secondly, and this is most important, it seems pretty clear that the NBA warned the Wizards, and maybe the Cavs, that it wanted no more funny business after Game 4. A couple people told me the NBA thought long and hard about whether to suspend DeShawn Stevenson after his flagrant foul because of all the hard hitting in the series. Songaila’s hit was apparently the final straw, even if it wasn’t as severe as the others.

The Wizards have fairly stated their point that fouling hard is part of the playoffs. The Cavs have fairly argued that LeBron has to be protected. At the end of the day, he’s a superstar and he keeps getting hit in the head and the NBA wanted to put a stop to it.

From what I hear, the Wizards didn’t hear until after shootaround and they were upset they didn’t find out until a day and a half after the incident so they couldn’t prepare.

The Cavs surely would’ve preferred Brendan Haywood or Stevenson to get suspended but Songaila’s suspension hits the Wizards’ depth and their rebounding ability. They are already thin on the front line and Songalia was playing a lot of backup center. So I suspect Andray Blatche will get a lot more playing time tonight. There is a chance Jordan may have to play rookie Dominic McGuire, who hasn’t played a meaningful minute in the series, a little. Both Blatche and Haywood are foul prone, so expect the Cavs to force the issue with Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Blatche has not handled Z well.

Also, at shootaround, it seemed like there was an excellent chance Sasha Pavlovic would get minutes tonight. I expect a tighter leash on Wally Szczerbiak.

Wizards 88, Cavs 87

–Let’s get a few things out of the way off the bat. First, tremendous shot by Caron Butler and a tremendous performance. LeBron James was on him pretty good and he didn’t have a great angle, especially with Ben Wallace coming to help, and he got it in there. Although, am I crazy or did someone’s hand who hit the bottom of the the net maybe help wiggle that ball in? No matter, it went it. Second, LeBron drew contract to be sure on his last shot but it was a fair no call. Darius Songalia didn’t jump or even hit him on the upper body, he got off a fair try. Though the scene was a little wild. All the Cavs were standing on the court like they’d heard a whistle and so were some of the Wizards. Then the refs all go to the center of the floor, look at each other for a minute and then walk over to the scorer’s table. Everyone in the arena thinks they are going to review it like the Philly game but, nope, they were just asking for their jackets. It was funny sort of, the whole arena didn’t get it was over until they took the jackets.
–OK, now the Cavs may really, really look back at this one and regret it. Like, depending on how things go, maybe regret it all summer. Up by five points, at home, in a closeout game with the ball and 1:47 left. The offense totally did nothing for three straight possessions. They come out of a timeout and LeBron dribbles the ball for 20 seconds and puts up a terrible 3-pointer. Then LeBron dribbles for awhile and Daniel Gibson puts up an open 3, but not a good 3 in my opinion. And Joe Smith misses a short jumper, but he really didn’t have time because the shot clock was up because…LeBron had spent most of it dribbling. All this despite: 1. The officials were calling lots of fouls (LeBron got to the line 18 times and both teams got there a combined 27 times in the fourth quarte)r. 2. Darius Songalia was covering Zydrunas Ilgauskas with five fouls. Poor coaching and poor decision-making by LeBron. Yes, you are going to live and die with him making plays, but at this point in his career, he must know better. And Mike Brown needs to call something else after it doesn’t work twice.
–The Cavs shot 36 percent tonight and do you want to know how many layups they missed? Now think about it for a moment…form a guess in your head…it’s pretty high…I was actually a little surprised when I counted them up…ready?…how about 15. That’s right 15 missed layups. That’s shots from two feet and less according to the stats folks, which means it doesn’t even count LeBron’s last shot. And, no, I am not counting tip in misses. Some of them were heavily contested but so many weren’t (think Wally Szczerbiak) and it is just hard to overcome that in a game like this.
–Indeed, the Wizards made some shots, but I felt the Cavs played pretty good defense. In the second half, in fact, the Wizards shot just 32 percent. Oh, then again, so did the Cavs. If you hold the Wizards to 87 points, it should be a victory. The Cavs held them to 86 in both Games 1 and 2 and got wins. The Wizards only won nine games this season when they didn’t score 100 points and only three when they didn’t score 90. So while you see a one-point loss, especially when LeBron missed the last shot, it is tempting to say those are the breaks and move on. But this was a Cavs-style game and a game they should’ve won. You must assume the Wizards have another good shooting night in them and it could be Friday.
–I think based on this series it is safe to say that Washington plays better without Gilbert Arenas, at least right now. They move better on offense because he’s not dribbling so much and they are slightly better on defense. Him sitting down might actually help them out.
–So much happened after this, but you have to feel a pivotal moment in the game happened in the third quarter when the Wizards got five shots on one possession. The Cavs were on an 11-0 run at the time and up six points and who knows how big that run would’ve been had that not happened. It was a key turning point, the Wizards ended up going on a run to take the lead by the end of the quarter. By the way, Z only had one defensive rebound tonight. Some of the troubles are on him.
–Don’t think you have seen the last of the hack-a-Ben move. In general, I dislike it no matter who it is. However, in that moment it was quite smart and it forced him off the floor.

Recap:

Pregame

Starting lineups

Wizards: Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood
Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Officials
Joe DeRosa, Mike Callahan, James Capers

–Gilbert Arenas decided, apparently on his own, that he’s not playing tonight and not playing again this season. He made the announcement to the media about 70 minutes before game time. Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said it was the first he’d heard of it. So all that can’t exactly thrill him. Apparently Gilbert took a shot before Game 4, which enabled him to go from five minutes to 32 minutes. But he was nervous about taking the shot and my guess is he didn’t feel like doing it again, especially with his free agency coming up. Still, if Jordan honestly didn’t know that had to destabilize the Wizards locker room somewhat. Meanwhile, Gilbert is bouncing around the halls here at Quicken Loans Arena acting as if everything is A-OK.
–That said, the Wizards are used to playing without him and their win in this series came in a game in which he barely played. So it’s not like he is the lifeblood of the team anymore. He hasn’t been scoring much since Game 1 and maybe hurt them on defense at times. So don’t expect Washington to just wave the white flag.
–Sasha Pavlovic will be activated for this game. He took part in practice yesterday on his recovering sprained left ankle. Mike Brown said he likely won’t play.
–The Wizards are making rebounding a big key tonight. But one of the reasons Ben Wallace is getting rebounds — and Anderson Varejao and Joe Smith — is because the Wizards are double-teaming Zydrunas Ilgauskas and LeBron James at times and it is freeing up the weakside for rebounds. That and the Cavs are one of the best rebounding teams in the league, including the best offensive rebounding team. So they’ll have to pick their poison a little on that tonight, they had done a good job of slowing down Z over the last few games.

Halftime — Wizards 45, Cavs 43

–The Cavs are fortunate to only be down two points at this juncture. Had the Wizards not committed at least five unforced turnovers the disparity would be greater. Otherwise, the Wizards have played with a higher execution level. They are more active driving and kicking the ball on offensive, which has gotten them a bunch of open shots. Stevenson has taken the most advantage.
–LeBron is not having a good offensive game, largely due to decision making. The Wizards are not doubling him as much on the outside but are doubling him on his drives and it has confused him a bit. It has kept him away from the basket and he’s mostly settled for 3-pointers, which is the weakest part of his game. The Cavs are going to have to make some adjustments and he’s going to have to find a better way to attack.
–Wally Szczerbiak was terrible in his time in the game. Caron Butler scored 11 points on him and he committed three turnovers. However, Butler is really just making jumpers. In fact, in general, the Wizards have just shot jumpers well.
–As for the latest little dustup from the first quarter, I am still not sure what happened. The Wizards said LeBron was pushing Darius Songalia, but even if he was, Songalia hit him in the head. So I am not sure why it was a technical and not another flagrant, maybe because it was after the play. Just another reason for the teams to dislike each other.
–Zydrunas Ilgauskas has saved the Cavs in the first on offense. They have not shot the ball well, except on 3-pointers but Z has victimized Brendan Haywood when playing 1-on-1 and has two putbacks. Perhaps it is something the Wizards are doing, but I don’t understand why there aren’t more pick-and-pops to get Z mid-range jumpers with LeBron over the last few games.

Postgame

Stars
Butler, 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists
Stevenson, 17 points, five rebounds
James, 34 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists
Z, 19 points, six rebounds

Quotes
Eddie Jordan: ” We got a miss for the first time since who knows when. It’s been a (Sasha) Pavlovic make, it’s a Delonte West make, it’s a Daniel Gibson make, it’s a Damon Jones make. Every game it seems like we lose. We finally get a miss.”
LeBron: “There was a lot of contact but I supposed to make that, I’ve made more difficult shots. We can’t rely on me getting a foul at the end of the game. We didn’t execute being up five and I had the ball in my hands for the most part. I’m supposed to put us in the position to do the right thing and I didn’t do that. It’s not like it’s over, we’re up 3-2. As long as I’m on the court, we have a great chance to win. Of course I am still confident.”
Butler: “We heard all the quotes of how the series was over. This team has been through a lot this season, a ton of adversity. We’ve proven all the doubters wrong and this is just another opportunity.

Brendan Haywood to the media today after hearing LeBron James’ quote that the Wizards were trying to hurt him:

“C’mon man, this is the playoffs. He wears 23 and he wants to be Michael Jordan. I respect that because he’s a great player. But look what Mike went through. Mike got fouled way worse than this. You know what I’m saying? Nobody is trying to hurt him. Everybody is trying to play basketball, trying to win, trying to play tough. Leave it alone.”

The Cavs were off today so we’ll have to wait for LeBron’s response if there is one. He expressed he was tired of all the talk before the game yesterday. Say this for Haywood, he is not afraid to say anything. Of course in the Wizards’ locker room they are going to mock LeBron and Mike Brown and Moondog. They can call all of them cry babies then and laugh and stuff. Of course in meetings Eddie Jordan is going to talk about how the team should foul LeBron and foul him hard. Sure when Drew Gooden and DeShawn Stevenson are on the phone or chillin’ they can rip LeBron and call him names. Hey, we all do stuff like that at one time or another.

But these Wiz, they just put it all out there in the open and get called stupid, get booed and get beaten over and over. You gotta give them a nod, if only everyone in Washington operated with such transparency.

Cavs 100, Wizards 97

–By my count, this game was the sixth time LeBron James has beaten the Wizards with a pass or a shot in the final minute of a playoff game. His short jumper in Game 3 in 2006, his baseline layup past Antawn Jamison in Game 5 the same year, his pass out of the double team to Larry Hughes, who passed to Damon Jones for the winner in Game 6 (hockey assist). Last year in Game 3 he hit Sasha Pavlovic out of a trap for a 3-point to clinch Game 3 here at the Verizon Center. Then this year his two shots in Game 1 and the pass to Delonte West today. Wizards are sick of this stuff.
–In Game 3, Cavs were 2-of-16 from 3-point range, which made their handling of the double teams on LeBron seem weak. Today they were 13-of-28 (though that is a lot of 3s, man) with Delonte West and Daniel Gibson going 9-of-15. Major, major difference.
–After the game, LeBron said DeShawn Stevenson hit him with a closed fist on the flagrant foul in the first half. I have since seen some photos that support that but it was not clear. Also, he seemed to go for the ball. I suspect the Cavs will push hard to have him to have the foul upgraded but it probably won’t happen. Here is the thing, people who know DeShawn have told me they think he’s crazy enough to attempt to go head hunting for LeBron in Game 5 if he thinks it is over just because of how personal this has all gotten. We’ll see.
–Seemed to be three emotions coming from folks at Verizon Center. One, they were frustrated they’d just lost another close game to the Cavs, who they are still sure they are better than. Two, they think LeBron is a cry baby for complaining about the fouls. Three, this series is over.
–I am not sure Gilbert Arenas taking the final shot was the best move for the Wiz and Eddie Jordan said as much after the game. He thought he should’ve maybe used him as a decoy considering he has not made a 3-pointer since Game 1. Plus Caron Butler was hot at the moment. But I guess you’ve got to give the ball to the superstar in that spot and ask to make a play. That’s what the Cavs did with LeBron and he passed.
–A factor down the stretch was that LeBron had five fouls. That is why he pulled up for a 15-footer on the second to last possession because he was concerned about an offensive foul. The officials had already called him for two in the game. He was more prone to shoot jumpers, which is why he was not as effective in scoring in the fourth. Especially in the last three minutes after he got the fifth.
–Earlier this season Daniel Gibson told me he’d never had a technical foul called on him in his life. Now, he’s got two including one today after he shoved Brendan Haywood in the, ahem, man area. Boobie said that Haywood was hanging on the rim and sort of in his face if you know what I mean so he pushed them away. I’ve seen the replay and he’s right. Haywood has had some good games in this series, but he’s also been, um, staying over people in a disrespectful manner to quote LeBron.
–A huge factor in this game was Joe Smith, who had more rebounds himself (8) than the entire Wizards bench. Plus he threw a great pick on Antawn Jamison to make sure Delonte West had shooting room on the final shot.

Pregame

Starting lineups

Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Wizards: Gilbert Arenas, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood

Officials
Joey Crawford, Bill Spooner, Michael Smith. Joey Crawford, enough said.

–Arenas will start because he said he felt better in practice yesterday. That left knee of his is messed up but he’s rested it a lot over the last five or six days. So he may be able to play just 10 minutes or he may be able to shoot well like he did in Game 1. Nobody knows, not even him. The Cavs said they are preparing themselves like he’s going to play his 25 minutes.
–The Cavs have vowed to be more ready for the Wizards’ pressure today. Some of it just comes down to decision-making and some of it is aggressiveness. Frankly, they Cavs were not ready mentally to come in and play here in Game 3. Most playoff games here have not featured such an intense crowd or the vigor from the Wizards. So they’ll probably have their difficulties at times, but there they promise a better mindset.
–A key in this game will be the benches, I think. In Game 2, the Cavs was excellent and in Game 3 the Wizards were great. Antonio Daniels and Andray Blatche played their best games of the series while Daniel Gibson was a turnover machine, Joe Smith was a foul machine and Anderson Varejao didn’t do much. The contribution from those guys is something to watch.
–Before the game, LeBron seemed to be pretty focused to me. I think he’s tired of hearing about Game 3, and he is surely tired about DeShawn Stevenson. He said everything has become way too commercial. Pat McManamon wrote about it in his blog if you want it. Frankly, I am just tired of the junk. It was fun, we in the media had fun with it, but this series is entering is guts and it is time to focus on basketball and not trash talk and rappers. LeBron sounded as if he was and I am sure DeShawn and the Wizards feel the same way.
–The Cavs have decided to put away their blue uniforms, which have been a playoff standard for three years, and go with the wine. For whatever that is worth. LeBron said they hadn’t played well in the blues all year. I guess he keeps track of that stuff.

Halftime — Cavs 54, Wizards 44

–This is the reason the Cavs got themselves Ben Wallace, he had a large hand in changing the game in the second quarter. He has proven he can’t do it every night anymore, but he can do it at times. When the Wizards were up by eight, both Wallace and Delonte West got very aggressive defensively and it flopped the momentum. The Cavs had eight fastbreak points in their 23-4 run and Wallace had seven rebounds. Also, the Wizards starting missing some shots. They were just 4-of-21 in the second quarter after shooting 80 percent in the first quarter…and only leading by four.
–LeBron James’ got fired up after Stevenson hit him with a flagrant foul. His energy level increased and the Cavs came with him. It is at these times when he takes over games that he becomes the transcendent player. In the Washington Post today, Stevenson said LeBron isn’t the kind of player who keeps you up at night like Kobe. If LeBron has another second half like the first, I predict DeShawn won’t sleep well tonight. He spent a lot on the outside in the early going but started driving in transition after the foul.
–The Wizards were playing zone and keeping the ball from Zydrunas Ilgauskas early in the second quarter. They were doing an excellent job and the offense was stalling out. Mike Brown then went with a small lineup with Wallace at center and James at power forward and it started the turnaround. Brendan Haywood was unable to take advantage of Wallace and the Cavs defense picked up. Joe Smith later came in to balance it out more.
–I refresh my idea about fining Anderson Varejao for each dribble. But I suspect he’ll have an impactful play or two at the defensive end in this game.
–The Cavs have 12 second-chance points, a huge factor in the game. They scored 54 points and only shot 43 percent in the first half.
–The Cavs had 11 turnovers in the first half, which is still a lot. But it only cost them eight points, they were lucky it was not worse. On of the reasons is because the Cavs have stolen the ball right back about three times, at least twice by West.
–Expect the Wizards to get hot from the floor again, but we’ll see if the Cavs’ defense keeps up. That is where the Cavs are winning the game right now.

Postgame

Stars
LeBron, 34 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists
West, 21 points, five assists
Jamison, 23 points, 11 rebounds
Butler, 19 points

Quotes
Mike Brown: “Not only can he score, not only can he rebound, but he’s got the ultimate trust in his teammates. That’s why he’s going to go down as the best player in this game.”
LeBron: If we were in the park where I grew up, something definitely would’ve happened (on the flagrant). I guess they want to hurt LeBron James this series. It isn’t working…. Do I think they can (make a comeback)? No.”
Jamison: ” “That’s why he is LeBron James. It’s just unfortunate for us.”

Wizards 108, Cavs 72

–The Cavs that you watched for six months didn’t just disappear, which you perhaps might have thought after Game 2. They are still very capable of losing their minds on offense and playing extremely passive on the road. Considering the two steps forward, one step back nature of the regular season it was perfect irony that the Cavs backed up their largest playoff win in franchise history with their most lopsided loss. Par for the course.
–I don’t think you can take too many trends out of this game. The Wizards double teamed LeBron James far from the basket and neither he nor his teammates nor Mike Brown reacted well at all to it. It’s not like he hasn’t seen that defense before, so why they kept giving him the ball on the outside to let the Wizards execute their plan was a little beyond me. Again, though, we’ve seen it before. Who needs hard fouls, when LeBron doesn’t get anywhere near the basket? The Wizards fed off all the resulting turnovers and long jumpers for easy baskets and that combined with almost all of their players getting going shooting the ball for a blowout. I expected this series to go seven games and I expect there to be more momentum swings like this. Mike Brown did a great job with changes in Game 2, Eddie Jordan came back and one-upped him in Game 3 so now let’s see who is better on Sunday.
–It was a fun night for the Wizards fans and for DeShawn Stevenson, who finally hit a few shots. To make the story better, it happened with Soulja Boy sitting in the front row. By the way, what a demonstration of pop culture. LeBron made a joking comment about Stevenson last month and mentioned Soulja Boy, who apparently couldn’t even name you all the NBA teams, and he can’t pass up the marketing chances to show up and get involved. And it was, fun. But don’t look at it as anything more than just a sidelight. Let me just say one thing, the Soulja kid was the only one I saw wearing a Stevenson jersey other than Stevenson himself tonight. But the Wizards fans should boo LeBron and chant “overrated,” too, it makes the rivalry more intense.
–The Wizards said Gilbert Arenas has a pinched nerve in his knee, but that he should play Sunday. I’m not sure how much longer Gil is going to keep pounding that knee, which obviously is not close to being right. We’ll see what happens there.
–It seems like Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels went back and watched film on how they have torched the Cavs in the past. They did it with aggressive drives, which the Cavs have struggled to defend. Expect to see more of that from both the rest of the way.
–Remember how the trade guys were so great in Game 2. Well, Delonte West had five points and four turnovers, Ben Wallace played just 16 minutes, Joe Smith fouled out in 16 minutes, and Wally Szczerbiak was 3-of-9 and got eaten up by Butler. Check back next game for further progress.
–The Wizards do this cool thing where they honor injured troops from Iraq who are recovering at nearby Walter Reed hospital. But while they were on the scoreboard tonight, one of the soldiers took off his prosthetic leg, poured beer into it and started drinking out of it. Um, it was quite disturbing to me.

Recap:

Pregame

Starting lineups

Cavs: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Wiz: Gilbert Arenas, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood

Officials
Jim Clark, Eddie F. Rush, Sean Corbin. Of the three, Corbin has the quickest trigger finger, he is not liked in Detroit for all the techs he’s called on Rasheed Wallace over the years.

–Eddie Jordan is playing some games, he said that Antonio Daniels would start at point guard but it appears he submitted a lineup with Arenas in there. The Cavs actually suspected this for the las t couple days, the Wiz are looking for momentum and this is a way to shake things up. It will be interesting to see if Jordan extends Gilbert’s minutes now that he’ll probably be starting both halves. I expect LeBron to be on him much of the time.
–Caron Butler is vowing to have a better game on Szczerbiak and the Wizards are vowing to move the ball better on offense, which indeed would help against how the Cavs play. They are due to hit some shots, but the Cavs are preaching poise on the road.
–We’ll see if the Cavs can continue to take care of the ball. They have just 19 turnovers in the first two games and it has kept Washington out of fastbreaks. There will be extra pressure tonight and they will be out of their comfort level, so this will be a test. Especially for West and Daniel Gibson.
–Supposedly this game is not sold out, but I still expected a good crowd. It was reasonably lame in the playoffs the last two years but when I was here a month ago the crowd was very much into the game. The Cavs have not played well on the road since the trade, but they played very well in Philly last week.
–David Stern is at the game and he met with the media a few minutes ago. He said he watched a bunch of replays on the Haywood foul on LeBron, he thought it was the right call to eject him and he didn’t have a problem with him not being suspended. This is no surprise, of course he is going to back up his office’s decisions.
–How many time will we hear the Soulja Boy song tonight? My guess is quite a few.

Halftime — Wizards 49, Cavs 33

–As would be expected to a degree, the tables have turned a little so far. The Wizards are playing with a lot of energy and the Cavs are playing tentative. When the Cavs have had the ball, the Wizards have tried to extend their defense a little and force pressure on the outside and the Cavs have not handled it well, especially Delonte West and Daniel Gibson. They already have 15 turnovers and actually I think the stats crew may have missed one or two. It has only cost them 18 points, which is actually remarkable because it could be worse. When the Cavs have gotten into their offense they’ve gotten good shots, but it hasn’t happened that much. They had just four points in the paint in the second quarter and LeBron had just one basket, a fadeaway jumper. The Wizards, meanwhile had 30 points in the paint. Obviously, they will need to get some poise back to have any chance.
–The Cavs played some pretty decent defense early on, they contested some shots and forced the Wizards outside. But as is their custom, without much offensive mojo they let down on the defensive end. That and the Wiz were due to make some shots. They are going to have a game or two or maybe more in this series when their offense is clicking and this is looking like it is going to be one of them.
–Caron Butler is attacking more off the dribble, which is what he probably should’ve been doing all along against Wally Szczerbiak. The defenders are therefore giving him more space and he’s going to his pull-up game. He’s an excellent player and he’s showing it tonight. I expect LeBron to be on him in the second half for stretches. The reason is because we may have seen the last of Arenas for tonight. He was limping badly on that bad knee and it is obvious that he isn’t right and maybe shouldn’t be playing at all.
–The Wizards’ second unit, especially Antonio Daniels, Roger Mason and Andray Blatche, outplayed the Cavs reserves. Again, it felt like an energy issue. Devin Brown and Anderson Varejao played out of control. Daniels has been effective with dribble penetration especially.

Postgame

Stars
Caron Butler, 14 points, four assists
Roger Mason, 18 points
DeShawn Stevenson, 19 points
LeBron, 22 points, seven rebounds

Quotes
Mike Brown: ” “They were the aggressors, they came out with the right mindset. You have to take care of the ball on the road if you want to win in a hostile environment.”
LeBron: “They caught us off guard at times and made some adjustments that we weren’t ready for. We have to better prepare ourselves mentally.”
Jordan: “We read them the riot act after Game 2 in Cleveland and the next two days we told them out great they were. It is risky this late in the season, but you have to lay it on the table.”

Thanks to reader blog reader Phil who sent me this photo, which is actually on Soulja Boy’s web site. He lives in D.C. and plans to have it on a poster when he goes to Game 3 tomorrow at the Verizon Center. Anyway, you just have to love this whole LeBron/Jay-Z/DeShawn Stevenson/Soulja Boy stuff. It’s all just wild junk but great fodder for us journalists and fans. First off, LeBron likes Soulja Boy and dances to his hit song. And, whether it is just fashion or fandom, Soulja Boy seems like he likes and respects LeBron a little. Even if he told Branson Wright from the Plain Dealer that LeBron disrespected him. Blah, blah, blah. Yes, but a large part of my business and your interest is, indeed, blah, blah, blah.