Tonight's loss was pretty dadgum frustrating. How else to say it when a team has a five-point lead with less than two minutes left, has the ball — and loses. This game was lost for three reasons:

1) Poor offense down the stretch. It's what I wrote for Thursday's Beacon-Journal. The Cavs didn't run an offense late in the game. They stood around and watched LeBron James dribble, then hoped he could create a shot or an open pass. This is all well and good when one play is needed to win. But when the Cavs did it over and over again in the fourth period it was maddening. What's wrong with setting picks? With running plays? Remember how aggressive James was when he curled off a pick in Game 1 to make the two key shots? That play was nowhere to be found. Zydraunas Ilgauskas had a six-inch height advantage on Darius Songaila, yet the Cavs never once posted Z up to give him the ball on the low block. They let James dribble and dribble and dribble — and when he found open guys they did not make the shots. Please … next time more than one possession is needed to win a game … how about a screen … a pass or two … some motion … something other than "give the ball to LeBron and everybody else get out of the way" (Delonte West's description).

2) Poor shooting — The Cavs shot 36 percent, 27-for-75. Joe Smith could not get a basket. James was 8-for-21, including what he admitted was a bad three late in the shot clock with the Cavs up five and less than two minutes left. Z was 8-for-11, but I'll bet the only time he touched the ball in the final two minutes was on a rebound. Wally Szczerbiak (1-for-6) and Anderson Varejao (1-for-6) struggled, as did Devin Brown (1-for-5) and Smith (0-for-6). That's 3-for-23 from four pretty key guys.

3) Too many threes — The Cavs seemed to rely on threes, taking 25 after taking 28 on Sunday. They averaged 19 threes per game in the regular season. You can make the argument that three-point shooting won Sunday's game, and it did. But in this game officials were sending guys to the free throw line when they took the ball to the basket. The Cavs simply did not do that enough.

End result, it's back to Washington.

Remember when James said he did not think Washington could get back in it. Guess what, the Wizards are back in it.

Oh … the foul call at the end of the game, or the non-call to be precise. Yes, Songaila jumped into James. Yes, it was probably a foul. But I heard Campy Russell say on TV that you're not going to get that call, that officials want the players to decide. James might have deserved a foul call, but Caron Butler also might have deserved a call on his game-winning shot.

To their credit the Cavs followed their edict: They did not make excuses.

Tom Knott of the Washington Times started his column today this way:

"So Brendan Haywood has joined the trash-talking fun by calling LeBron James a crybaby, which is an accurate enough description of someone who believes the Wizards are torturing him with all kinds of medieval devices.

'The delusion of James is encouraged by Mike Brown, who coaches under another delusion, namely that James is destined to be the best basketball player there ever was."

The column, headlined Sweet Crybaby James, also has this:

"(James') pass to Delonte West in the final seconds of Game 4 — the object of so much gushing — was hardly awe-inspiring. It was a play that as many as three-quarters of the players in the NBA could have made. It merely required James to spot the second defender drifting toward him and dump the ball to the open teammate on the baseline.

"It did not send chills down the back of anyone, excluding the LeBrohava Witnesses of Cleveland, so psychologically crippled by the John Elway Drive, the Earnest Byner Fumble and the Jordan Shot over Craig Ehlo that it indulges anyone it believes could end the championship curse."

Read the entire column here.

Antawn Jamison is a pro. Always has been. Be a great addition to the Cavs, if ever the money and wherewithal could be found to add him. Jamison was the one who stated clearly after Game 2 that he knew the Cavs were a good team and he did not want one statement ("overrated") from a couple months ago to define how his team viewed Cleveland, because he said it was not accurate.

Jamison had this to say to the Wizards media on Tuesday: "All this talking through the media about this or that is really beneath me, and I'm kind of disappointed that my teammates kind of bought into it. We've got to do more of letting our game do the talking. I've been saying that from day one."

The opposite of reason? Check this picture to see what DeShawn Stevenson wore as he and his team arrived in Cleveland today.

The NBA fined Washington Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson $25,000 Monday, but not for the flagrant foul given to LeBron James. Stevenson was fined for making a "menacing gesture" during the Cavs' Game 4 win. The Washington Post reported Stevenson gave the throat-slash signal to the Cavs bench after a first quarter basket. The league fined Paul Pierce of Boston the same amount of money for the same gesture in Game 3 against Atlanta.

The league did not, though, impose any more discipline on Stevenson for the hard foul he gave James in the first half of Cleveland's Game 4 win. Stevenson took a wild swing at James' head as LeBron went up for a layup, knocking James to the ground and sending James' headband flying. A near fight ensued, and after the game James said he was told Stevenson hit him with a closed fist.

None of this will decrease tensions in Game 5 Wednesday night in Cleveland.

Here is the gesture, with thanks to the Washington Post sports blog, which posted the link earlier. The score that's shown on the bottom of the screen is not when Stevenson did this; apparently it came early, after his first basket. The first signal is for Jay Z … James' good friend.

It appears the off-court garbage will never cease in this Washington Wizards-Cleveland Cavaliers series. Sunday LeBron James said the Wizards were trying to hurt him. "It ain't working," he said.

Monday, the Wizards, especially Brendan Haywood reacted. The Washington Post reports: After hearing the question about what James said today, Haywood puckered his face up like a baby and said: "Oooh, they're trying to hurt me!" before turning serious. "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." If you want to read more, it's here. I'd guess there will be even more in tomorrow's paper.

Bottom line: The Cavs can end all this Wednesday night.

I really don't get how a wild swing at a player's head while he's going up for a layup is good basketball, but I guess the Wizards can also complain that Anderson Varejao did the same thing to Andray Blatche in Game 2. DeShawn Stevenson's swing at James seemed worse, though.

There are several internet links to the new Jay Z song that insults Stevenson (the Washington Post and Plain Dealer wrote about this stuff on Sunday). I’d link to it but there’s bad language and I’m not going to promote that stuff if kids might be reading. Anyone who wants can find it.

The song clearly refers to James, and though it doesn’t mention Stevenson it’s pretty clear. The odd thing is that James tried to downplay it all before the game Sunday when in fact the song did exist. Gotta figure he knew about it.

I’ll be glad when this all ends. The peripherals in this series have just gotten to be too much.

And … were I the Wizards I'd be much more upset that James completely dismissed the possibility they can get back in the series on Sunday when he merely said "no" they can not. One win in Cleveland does take the series back to D.C., where if the Wizards win things come down to a Game 7, and who knows what happens there? Perhaps to my feeble mind this simple "no" is more disrespectful than anything that happens in a club, but perhaps this feeble mind just does not understand the culture and lifestyle of the wealthy NBA player.

At any rate, the Washington Post had this glowing column on LeBron by Mike Wise.

And Tom Knott of the Washington Times blamed the Wizards for their lack of effort.

Gilbert Arenas second-guessed his shot selection on the last play (Delonte West guarded him after making the game-winner). Wizards coach Eddie Jordan even second-guessed the play he drew up. Doesn't seem ideal for either guy to be second-guessing something at that point of the game.

If you haven't seen it … "Heeeeee got it!"

A nephew on Cape Cod (he and his brother are the intelligensia of the family) shared this of Delonte West when the NBA switched back to the leather ball from the composite ball. Said nephew — we'll call him 'Tom' — expressed the feeling that many in Boston were upset West was included in the Ray Allen trade. Obviously when this was made, West was a Celtic …

If you want something other than Cavs, I wrote Sunday that the Indians' poor start had to be an aberration, the team has too much talent. Their recent play seems to be a sign things are changing — for the better.

Be nice to write something new and fresh and amazingly insightful about LeBron James, but it’s difficult. The guy just keeps doing amazing thing after amazing thing. You want scoring, he scores. You want rebounding, he rebounds (and James is a great rebounder). You want defense, he shuts down the other team’s best player. You want passing, he sets up the game-winner. The guy is out of this world, and he keeps proving it and proving it and proving it.

There are game-winning shots. Delonte West had one of those Sunday in Washington. But there are also game-winning passes. James had one when he set up West. Consider this. The first three quarters, James scored 31 points. In the fourth, Washington dedicated itself to keeping him from scoring. So what does James do, he gets three free throws, five rebounds and two assists. Amazing.

DeShawn Stevenson clearly took a swing at James’ head late in the first half as James went in for a layup. Whether it was with a closed fist or open fist depends on who was watching. But it was as cheap as any of the cheap shots James has endured this series. My colleague Brian Windhorst relates he’s been told that Stevenson might just go for James in Game 5 if he feels the series is over . Perhaps the league ought to take another look at this foul from Game 4?

The disdain James feels for Stevenson must have grown after that foul.

Stevenson was quoted extensively in Sunday morning’s Washington Post talking about James. Specifically, Stevenson was upset that James’ buddy Jay Z wrote a song dissing Stevenson and it was played at a D.C. club early Saturday morning. Clearly Stevenson thought James put Jay Z up to it. If James did it, it’s a shame he stepped into it. Prior to the game, James downplayed everything, saying things should just be about basketball. Here’s part of what Stevenson said about James: “I said he's overrated, I didn't say he sucks. If you look at the games and what's going on, I know when I go to sleep I know we have to play LeBron James. When I go to sleep and know we have to play the Lakers, I know it's going to be a long night. It's the difference between the Kobes and LeBrons. Not saying he will never get there, but that's what I'm saying." Glad that’s what he’s saying, and glad he didn’t say LeBron sucks. I’ve written a lot about this stuff, but it’s really getting old. The entire column with this stuff is here.

Stevenson is shooting 15-for-37 in the series.

Washington actually was playing pretty good when Stevenson went wild-swing-at James’ noggin. They led by a point and were playing basketball. The Cavs then closed out the second quarter and started the third quarter strong. The Wizards caught up but never went ahead.

James on being clubbed in the head: “If we were on the park, something definitely would have escalated. If we were on the park where I grew up playing a lot of basketball, something would have happened. But I guess that's what they want to do. They want to hurt LeBron James. It's not going to work.”

Brendan Haywood’s fouls in the first two games seemed part of the Wizards’ plan. They wisely junked it for Game 3. Stevenson’s swing seemed more personal than anything. None of it has worked. No reason to think it will, either.

Hard to state how important the Cavs three-point shooting was (yes, it was wet that day in Johnstown too). The Cavs jacked up 28 threes, a ton for this team. They made 13. That’s 39 points. Would take seven more made twos to balance that out. Threes by Daniel Gibson and Delonte West were a huge factor in the win.

So was Ben Wallace, whose hustle and work were instrumental. Wallace even had a couple assists, taking James passes off penetration and immediately passing to a three-point shooter. Whether that was a good change by Mike Brown or something that just didn’t happen in Game 3, it was clearly an improvement. Joe Smith also very quietly had a good game. Smith and Wallace were in at the end, not Anderson Varejao (1-for-4 and more silly plays).

Why did James answer “no” when asked if he thought the Wizards could get back in it? Well he obviously feels that team is done. But only eight of 174 teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series.

A few quotes:

Antawn Jamison: “It’s just unfortunate for us that Daniel Gibson and Delonte West were really feeling it.”

Delonte West on the winning shot: “Everybody in the gym had their eyes on LeBron. I’m pretty sure everybody in the gym, including the Wizards defense, thought LeBron was going to take the last shot.”

James on not letting Stevenson’s blow affect him: “I can’t allow myself to get unfocused because my team will unravel.”

More James: “I guess that’s what they want to do, they want to hurt LeBron James this series.”

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan: “We didn’t rebound.”

Gilbert Arenas: “We let go of a winnable game.”

Mike Brown: “It was a great pass, on time and on target. (James) trusted his teammates, and Delonte West stepped in and made that shot, which was terrific.”

This Lebron James-Jay Z/Deshawn Stevenson-Soulja Boy stuff has gone to new lengths. Reports in this morning's Washington Post have Jaz Z writing a new song that tore into Stevenson, and that the song was played at a Washington club called Love early Saturday morning — with James in the house.

The Post said James hosted a party there, and that James had Jay Z write the song. James denied having a party: "I didn't have a party. I was at a party. Just a regular club, regular night."

Asked if Jaz Z had a new song: "You guys are feeding something that's really not a big deal. I'm here to play basketball. It's becoming a little bit too commercial at this point. I'm going to focus on getting our team prepared to play a basketball team, not worried about what DeShawn might say or what any of the Wizards said. It's about playing the game of basketball. It's getting a little commercial right now. Been blown out of proportion. I'm ready to play a game today."

Here's the details on the evening, which apparently included Damon Jones grabbing the D-Jay's mike and insulting Stevenson more. Stevenson apparently believes James asked Jay Z to write the song after Game 3. Here's a Post column on the same subject.

Hard to believe James did that, based on his attitude toward Stevenson and his attitude after Game 3. But apparently something happened. And James best back it up.

Want to bet against him?

Oh … Brian Windhorst writes about basketball in his blog.

It would be nice at this point to state that we all know what the Cavs will do in Game 4. But we don’t. This is pretty much what happens when a team goes from the highest to the lowest in the course of two games, and that’s what the Cavs did from Game 2 to Game 3 against Washington. So what team will show up Sunday? Who knows? But there is one thing we do know, and that is that LeBron James hates losing, and he also hates when he doesn’t play all that well. Both happened in Game 3. So the one thing that seems the safest bet of all related to today’s game is that James will show up, and show up big. If he does not have a huge game, it will be surprising.

There’s a funky coffee shop called Soho Coffee just off Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.., that advertises its chicken salad as the world’s best. That’s a lofty claim, considering how much chicken salad is produced world-wide on a daily basis. This world’s best claim cried out to be sampled. And the claim may be correct.

A woman in this coffee shop was reading a book called Pathological Basis of Disease. Lot of IQ points in this coffee shop.

A young boy held up a homemade sign at the Verizon Center Thursday that read “LeBron sucks.” James saw it and walked over and asked: “You don’t even believe that, do you?”

James continues to downplay the crowd chanting over-rated at him. I believe him. As he says: “They wouldn’t say anything to somebody they didn’t feel threatened by.”

Washington folks really thought their crowd was loud and rowdy Thursday night. Maybe for them it was. Big names seen courtside: Tim Russert, Colin Powell and, of course, Soulja Boy. Whatever.

DeShawn Stevenson had this to say about James’ comment that “there’s no LeBron-DeShawn rivalry”: “He was stealing my move in Cleveland so obviously he's worried about us and what we're doing over here. But the only thing we're going to do is go out there and play basketball." Stealing his move? Just play basketball? The more this guy talks the funnier he sounds. Think about it. When a guy needs a “move” to highlight what he’s doing, he’s really not doing much. That’s because the truly great and good players are noticed for what they do in the game, not for the garbage they contribute outside of the competition.

Speaking of Stevenson … bet you’re sorry you missed this soirée. Dress to impress.

Those of us with Irish ancestors had our hearts broken when we read this story about the decline of the small pub in Ireland. When there’s no place to get one of these in Ireland its’ time to take a step back and re-arrange the priorities in life.

Ever wonder why they only make gummy bears and not gummy Thomas Jeffersons or gummy Lincoln Memorials to sell in Washington? Gummy Washington monuments. Gummy White Houses. Seems like it’d work. These are the things that cross a person’s mind in a coffee shop in Washington while the future Nobel Prize winner next to you is reading about the pathology of disease.

Shaq sure has made all the difference for Phoenix against San Antonio, eh?

Amazing how those hard fouls are not even talked about anymore, isn’t it?

Speaking of hard fouls, I stumbled across this one on YouTube the other day. Recognize the curly-haired guy? (Cut me a break if you’ve seen it; blogging is new and I’m still working on a typewriter.)

LeBron James had some interesting reactions to a couple of questions after Game 3. Check out the story here.

Well there's something to be said for just getting obliterated. As one of my colleagues in the media said, "No angst over that one."

The Cavs stunk up the joint in losing by a franchise-record 36 Thursday night. They really, really stunk up the joint.

Now it's up to LeBron James to do something about it on Sunday. Because if the Cavs win on Sunday they'll have a chance to close it out at home.

Why a team would play like it did with a chance to go up 3-0 in a playoff series ranks up there with putting instructions on shampoo bottles. Just no logic to it.