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.”

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