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.

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