Running thoughts as the game goes along.
As I begin to write this the score is 43-38 Cleveland with 2 minutes left in the first half. To be honest with you it is a semi-miracle that the Wizards are only down 5. Caron is 1-5 from the field with only 4 points and Gilbert is 1-6 in 8 minutes with only 2 points. Not only that but Gilbert just looked hobbled, looking similar to Dwyane Wade’s valiant effort last year.
For Cleveland, the Z-Man is leading the way with 10 points. LeBron is having another slow start (9 pts, 2/6 shooting) but the other guys have stepped it up. Wally has 8, Big Ben and Sideshow Bob both have 4 a piece and Devin Brown and Gibson have each hit one three. Doesn’t seem like much but in the lock run those are going to pay off. Those guys hitting shots buys LeBron time and puts more pressure on Washington to score.
Cleveland is on a 12-2 run over the past 5 minutes as no one on Washington is loking good right now. Antonio Daniels is a non-factor, Gil and Caron are struggling which means Jamison gets even more attention and Blatche drops easy passes. I’m not sure they have enough offense to come back, especially when they just let Wally drive to the basket and get a layup.
If anything, all the trash talking by Washington may have just united Cleveland. And really that was their biggest problem, guys weren’t sure of their roles and they weren’t playing like a team. When you have one common goal, it becomes a lot easier to do such things and they look like a machine in this second quarter.
Almost halfway into the third quarter the Cavs have jumped up 65-50 and the Wizards have one field goal, a DeShawn Stevenson three-ball. And just now Brendan Haywood got ejected for flagrant fouling LeBron. At first glance it seemed as if LeBron put a little act job on it, but Haywood really did just two hand shove him. One thing I’m noticing is that Washington is playing entirely too emotional, especially tonight. It’s one thing to play passionae but completely another to play emotional. Washington is letting their emotions get in the way of any sort of success they could have. Every two seconds somene on the Wizards is saying something like right now Gilbert is talking to Delonte…I mean they are down 20 I just don’t see the point.
What they need to worry about is finding a way to shut down everyone not named LeBron. I have to disagree with the strategy of double-teaming LeBron and all that madness. He can’t score 87 points. He can pass though. If I were playing the Cavs I would make LeBron score and not let anyone else get off. It sounds silly but you’re more likely to win if LeBron has 30 and no one else can get in double figures. Case in point of the 19 points the Cavs have scored so far in this third quarter, Wally has 5, Z-Man has 4, West has 3 and Big Ben has 2. For the game Wally and Z-Man have 31 of Cleveland’s 72 points. If I’m Washington I need to find a way to shut those guys down because at the end of the day you can’t stop LeBron. You can’t even hope to contain him. All you can do is make it tough for him to score.
Washington is going to have to go home and not just went Games 3 and 4, they have to win them convincingly and get their swagger back. Right now they are just playing lost basketball, especially on offense. Their Big 3 is 7-31, and even that is deceiving because Caron/Gilbert are just 3-19.
I still maintain that all the trash talking did was motivate Cleveland…I didn’t see this activity from them on defense in the regular season. If anything they’ve taken this personally. And if you have ever played pick-up, you know what happens when someone takes an issue personally. You’re trying to make sure that person doesn’t score and that you score on him relentlessly. That’s what Cleveland is doing to Washington, just giving them an old-school beat down.