Seeing as its the first day of the NBA Playoffs, I'm going to be doing a bit of live blogging and writing throughout the course of the day. This way you'll be able to follow my flip-flopping analysis throughout the flow of the games. As usual, however, I was not out of bed in time to catch the start of the first game, so although I know you're dying to hear my take on the first quarter of the Wizards-Cavs game, you'll just have to settle for the last three. Without further ado, here goes.
Wow, within 30 seconds of turning on the Washington/Cleveland game, I feel like I've already seen the best they have to offer. Some good Cavs defense combined with sloppy play by the Wizards (no way!) leads to a turnover and a fastbreak opportunity for LeBron & Co. The play ends with Daniel Gibson throwing a horrible lob that seems waaaaaaay to high for anyone to go get, and of course, LeBron James taking flight and throwing it down in jaw dropping fashion that illicited a huge "ooooooooooh" from the crowd. Check Sports Center later, you will see it, I promise. As the Wizards execute their next possession, LeBron gets the block, proving once again that he is the Cleveland Cavaliers. James is doing it all, and making his teammates look especially good in the process. In other words, business as usual in Cleveland.
In other news, Arenas is on fire in the first half and up to his usual tricks, i.e. jacking up any shot from anywhere on the court and draining them all. It makes him look like the best player in the Association when his ridiculous three attempts are falling, I just hope for his sake that he doesn't go cold. It usually gets ugly pretty quickly when that happens. At this point, Agent zero is 4-4 from the land of three, and 5-8 overall for a first half total of 14 points. That's all well and good, but he hasn't made a contribution in any other way for the Wizards.
So much for the vaunted defense of Ben Wallace, by the way. Brendan Haywood's first half stat line: 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting with five rebounds and two blocks. Three of Haywood's boards came on offense as well, which reflects poorly on the Cav's bigs and validates my claims that they are terrible. Antawn Jamison also has 12 points and 11 boards as well, and is out-muscling Cleveland on the glass. This is dangerous, considering that Cleveland usually dominates the glass. The game is intense and emotional, and was entertaining as well in the first half. Going into the break its 46-46.
Deshawn Stevenson is killing Washington right now! He's 0 for 6 from the field, 0 for 3 from deep, and has compiled only three assissts and one steal thus far. Who's overrated, exactly? LeBron? The one who is 6 for his last 7 and carrying his team in the way that only he can? Or the one who just burned you on the baseline for an easy alley-oop in the half court? Is your ridiculous beard holding you back by slowing you down and getting in the way of your jumper? Anyone? Bueller?
Somebody for Washington might want to think about trying to keep LeBron out of the paint and away from the rim. 21 and counting...
Excellent three point shooting by both teams thus far, with Washington setting the pace at a clip of 5 for 15 (GIl is responsible for 4 of the Wizards' makes, by the way). Cleveland is 4 for 16, which makes my stomach turn more than the left over alcohol from last night at the triple nickel. Yeesh.
Cleveland is living at the line, shooting 21-27, which is impressive considering the Wiz have only been to the line nine times all game. This huge advantage is the only reason the Cavs are ahead, and is obscuring the crappy shooting of Cleveland outside of James and Big Z (who, by the way, must be at least 4 inches taller than anyone Washington has). Ilgauskas is pulling his weight with 22 and 8 so far.
Will someone for Cleveland other than LeBron James create or hit a shot?!? My goodness, the Cavs would be worse than Minnesota without LeBron doing every last thing for them. I don't even think that's an exaggeration.
Two minutes and some change left to go, and if the Wizards let LeBron get an open look, they've failed on defense. They must make someone else beat them down the stretch. As I write this, LeBron gets into the paint twice and scores both times. The help defense must come earlier and force LeBron to give the ball up. Otherwise the Wizards will lose.
20 seconds left to go, and I'm going to have to apologize to Ray for being crummy at picking NBA games. It's not my fault that Washington couldn't throw a rock in the ocean in the home stretch of the fourth, but I suppose that this is what I get for betting against LeBron James. The Wizards just repeatedly shot themselves in the foot, and that won't get you a win in the playoffs. Maybe instead of talking junk, the Wizards should have gotten more rest or practiced their long range shooting a bit more,because that's what killed them today.
All right, I'm wrapping this one up and posting it, I don't want to run the risk of losing it later. Anyways, there's more to come, including my wonderful insights on some of the other day's games.
