The Cavs swept the Wizards last year. Is there anything that’s gonna change? Yes.

Funny, when I previewed this series last year Gilbert was on the bench suited up with Caron Butler on the outside looking in. The two teams are bringing back childhood memories for me personally and conjuring images of Doc and Marques Johnson going at it again and again this time of year. Look for Gilbert’s game awareness to be elevated in an ambitious attempt to match LBJ’s.

This was also last year

Trust that Gil won’t have this look in his eyes this time around

It’s very different scene and anticipation now isn’t it? What are we to make of a Wizards team that pretty much stayed afloat even in Gilbert’s absence? Is his return a lift or a burst? How about Caron Butler? Will he be effective coming off of injury just the same?
LeBron has a chance this year to catapult his name alongside the young greats who are superstars and rings bling to boot. He’s hungry. He remembers DeShawn Stevenson’s comments (Barkley called them the dumbest franchise of all time)to my boy Mike Lee of WaPo about being overrated but even in his youth remains professional. I asked him recently about getting up for the playoffs and he was straight focused in his response: “Oh it doesn’t matter, we are playing the Wizards. We don’t need no extra focus or motivation.” The fact that he chose his words carefully speaks volumes.

I wouldn’t want to be the Wizards right now.

It comes down to how the Wizards respond after sick offensive flurries by LeBron. Gilbert, who is coming of the bench in Game 1, doesn’t have complete basketball legs yet but he will have at least three games of 30 in this series. He’s too damn good and has to be chompin’ at the bit from sitting out for so long (which was the best thing I might add). Antawn Jamison has to provide strong support and also be consistent on the defensive end. DeShawn Stevenson would be careless to go overboard with his game, if he plays the ball he is capable of and gives the Wizards 15-18 a night the Cavs will be in trouble.

The Cavs have to slow this game down and everything has to go through LeBron. Expect a couple of triple doubles this series. Zydrunas Ilgauskas should get off on Brendan Haywood. Devin Brown, Daniel Gibson and Delonte West have to stay in their lane and do their respective jobs on both ends of the floor. What Ben Wallace are we going to see here? Is he going to play inspired ball on the inside or will you forget he’s on the floor?

I talked to Mike Brown recently as well about his personal growth coming into the playoffs with heightened expectations: “I’m learning the difference between this year and last year. We want to compete for the title every single year. We’re a playoff team and if we play the right way we just a good a chance as anybody else. I’ve learned a lot this year because of the different circumstances-injuries, trades this late in the season, hold outs. For me there was a lot of individual growth, but I think there was some growth in our team because of the different circumstances.”

Yeah that’s a typical answer but I guess you had to be there to see the eyes of the man. He’s slowly building a nice resume that has to be respected. There were actually talks of getting rid of him (fans and writers) because they were swept by the Spurs. That’s ridiculous.

Eddie Jordan has to handle the rotation efficiently and his team has to play through spurts where timeouts are normally the answer. Is Gilbert going to fly off the handle and hypothetically fire shots from just inside half court? He has to manage this team in the here and now and get them to forget about last year because anything else but this moment in his coaching career is irrelevant. He’s gotta remain hungry and seize the time he’s currently in and not underestimate his worth.

Expect a shoot out between the two stars but LBJ is just too much for anyone to handle. With possessions at a premium Cleveland will make big baskets and get past a team with way too many emotional players. I give Washington 3 wins, but obviously that’s not enough.

Cleveland in a hard fought 7

Game 1: Cleveland 93, Washington 86

Cleveland Leaders:

LeBron James: 32 points, 6 rips, 4 dimes

Zydrunas Ilgauskas: 22 points, 11 rips

Delonte West: 16 points, 5 rips, 5 dimes

Washington Leaders:

Gilbert Arenas: 24 points

Antawn Jamison: 23 points, 19 rips

Brendan Haywood: 15 points, 10 rips

Key to game: LeBron James imposing his skill and will on the Wizards 

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 5:11 pm and is filed under Antawn Jamison, Ben Wallace, Caron Butler, Charles Barkley, Cleveland Cavaliers, Daniel Gibson, Delonte West, Deshawn Stevenson, Devin Brown, Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James, Mike Lee, Washington Post, Washington Wizards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.