Game 1: Cleveland vs Washington

• Cleveland win the tip. Big Z nails a 20 footer to start the game. Haywood has to get out on him.
• Washington are wearing those nasty gold away uniforms, the Wizards have looked a little nervous to start the game. Rushing a few shots. Took them two and a half minutes just to get basket.
• Haywood with a lovely block on a driving and fading Delonte West. Saved the loose ball and started the break.
• Ilguaskas with another J.
• Washington out to an early lead at 13-6. Haywood has all of Washington’s points. They’re offense is shaky. They need to calm down. Daniels has get them back into their rhythm. Haywood with another two. DeShawn Stevenson has played great defense on LeBron so far forcing him into tough misses. Jamison gets a layup. That’ll help. 13-10.
• Z misses a fadeaway out of the post. Haywood looks a lot more comfortable with Ilgauskas when he’s down low. Z should look to his jump shot more than normal. It causes Washington more problems.
• Stevenson’s defense has continued to be brilliant. He’s making Bron work hard. Most of LeBron’s touches start 30 feet from the rim. And what’s more incredible is Washington are sending someone out there to double team him at 30 feet. They’re just doubling off of Ben Wallace, they could care less about Big Ben. James is giving up the ball but the Wizards are scrambling well enough to stop open shots. Cavs up 17-12 now with 2:40 to play in the first. LeBron still scoreless. Haywood has 10 of those points for Washington.
• Gilbert nails a three. The arena got quiet quick after that jumper. Arenas can shoot over the top of Delonte. Arenas has a coy look on his face, looks like a child that’s up to mischief. Caron Butler ties the game at the line. Caron hasn’t been involved so far.
• James’ shot blocked (and hit Bron in the face for good measure). He hits the deck. Washington fastbreak, layup, 7-0 run now. Washington lead. Stevenson went to the bench the play before, James noticed and went straight to the hoop.  Jamison just grabbed his 9th rebound, he’s locked in. Now he nails a quick 20 footer on the baseline. Great run at the close of the quarter from Washington.
• Bron goes to the hoop again. He wasn’t doing this when DeShawn was in the game. Eddie Jordan might have to match minutes between Bron and Stevenson. Bron hit 1 of 2 from the line after that drive. Another drive. Another trip to the line. Caron Butler cannot keep up with James, he doesn’t have the lateral quickness to defend Bron out at the three point line. 1 for 2 again.
• Oh me oh my. Arenas shoots a 30 footer at the buzzer and nails it. Then just strolls backwards. 24-19 Washington.
• Another three from Arenas early in the second. Well he’s looking for his jumpshot. And a fourth. Washington up 11 now. Timeout Cleveland. 30-19 Wizards. Gilbert was putting on a dribbling exhibition, then just stopped moving and put it on up there. Cleveland didn’t know what hit them. Interesting to see how the Wizards offense picked up as soon as Gilbert came in, having that extra scorer and creative passer makes a huge difference.
• Ilguaskas hits out of the post, over Blatche. That’s Cleveland’s first field goal in seven minutes. 18 point swing since then. Z works over Blatche again and draws a foul. Eddie Jordan has to be thinking about bringing Brendan Haywood back in. He does right away. Good substitution. Stevenson came in for Butler too.
• Gibson hits a three. Cleveland’s shooters need to hit tonight. They’ve been too quiet so far. Delonte, Gibson, and Wally. We need to see more from those guys. Bron hits his first from the field. Cavs gaining a little momentum. Then Varajeo picks up an offensive foul. Washington ball. Songaila nails a jumper on the other end. This Cleveland crowd gets quiet quick. Washington up 8. Ilguaskas with two straight long offensive rebounds.
• Wally’s getting the crowd going. Long jumper and a hard drive.
• I don’t like ESPN’s commentators tonight. Rick Carlisle is one of them (Dave Pasch is the other). Let’s get him back coaching. Decent insight but very dull.
• Jamison posts up Wally on the other end, quick right handed hook. Two points.
• Varajeo turns the ball over again. Travel this time. Cleveland have done a great job of cutting the lead down 38-34 Washington lead now. Haywood with another two. Bron responds with a jumper from 8 feet off a curl. Oh, alley-oop one handed finish. Cavs fans going crazy. Find a highlights package, that’s worth seeing. Bron needs to keep Stevenson close to the rim, he’s too big for DeShawn. Stevenson can keep defend and challenge Bron out on the perimeter. Stay close to the hoop.
• Daniels with a fast breaking layup. Cleveland are doing a great job of hitting the offensive boards, they almost knocked that loose, unfortunately for them they didn’t. Their perimeter players have to do a better job getting back on D. That hoop was avoidable.
• Washington need to hang on here and go into halftime with a lead. They haven’t done a great job weathering this Cleveland run. Gilbert has only played 9 minutes, Washington look much better with him on the floor. Not enough creativity off the dribble without him.
• Little scuffle to end the half between Bron and Haywood, then Z and Jamison. Refs are starting to make too much of this. Just get on with it. There’s a second left in the half, they’ll cool down in the locker room. 3 technicals. Wally hits the FT. Tied at 46 now.
• Halftime
• Bron hits three straight jumpers (and earns a trip to the line) to start the quarter. He’s hit 7 of his last 8 from the field. 19 points from Bron now.
• Butler getting into it now. Nice steal and flush. The Wizards need to get more out of him. Their offense has looked weak without Gilbert. Caron is their best creator out there, he’s got to get going. He travels as I write this. C’mon Caron.
• Cleveland up 59-56. LeBron has been dominant in the quarter. We’re halfway through the third and he has 11 in the period. Washington haven’t played well. Gilbert is coming back in.
• Gilbert comes on and Washington takes the lead back. 65-61 Wiz lead. Nice track down on the bobbled defensive rebound by Butler, that was all about the extra effort. Caron has 8 in the quarter. Still not playing great but better.
• Gibson replies with a three to end a 4 and a half minute drought for Cleveland.
• Gilbert kicks it to the cutting Jamison for the right handed jump hook. Wizards up 5. Jamison has 20 and 14 for the night.
• Last minute and a half is huge here. Cleveland have to even out the game. Washington need to push their lead. If someone gets an advantage here it’ll go a long way. Two jump balls inside of a minute.
• 18 more FTs for Cleveland tonight. That’s the main reason they’re still in this. They’re shooting a lowly 36% from the floor and only 25$ from three. Washington have turned the ball over (10) twice as much, helping Cleveland get a few fast break points.
• Washington has a four point lead to end the quarter. 13-4 run to end the quarter for Washington. Wizards need to get their offense going a little bit more to hold off a LeBron James led fourth quarter finale.
• Devin Brown starts the fourth with a nice 20 footer off a curl, and after a dribble. He’s been an unsung player for Cleveland all season long.
• Gilbert isn’t moving well defensively. He’s not getting low, and he isn’t sliding well. Cleveland should go at him.
• Terrible transition defense by Washington. They left Gibson wide open in the corner for about 6 seconds before Delonte spotted him. Bad all round play from both teams, but especially Washington, at least Cleveland came good and spotted the open man.
• Z hits a runner to give Washington a three point lead 73-70. Big Z has 20 now.
• Washington need to get Blatche off the floor. He’s a downright liability against Ilgauskas. They need their veterans out there, players with intelligence. Blatche is standing out and not in a good way. Dumbest player on the floor? He’s mentally a step behind everything that’s happening. Andray needs to get it together. He hasn’t been a positive factor at all, only 2 rebounds in 18 minutes. No points. He’d be invisible if it weren’t for all his mistakes and bad fouls.
• Haywood is back in. He needs to play the rest of the way. Right away he’s heading to the free throw line. Haywood has been very solid tonight. Songaila, Jamison, Arenas, Roger Mason are out there for the Wizards. Z, Varajeo, Gibson, West, Brown out there for Cleveland. Arenas is heading to the FT line now. LeBron is coming back in. 9 minutes to play in the fourth. Cleveland ball. Tie game at 73. 18 for Gil in 19 minutes. 4 fouls in 19 minutes too.
• Caron Butler (Songaila is out) is back on LeBron James. Bron blew right past him and pulled up for an 18 footer. Too easy. Butler can’t keep Bron out of the lane. They need Stevenson on James.
• Varajeo with an odd looking 14 footer. Crowd pumped.
• Stevenson is coming back in. Mason out.
• Cleveland is in the penalty with 7 minutes to play. Jamison at the line for two after a loose ball foul, over the back on the boards, on the other end.
• Stevenson is on Gibson. Not James. Don’t like that. Delonte West hits a huge three. Cleveland 4-4 from three here in the fourth. Stevenson misses two threes on the other end.
• Wizards haven’t hit a field goal in the quarter (8 points all on FTs). They’re all over the place. They need a set play. A money play. Just get a basket and calm everyone damn. Cleveland foul, Gilbert is heading back to the line. Cuts the Cavs lead to 3, 80-78 Cleveland.
• Ilguaskas drops a 19 foot jump shot. Arenas throws up a runner in the lane and gets Washington a hoop. It had been 8 minutes and 21 seconds since their last hoop. Now Stevenson hits a huge three in the corner. First hoop of the game from DeShawn. Tie game. Timeout.
• Turnover out of a timeout. That’s got to drive Mike Brown nutes. On the positive side they’ve taken great care of the ball tonight against the trapping Wizards defense.
• Great defense rebound by Butler. He kept Z on his back and stopped him from tapping it home.
• Varajeo has taken back to back one-on-one shots out of the post. Odd play. Delonte with a nice up fake and jump shot, miss, nice move.
• Jamison wide open from three. Misses it.
• Washington are doing a great job of taking the ball out of LeBron’s hands here. They’re still sending a double team out 40 feet from the rim. LeBron is just giving it up to his teammates, although you can tell he doesn’t want to. On that last one LeBron held onto the ball for 4-5 seconds longer than he needed to, looking for a lane to drive, it wasn’t really there so he didn’t force it. He might have to.
• 84-82 Washington lead with 2:40 left
• LeBron only has 2 points in the fourth. He’s been on the floor for 7 minutes now. He hits two FTs to tie the game, 4 now for Bron.
• Caron Butler makes a bad drive, loses control of the ball. Almost a turnover. He saved the possession with a timeout after diving on the loose ball.
• Arenas misses at the shot clock buzzer. Jamison with an offensive rebound. Then misses a 5 footer. Cleveland ball. LeBron on the drive, banks it in, Cleveland up 2. He curled into the paint off a screen off the ball. Arenas misses another jumper. Same play Cleveland. Bron loses the ball, gets control, back into the lane, puts up a runner, it’s good. Cavs up 4 with a minute to play. 6-0 LeBron run.
• Arenas forces into the paint. Throws up a prayer. Misses horribly. Arenas has almost no explosion in his legs. He’s so smart and talented that he can still be effective, but he can’t make the plays he normally can. Jump ball after the loose ball following Arenas bad play. Cleveland win the jump. James is fouled on the catch by accident. Cavs ball.
• Cleveland run the same play again. Z comes up top and sets a screen for Gibson, then falls back to set a screen for LeBron cutting into the middle. Washington trap Gibson after the Ilgauskas screen, push him back to midcourt. Timeout Cleveland. Smart play by Gibson, he was about to turn it over.
• Arenas with a driving layup. Brick. Washington foul.
• I’m calling it. Game Cleveland.

Some thoughts following the game:

1. Washington aren’t going to win this series if they can’t get their offense flowing. They have more firepower but it counts for nothing if there’s no fluidity to your play.
2. LeBron dominated the game tonight. He got very little help offensively from everyone not named Ilgauskas. Delonte did a solid job handling the ball. Getting a win despite this poor showing is great for Cleveland because they should be able to get more out of this weak supporting cast the rest of the way. Cleveland got a lot of open jump shots, they have to be very happy with that. Delonte, Wally, Big Ben, Varajeo, Brown shot a combined 7-30 from the field. Gibson shot well going 4-9.
3. Caron Butler was very poor. He had only 12 points and wasn’t involved offensively for most of the game. They need much much much more out of him to win this series. He’s an all-star and needs to play like it. Arenas had 24, Jamison had 23 and 19. Haywood came in for 15 and 10. Caron shows up and they pull this game out.
4. The Wizards supporting cast weren’t in it scoring wise. Daniels, Stevenson (starting backcourt), Songaila, Roger Mason, Blatche (all bench outside of Gil) scored a dismal 10 points altogether. Stevenson was only 1-9 tonight.

If Washington don’t get their offense ticking this series gets even closer, in that case Cleveland might have the advantage. They’re better at grinding out results, they lead the league in fourth quarter comebacks and they have LeBron James.