Thanks for running your mouth and getting me fired up. Appreciate it.

Lebron, get over yourself. That foul by Deshawn was hard, and he was going for the ball as seen on replay, and there was no fist involved except for maybe lebron's when he jumped up being all tough but then backed down like a punk when Deshawn was like "What ya gonna do about it?". As usual, Lebron talks about being tough but acts more like a whiny female dog during game time. I'd love to see a fight. Lebron talks about being 6 foot whatever and 260 lbs built for toughness, guess that 260 lbs don't involve testicles....

Can someone start investigating Lebron's past for HGH use. There has to be some reason he's still growing in his early 20s and looks like he's 35.

While they're at it, look into Greg Oden too. Obviously something foul is going on in the Ohio junior leagues.

"Maybe we could have spotted him up and let Antawn or Caron get in on the last play. I thought about that as the ball was inbouded but it was too late by then."

Ummmmm...beyond the rebounding advantage that was likely given to the Cavs by the coach's decision to play small ball, having Jordan admit this is a problem. Like a "we are going to lose in 5 and I know i will be fired problem".

Gil had not been aggressive all night. Giving him the final shot was a mistake.

Lebron and the cavs need to stop whining. we atill got it and i believe that the wizards are still in it and can win

Ivan, how much of the Stevenson/Lebron drama if any, do you think played in the loss of this game? How were the Wiz from an emotional standpoint after this game? Are we crazy for thinking that just maybe we can win game five and lastly, do you think it would be wise to just sit Gil for the rest of the series?

Also, I saw the replay of the hard foul by Deshawn several times and he did NOT hit LeQueen with a fist. That did not happen. Lebron has mad game, I will give him credit for that but he has all of the sports media by the balls. I hated the game was not on Direct TV or Comcast because whenever the Wiz play on the national vs the Lebrons, all of the talk is centered on the Lebrons. Lebron definitely has the media by the balls.

Hope it doesn't turn into a Pistons-Pacers scenario on Wednesday.

It's OVER. Really hate to say that and I cannot STAND Lebron and the Cavs....but today put the nail in our coffin. Another year...another playoff loss to the Cavs.

I would have much rather played Orlando...or Detroit who is going to lose in the first round to the Sixers.

Nothing would give me more pleasure than for the Wiz to win on Wednesday. Nothing.

No way this team wins three straight. Their defensive rotations are too slow to stop the Cavs when they can hit shots. HOW MANY TIMES does West have to nail that three from the corner before we stop it? The Cavs pretty much ran the same play the entire 4th quarter and we could not stop it when it counted.

The series is effectively over. There's almost no chance of the Wizards beating the Cavs three games in a row.

The Wizards played pretty well, but you can't give up all of those offensive rebounds and second chance points, esp. on your home court. That was the game. Some major decision to be made in the offseason. My position remains the same: Grunfeld needs to take his time with making those decisions and explore all available options. Don't rush into tying the franchise's future to this group with seriously considering whether it's the best move. But even if he does bring everyone back, changes are required, most notably at C, where they lack a physical, energetic presence. Maybe Etan can fill that role if he's healthy, but they need one badly.

The Wiz should have just let sleeping dogs lie before the series started.....but NOOOOO. They had to go provoke not just an all star, but a true SUPERSTAR. I remember Gerald Wilkins saying he was the "Jordan Stopper". Jordan lit HIM and the Cavs up and dismissed them from the playoffs...the Wiz should have just shut up.

It's amazing to me to continue to read the posts and hear time after time of delusional fans that believe that the Wizards will come back to win this series. Ain't happening. Your team is not better than ours so get over it. Lebron is better than your big three combined. GET OVER IT. You lost. Get over it.

Delusional, why do you care so much about what Wizards fans think if you're so confident in Lebron? Is Lebron's success compensating for something lacking in your own life? I mean seriously, you live in Cleveland I gather, and your team has 0% chance to win the NBA Finals. Is that why you're already bitter after your own team won?

Also do you get sad thinking about how the one nationally relevant person in your entire state will be moving to Brooklyn in a year or two?

Ok It's official. He just referred to himself in the 3rd person. ("They want to hurt LeBron James".) The guy is a prick, although he's probably the most talented prick in the league. The Cavs have our number but I'll be glad to see them get bounced from the playoffs by whoever they play next. As much as I'm a huge Wiz fan, this series is over. Our team isn't built to battle against big, rebounding teams like the Cavs. It's just a bad matchup for us the way we're playing and with the injuries that we have. Surprsingly, I think we should keep the current roster together and make almost NO personnel changes. I'm ok with GA and Ad at PG with RM or DS as the 3rd guy. Those guys handled starting at times so we're ok at that position. The only thing we need to do next year is go 8-9 deep. Pech should get some time off the bench to keep BTH fresh, AB oughtta spell CB (surprise to some here probably). I think we could use his length at the 3 bettr than 4 since he's got a small frame. The only change I would make is to get a young stud rebounder to back up AJ. Songaila is heady ad a good passer but we need a beast on the boards at the 4. BTH will never be a beast on the boards although he's more than good enough to get you 15 and 8. The problem with this team in a nutshell (and I've been saying this now for two years) is this:
We are undersized at the 3 and 4. As long as we play teams that can bang inside, we will never be able to play their style. The only way our forwards are effective in the playoffs is if we are forcing an uptempo pace.
The Suns should have kept Marion. We should not have given up on our '06-'07 style, which is to get up and down the floor. If healthy, we can outscore most people. We simply are not equipped to handle big teams that rebound well in a series. I personally think that the fast pace can work. The Suns (minus one bad call by the refs) would have proven it last year. We should have tried this year. Anyway, injuries can turn a good team into an average one quickly. They've sabotaged our season and the only thing left to do is go down fighting. Unfortunately, we WILL go down.

"Eddie Jordan on the last play: "He's our guy. And look, he made a terrific shot (on the previous possession). Who else do we have that can make that kind of shot? In the end, maybe he could have been used as a decoy. I always say that sometimes a threat is as dangerous as the action. Maybe we could have spotted him up and let Antawn or Caron get in on the last play. I thought about that as the ball was inbouded but it was too late by then.""

Good g#d.

A lot of question marks, if, ands, and buts for a guy who's supposed to be sure and confident on what to do at the end of a game.

Gilby hit a prayer to tie the game up, and now he's expecting Gilby to hit another one? Gilby is good for one spectacular shot a game, not two.

Style versus substance and substance usually wins out even if he is on HGH.

Style versus substance and substance usually wins out even if he is on HGH.

Style versus substance and substance usually wins out even if he is on HGH.

Can we trade GA straight up for Elton Brand now?

"In the immortal words of John Belushi, was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

And when the going gets tough? The tough go on summer vacation.

First of all Oden is from Indiana and played AAU basketball for the Spiece Indy Heat, he's not from Ohio.

Secondly, I can see how the Cavs bench thought that DeShawn came with a fist. He swung with a closed fist, but then when he started to make contact with the ball and LeBron's head he opened his hand half way. It looked like after he hit the ball he started to ball his fist up again since after he made contact he had a closed fist again. He hit Lebron in the dome with the bottom of his hand/wrist, which sometimes can do more damage than a fist (see karate dudes breaking wooden boards).

The refs got the call right with a flagrant one. Personally I don't think it should be upgraded to a flagrant two, but it's possible. There is no way he'll get suspended though.

On a side note DeShawn and Butler did a good job of flopping for LeBron to pick up his 3rd and 5th fouls.

I think my Cavs will take care of business in game 5 and send you guys home for the 3rd straight year. Sucks for you but the better team has won all of these playoff series and will close it out on Wednesday.

Watching the replay of the first half...Gilby with 4 turnovers in the first quarter. Trying too hard to be a facilitator. DS with a stupid cross court fast break pass attempt.

Interesting.

I wonder what would happen if Les BouleS are losing in the game 5 and DS has a shot at Lebron. Will he take it?

Can we trade GA straight up for Elton Brand now?

Posted by: oddjob | April 27, 2008 8:28 PM

hell yeah!, the only keeper for this team is butler

I LOLed at the third person, too. No way Gil should have taken that last shot. It should have been Caron, or if you want to be cheeky--put DeShawn's head up on the block.

I like Eddie, and the hometown boy thing is a cool schtick, but he needs to discipline this team. DS should have been pulled after the flagrant foul to cool his head. Gil should have never been in that game, whether or not he wanted to be there.

More than anything this series has shown that the Wizards are mentally weak, and that will haunt us for years to come if this team remains as it is.

Bottom line for the Wizards: only eight of 174 teams have overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven NBA playoff series. ---------------
I believe the Bullets did it at least once. Over the Spurs, right? Or was that 3-2? Oh well . . .

I don't care for statistics in a situation like this. Yes, the probability of a team coming back from a 3-1 deficit when the next game is away is low. But the Wiz would be idiotic to think in those terms. They've got to think "one game at a time" "must win" every game and "never say die." Can they win the next one in Cleveland? Of course! But they're going to have to energize and get extraordinarily motivated. Cleveland is sure they can win and will be tough. Rest Arenas, or use him off the bench only if he really seems fine on game day (which I doubt). Then attack! Think long and hard about the need to remain poised as they did when down 15 today. I would expect they'll see a deficit in game 5 also. I'm persuaded that they need to put the kibosh on trash-talking LeBron. Say "we were wrong and sorry" then take it to him.

Steal game 5 in Cleveland, then return home to tie it up. Then Game 7. This would take a phenomenal comeback! But hardly unprecedented -- 8 teams have done it. You fainthearts who say it's over . . . it's not easy to win a playoff series! It's television to you, push buttons, adjust the Lazyboy. When it doesn't go your way, it's fire everybody! It WILL be over if the Wiz breathe what you're exhaling, ya Nancy boys! So here's hoping the Wiz play like top of the pyramid pros, which they have done from time to time this season.

Go WIZ!

Wait Oden isn't from Ohio? Then I guess he couldn't be juicing. LOL.

ALL of these guys are roiding, but it's even more obvious with someone like Lebron. I'm all for it though, I wish Jamison would look into it as well.

Also when did Lebron become Karl Malone? Is he not aware that he's one of the least liked personalities in all of sports? I've never met anyone who likes him or wanted his jersey who wasn't from the mid-west. Yes he's good at basketball. He sucks as a person.

Sad to say the Wiz will not win another game...no way they win in Cleveland. So it's time to go fishing.

Its over suckas

7snider7, there's a fine line between fannish enthusiasm and optimism, and out and out delusion.

"We want the Cavs, everyone wants the Cavs right now" says Gilbert Arenas on his blog. Ha....Hibatchi fool.

Stevenson, your right LeBron is overrated. Everyone says the Cavs only have LeBron, (which by the way is not true). Well the Wizards supposedly have three all stars, so tell me who is "overrated".

This team goes as Caron Butler goes. He played so-so today, and was a no-show in games 1 and 2. So there you go.

Guess he isn't injured, though, since he could go to LeBron's party at Love.

"We want the Cavs, everyone wants the Cavs right now" says Gilbert Arenas on his blog. Ha....Hibatchi fool.

Stevenson, your right LeBron is overrated. Everyone says the Cavs only have LeBron, (which by the way is not true). Well the Wizards supposedly have three all stars, so tell me who is "overrated".

Throw your diamonds in the sky and the make the throat slice motion so you can look like a fool on national TV when you lose.

gilbert arenas. way to leave delonte west open. shocker, gilbert leaves his man open. way to turn the ball over a million times. way to kill the ball movement on our team. way to dribble the ball off your knees. way to brick up a 3. Please leave DC and sign with the clippers.

Ernie knows your a cancer to this team and you're now a gimp with a big mouth.

Greg Oden is from Indiana. Try again with your backhanded HGH comments.

Stevenson was looking right at Lebron's face as he swung at him and came nowhere near the ball. Then he made the throat-slitting sign. He should be suspended next game.

"Stevenson was looking right at Lebron's face as he swung at him"

Really? That's quite a feat, given that James was in front of him with his back to Stevenson.

Greg Oden looks like he's 47. I guess being from Indiana precludes him from ever having taking HGH since at least two of you morons from Cleveland have posted that.

You're basically suggesting that Cleveland has the market cornered on HGH but are too stupid to realize that. How about limiting your posts to your cute little fanboi crushes on Lebron?

This game was lost with careless turnovers in the first half, bad free throw shooting in the second half and, worst of all, defensive rebounding. All 3 factors are the result of poor concentration. After it became clear in the end of the 3rd quarter that rebounding was killing the wizards and eddie went back to a big lineup, haywood/blatche gave up the rebound after a free throw and then the last play of the 3rd quarter (Joe Smith and 1) was brutal.

The important question is who is accountable for the poor play. The coach? The GM? The players? Yes, yes and yes. Songaila cannot ever be the 5. The only good rebounder on the team is AJ and there is no big man other than haywood. Andray Blatche played a horrible game - no energy and sloppy play.

kalorama, reread my post. I don't think it will be easy, and if urging that the team hang tough makes me delusional in your eyes, I accept that. But 8 teams HAVE come back to win from a 3-1 deficit. These guys are paid $millions. We should expect them to put up Herculean efforts, and they should expect it of themselves. Now, some pros (quite a few) will cash it in. I'll be watching game 5 for evidence of that. But while I would not bet the family farm on a Wizards' victory in Game 7, I would bet that CB, AJ, DS will fight hard in game 5. No disrespect to the other players -- I just have less of a sense as to their fighting character. For all I know they'll all be 100% determined. I hope so. I have wanted them to go deep in the playoffs all year, too, and would be disappointed to see them fall to the Cavs.

We want the Cavs, everyone wants the Cavs right now" says Gilbert Arenas on his blog. Ha....Hibatchi fool.

Stevenson, your right LeBron is overrated. Everyone says the Cavs only have LeBron, (which by the way is not true). Well the Wizards supposedly have three all stars, so tell me who is "overrated".

Seemed to me (I may be mistaken) that Stevenson got a piece of the ball before he clocked the biggest baby in all of the NBA.

Secondly, Greger, if you read Ivan's post. Gil did exactly as he was told. It was Jamison who was supposed to be out on the shooter, and like usual, Jamison's defense was awful. In fact, his defense is so bad that Ilgauskas went baseline on him.

The Wizards simply dont matter

The Wizards don't matter.

The entire state of Ohio doesn't matter when Lebron's not playing a basketball game.

Wizard simply dont matter. Put out again by Cleveland. Like Ohio State whipping Michigan at this point.

"kalorama, reread my post."

I did. It was just as delusional the second and third times around.

There is a fine line between being confident and being outright idiotic. Forget blaming EJ or Gil, DS single-handedly lost this one for us with that cheapshot on lebron. I'm all for hard playoff fouls and prohibiting easy baskets. But that was dirty & was a embarrasment to our team & our city.

As Kobe said about JR Smith... "shake the tree - and a leopard is gonna fall out of it." well, same thing applies here. Shut the hell up already and lets start playing some disciplined basketball.

lebron would kick the absolute ass out of stevenson. what a punk. shutup deshawn you blow

windhorst said that people who know deshawn say stevenson may go at lebron if game 5 gets out of hand. and you are trying to tell me he didnt use a closed fist? lol you all suck

Didnt Ohio State gain negative 47 yards or something last time they played a nationally relevant football game?

He better not in Cleveland

"Greg Oden looks like he's 47. I guess being from Indiana precludes him from ever having taking HGH since at least two of you morons from Cleveland have posted that.

You're basically suggesting that Cleveland has the market cornered on HGH but are too stupid to realize that. How about limiting your posts to your cute little fanboi crushes on Lebron?"

Actually I was correcting the original poster (True Zards Fan) who implied that Oden played in junior leagues in Ohio, which he didn't, unless he was counting playing for a Big Ten School as the "junior leagues." I wasn't replying to the HGH comment because it's to stupid to address, therefore could not "suggest" anything either. But I'm the moron?

When was a team from your area in the National Title game?

I seriously doubt Lebron would handle himself well in a fight against anyone the way he cries and takes 10 minutes to get off the floor after the softest fouls.

Lebron has also been coddled his entire life. I'm pretty sure Earl Boykins could whoop his 6'9 ass at this point.

Bottom line, Wizards simply dont matter. To you fools but we wipe our a---- on them every year.

we shook the tree - and a leopard just ate us for lunch today.

Lebron is just simply too good.

Fools, why would LeBron fight with someone who is not going anywhere. The Cavs have things to accomplish. Go fishing

Who the hell cares where Oden played junior ball. What the hell is wrong with you argumentative no-life Cleveland morons who can't help but post on the Washingtonpost.com?

None of us can even NAME the major newspaper in Cleveland.

Also, I've decided I will be the biggest Lebron fan ever when he joins the Nets after next season. Enjoy your little man crush until then.

a victory for me at this point would simply be a full game played without focusing on the refs, taunting, or anything not having to do with playing sound basketball. Truth be told, Eddie is the one who is accountable for allowing the team to buy into their own self proclaimed hype without exerting any control over them. Seriously, how do you NOT bench deshawn immediately in game 2 when he's dancing after hitting a three to pull the wizards within SIXTEEN of a team he already publicly insulted. Eddie may have done a great job getting us here with the injuries we had, but there's no way he is respected by his players as a figure of authority. He sets the tone, and the wizards have lost these three games because they have gone through killer spurts where they literally look helpless. I really think eddie needs to take accountability for not only the play of the team, but the attitude as well. That would be a step in the right direction.

LMAO at anyone who thinks Lebron is going anywhere after this series.

You're calling Wizards fans delusional?

Remember, this is the Wizards, not an actually good team.

a victory for me at this point would simply be a full game played without focusing on the refs, taunting, or anything not having to do with playing sound basketball. Truth be told, Eddie is the one who is accountable for allowing the team to buy into their own self proclaimed hype without exerting any control over them. Seriously, how do you NOT bench deshawn immediately in game 2 when he's dancing after hitting a three to pull the wizards within SIXTEEN of a team he already publicly insulted. Eddie may have done a great job getting us here with the injuries we had, but there's no way he is respected by his players as a figure of authority. He sets the tone, and the wizards have lost these three games because they have gone through killer spurts where they literally look helpless. I really think eddie needs to take accountability for not only the play of the team, but the attitude as well. That would be a step in the right direction.

the best thing that could ever happen for washington is to trade ejections - stevenson for lebron. of course you want that, but lebron has more class and wouldnt put himself before the team. But believe it... 6'9" 260 physical freak of nature would snap Deshawn in two.

Cavs in 5.

That what they said last year. And as long as LeBron dont join the Wizards we dont give a f...

a victory for me at this point would simply be a full game played without focusing on the refs, taunting, or anything not having to do with playing sound basketball. Truth be told, Eddie is the one who is accountable for allowing the team to buy into their own self proclaimed hype without exerting any control over them. Seriously, how do you NOT bench deshawn immediately in game 2 when he's dancing after hitting a three to pull the wizards within SIXTEEN of a team he already publicly insulted. Eddie may have done a great job getting us here with the injuries we had, but there's no way he is respected by his players as a figure of authority. He sets the tone, and the wizards have lost these three games because they have gone through killer spurts where they literally look helpless. I really think eddie needs to take accountability for not only the play of the team, but the attitude as well. That would be a step in the right direction.

i love re-posting so more people will read my stuff. I also love men.

They said it last year, they say it this year, and they'll definitely say it next year. Yeah enjoy getting knocked out of the playoffs until his contract is up. Why do you hate the Wizards so much? You'd be cool with Lebron going to the Bulls? LOL. That's a lot of anger coming from Cleveland.

windhorst said that people who know deshawn say stevenson may go at lebron if game 5 gets out of hand. and you are trying to tell me he didnt use a closed fist? lol you all suck

Posted by: | April 27, 2008 9:17 PM

Windhorst? Are you serious about that? Who cares what he says. He's part of LeTravel's traveling PR team. The dude calls himself a sports "journalist," but he's so far up LeTravel's rear end, James can taste his shampoo. Who cares what Windhorst has to say? ESPN.com shouldn't even let him write for them because everything he puts together is some laudatory piece about the magnificence and wonder of the biggest punk and baby in the league. Windhorst. How idiotic.

Who the heck cares what Windhorst said/wrote? He's and idiot who writes for the Akron (yes Akron) Beacon Journal. If he's a real reporter why is he writing what he heard from someone who heard that Deshawn Stevenson is the type of person would do ....?

Funny, you hope someone will knock us out. WE ARE KNOCKING YOU OUT OURSELVES.

My name is Colin & I don't know how to take a loss as a man. I'd rather complain about some irrelevant sportswriter - anything i can do to distract attention away from the fact that i'm a poor loser.

I don't think anyone hopes that. What are the Vegas odds on Cleveland winning this whole thing, like 500-3?

Also don't let this series mislead you Cavs fans into thinking Mike Brown can coach. He's still the in the Bottom 5 of HCs in the league. Of course EJ is probably down there too.

whether or not the cavs win their next series is not relevant to the fact that no matter what you guys do, washington will NEVER beat lebron in a playoff series. Ever. period.

SO. No one cared about your blogs until Gilbert said on his that he wanted Cleveland. Who cares were our coach is rated. You guys spit so much venom this way because basically. Cleveland is all the playoff team that you have ever known recently. It goes no further than that.

That's ok, I would still much rather be a Wizards fan than you. A. I'm not from Cleveland. B. I'm not in Cleveland. And C. I won't be in Cleveland next week or next year. Lebron James will be filing himself under C. soon too. Enjoy!

What is ridiculous is that Cavs fans - who should be out celebrating because their team is going to the next round - is wasting their time posting on a Wizards blog. How pathetic is that??

Wizards fans: Here is our strategy. We cant beat these guys so lets just talk about their best player will be leaving. That should get them. We may be able to beat them then anyway.

"SO. No one cared about your blogs until Gilbert said on his that he wanted Cleveland. Who cares were our coach is rated. You guys spit so much venom this way because basically. Cleveland is all the playoff team that you have ever known recently. It goes no further than that."

Are you in 8th grade or something? Who cares if you care about our blogs? Do you guys in Akron not have websites or something? Also, you're on our website, so who's spitting venom where? Everyone here has said Lebron is good, Zards fan or not. No idea why you, a Lebron fan with a team up 3-1 sound so angry.

And who cares about your coach? LOL! You should since it's your team smart guy.

but he is overrated so we should be able to beat them

Cleveland fans: here's our strategy, let's spend all night posting on a Wizards blog about how much Wizards fans are obsessed with us. LMAO. I can understand why you don't want to talk about your ONLY player leaving, you'll have no one to project your man crush on anymore.

Losers

only player vs. "3 all stars".....OVERRATED

the venom..the stupid comments..LBJ says what he needs to..he is the target of all this suspect "play". Get clobbered over the head routinely and see if you complain.
The truth is he has been above it - and this bugs people. And performs above it - which makes it even more stupid. DS has cost your team the chance to make it competitive. Any teammates defending the DS stupidity? How could they?

These tough guy Wiz dont rebound and allowed how many open threes today?

And fellow fans - the local media in DC are shills for this Wiz squad more than anyone.

The window is closing and the Wiz should have accomplished more as a team. Winning one series against the Bulls is their claim to fame. THats gonna be it. The real fans who dont spew garbage and actually watch and understand the games know that

DS will get suspended. Cavs in five.

2 all-stars and 1 gimpy primadonna.

Man, I wish I could hear that song Jay Z did about stevenson and the wiz...I'd like to hear what Damon Jones said even more. It would prolly bring tears to my eyes it's so funny. Prolly mad cuz he can't bring any women to sit courtside to keep them away from derapist stevenson

"In the end, maybe he could have been used as a decoy. I always say that sometimes a threat is as dangerous as the action. Maybe we could have spotted him up and let Antawn or Caron get in on the last play. I thought about that as the ball was inbouded but it was too late by then." - Eddie Jordan

Oh my God! I can't believe I actually just read this quote. It's exactly what I said should have been called, but "I thought about that as the ball was inbounded but it was too late" has got to be one of the dumbest things I've heard a coach say in a long time. Please fire EJ! You just had an entire timeout, but you thought about that after the timeout was over???? Are you serious? Combined with his "maybe I should not have gone small" comment after the third when we got torched for numerous offensive rebounds at the end of the period. Really? He's worse than I thought he was!

No offense but you seem mildly illiterate.

"Get clobbered over the head routinely and see if you complain."

Most people here said it was dirty.

"The truth is he has been above it - and this bugs people. And performs above it - which makes it even more stupid."

Who is this in response to? Did anyone say anything that you're disagreeing with? Or are you so infatuated with Lebron that you need to raise defenses where none exist? But we're the shils? LOL!

"DS has cost your team the chance to make it competitive. Any teammates defending the DS stupidity? How could they?"

Most DC fans agree with this. So again why are you arguing with such hostility and who are you arguing with?

"These tough guy Wiz dont rebound and allowed how many open threes today?"

Yeah I think that was mentioned in every single recap of the game, but we didn't know until you brilliantly pointed it out. Thanks.

You seem to think we care what you predict or how much you love Lebron. Save it for your diary chief, or better yet go out and enjoy some of that beautiful Cleveland. LOL.

This is killin me, does anybody know where to find that Jay song? Maybe Caron knows, it apparentally hurt his feelings

I don't think anyone hopes that. What are the Vegas odds on Cleveland winning this whole thing, like 500-3?

Posted by: | April 27, 2008 9:33 PM

Actually the odds for the Cavs winning the whole thing are 25-1. BTW odds for the Wiz are still 40-1. So there's still hope for you.

Also, for all of you saying how pathetic Cavs fans are for posting on this blog - there are a just as many of you talking trash in our blogs. It's part of being a fan. Get over it. Have fun, and just think, you won't have to deal with it after Wednesday.

As I'm watching the first half on replay and hearing the VC fans keep chanting "Overrated," I'm wondering which series they are watching as they embarrass themselves further. Lebron is clearly heads and shoulder's above us. At least the dumb Dukie fans are smart enough to chant that when their team is at least winning.

Lebron may win the series, and he may be a great basketball player, but he's also an arrogant fool.

"Who the hell cares where Oden played junior ball. What the hell is wrong with you argumentative no-life Cleveland morons who can't help but post on the Washingtonpost.com?

None of us can even NAME the major newspaper in Cleveland."

Well apparently your fellow Wiz fan "True Zards Fan" does. Making a correction is not an argument. Please stop embarrassing yourself.

Also I read this blog because Ivan Carter and Michael Lee usually have some really good info on each game, plus I religiously read hoopshype.com, which links this blog a lot when posting info about the Wizards. Also, I may be a Cavs fan, but I'm also a huge NBA fan. I had League Pass this year and basically watched every Cavs games and a lot of other NBA games this year. I consider myself a more knowledgeable NBA fan than most, especially some of the jokers who post on this blog.

I'll end with this. I think the Wizards are a very good team, but I think Arenas is really hurting the chemistry your team had built without him. He should not be getting that last shot at 60% or whatever he is. It sucks for you guys that you had to play us 3 years in a row. I'm not going to say the series is over because recently one of my teams was up 3-1 in a playoff series and couldn't win that 4th game. If you guys do miraculously pull off 3 wins in a row then I think you would give the Celtics fits. I had the opportunity to go the Wizards/Celtics game when Caron took over and scored 7 points in the last minute. I was actually 3 rows from the floor across the floor from the benches (right near where the scouts sit) and was right in front of Butler's layup that put you guys ahead by 1.

Good luck in Game 5 Wizards, because the Cleveland Fans are going to be a huge factor in the game. Also, look for Z to have a big game in front of the home crowd.

Frankly I'm surprised you guys have blogs.

There was a fishy smell coming from Heywoods groin area on that dunk. Well that certainly explains alot about the Wiz

That was incredibly long and I didn't read it past "making a correction." Some advice: if you want to make a point don't waste a paragraph on 3 or 4 irrelevant past comments first.

The Oden post was obviously a joke about how Lebron takes HGH, which is probably not a joke. It has nothing to do with Oden, Indiana, Ohio, or anything else you wrote about. Get over yourselves, get over your future-former-once-great-now-on-the-nets phenom, and get a life.

Just saw the controversial flagrant foul assessed to DS. Although it looks like DS did a full fource swipe to go for the ball, he did in fact contact Lebron's head and knock his headband off.

Even still, I don't think it warranted a flagrant foul. Lebron missed one of the free throws, but then proceeded to hit a 30 ft. 3 pointer after shooting an air ball.

"

That was incredibly long and I didn't read it past "making a correction." Some advice: if you want to make a point don't waste a paragraph on 3 or 4 irrelevant past comments first.

The Oden post was obviously a joke about how Lebron takes HGH, which is probably not a joke. It has nothing to do with Oden, Indiana, Ohio, or anything else you wrote about. Get over yourselves, get over your future-former-once-great-now-on-the-nets phenom, and get a life."

I'm sorry, I didn't know you had trouble reading. I won't post anything longer than two sentences from now on.

Preview of Jay-Z "Playoff Freestyle"

http://www.eighty81.com/v2/

I posted and then just read the thread and I'm surprised you guys have not commented on Eddie's quote already??? That was an absolute idiotic thing to say even if he thought it!

Kal, sure, C is our biggest need? Wow! Ok...the biggest matchup problem we have with the Cavs is AJ. His lack of size gets exploited big time. BH has been one of the biggest bright spots this series and most of the the regular season.

And, what the hell are you Cavs fans talking about concerning that foul on LeBron? Did you watch the play objectively? DS did get part of the ball, but also that swipe move is very common when defending from the position DS was in.
What made it look bad was LeBaby brought the ball back down bc he felt the pressure. Had he continued his motion DS would have gotten all arms and ball. The history between them obviously contributes to the reaction or overreaction, but that was NOT a dirty basketball play. Haywood's foul was much worse and it was called as such!

By the way, LeBaby has about as much street cred as George Bush. He acts like he is some hard bad ass, which is pretty funny to me. Even with a height and weight disadvantage, I would give DS a pretty good chance to beat his a$$! How about a post season boxing match for charity? lol

Right I'm the one with reading comprehension issues, which is why you're harping on Oden being from Indiana while ignoring the substance of Lebron juicing.

Also, being able to read doesn't mean I'm required to subject myself to every piece of drivel. So nice reasoning skills to go along with your reading ability. Ohio State?

OMG.

Before the half, Boobie steam rolls DS for a steal and then throws an alley oop dunk to Lebron from under the rim.

What an F'n backbreaker.

Thx Chad...I wish I knew what D. Jones said to make Caron cry

His name is Ivan.

Dude, you're looking past the fact that I just corrected that guy for saying Oden played junior ball in Ohio, which he didn't. You're trying to make an argument out of something I didn't even say. So yes, because of that fact your reading ability should come into question. Give up man.

Washington -- here you go:

Hova disses DeShawn "Statutory" Stevenson

Really pathetic to see Cleveland fans coming to a Wizards board to post. Doesn't the Bumf*ck Bumpkinass State Courier have a website for all you losers to go to for a proper buckeye circle jerk?

I guess if you're from Ohio, a state utterly devoid of any sports accomplishments, and specifically from Cleveland, a city devoid of any civic distinction, you go onto other fansites to beat your chests during those rare occasions that you're not at the bottom of the heap. I suppose that's what it takes to help you feel better about living in a sh*thole like Cleveland.

Congratulations for beating the 5th seeded team in the Leastern Conference. Let's see how far that takes you.

Well since the Wiz are done guess its on to the Nats, oh wait, they suck too. Damn, too bad the Tribe to end their season too. Not just cuz they're in different leagues but because well, u ppl live there, u know why

Hey guys,

I am a Cleveland native, lived in Philly for 11 years, and regularly visit friends and relatives in "da district". DC is a cool town, with an international flavor, and I have nothing against it. Wizards fans are not all idiots nor are Cavs fans. But a lot of idiot fans from both teams end up on "comments" sections, and the inevitable flame wars begin. It's really hard to read some of the venom and not get upset. Bottom line is this: The wizards don't match up well against the Cavs because of the bigs. Cavs end up out boarding them badly. But the Cavs outboard almost everyone in the NBA, so it's not unusual. To continue to say that it's a one man team is really just showing lack of observation. Delonte West and especially Boobie have had lights out shooting games before. Lebron gets all the run from ESPN cause they are front runners.
Lebron has proven time and time again that he is a good hearted, community involved man. Hating when he beats you is understandable, I hated Jordan when he was crushing our playoff dreams every year. But the foul hate mongering of some idiots on here is foolish and inaccurate.
Gilbert Arenas should have bowed out of this series to allow good players like Jamison and Butler, and Mason, and others to shine. They play better without him. Similar to how the Sixers have played better without Iverson lately. You must admit, that those two are not the team players that Lebron is.
Objectively yours,
paulclevo

Some fair-weather fans only here. If the wiz had two more minutes I'm pretty sure they woulda pulled it out the way the game was going. I think they most definitely have a chance to win.

"Kal, sure, C is our biggest need? "

Yep. Because Haywood is the only true C on the team. And even if Thomas is healthy, he may not fill the void (and isn't likely to be part of the team's long-term plan). A quality backup would allow Blatche and Songaila to play exclusively at their natural PF spots.

"Ok...the biggest matchup problem we have with the Cavs is AJ. His lack of size gets exploited big time."

And yet he is consistently the team's best rebounder. Perhaps if they had more size and depth up front and Jamison didn't have to rebound for the entire front court they wouldn't be giving up so many offensive rebounds and second chance points.

That and lack of a coach and a diciplined team

lalala... but don't all you cavs fans have something better to do than post on this blog? or are you getting your fun now because you know you also aren't long for the playoffs and your superstar isn't long for your shtihole of a town?

lalala!

Paulclevo and Chad, thanks for the reasonable comments. The Wiz fans on this Wiz board were already having a discussion about the team's flaws when a bunch of Cavs fans came on here talking trash. You come on here talking trash you're going to draw a harsh response. You come on here making good points you get a discussion.

Paulclevo, I agree with you that Cleveland is more than just Lebron. I would start with Z, who might be the most under-rated center in this league. But beyond Z I think Cleveland doesn't have the pieces for anything close to a championship-caliber team. West and Boobie are decent spot-up shooters, but those are a dime-a-dozen in this league. That's like saying Roger Mason is a big piece of the Wizard's playoff picture.

They had better pieces with Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden, and I think the trade they made was a bad deal for the team, and their record reflected that fact. Mike Brown simply isn't a good enough coach to figure out how to use those pieces he had. (And don't take offense: Eddie Jordan's no coaching genius either, as tonight's game showed in abundance.) Hughes isn't a point guard and isn't a spot-up shooter, which is exactly the mold Brown was trying to force him into.

I still think the Wizards are the better team here, but coach and play with their heads up their asses. But let's be honest here, neither of these teams makes the playoffs if they're in the Western Conference. We're fans of two second-rate NBA teams arguing over which is better.

fat lady, when did you draw up the plans for DC? When did you build any buildings there? Are you the Mayor?

How can you say the Wizards are the better team when they lose every single year to the Cavs. What are you basing this on?

Quick question for you Wizards fans. What, honestly, are your thoughts on Deshawn Stevenson? Just curious.

EJ made some poor coaching decisions in the last two possessions, but what scares me the most, is that he admitted he had 2nd thoughts about calling GA's # on the last play!!! I think he kissed his job goodbye by making that quote. With that much time left on the clock, he could have used GA as a decoy and went with CB3 or AJ and gotten a better shot. GA had airballed a three pointer earlier in the quarter with no one covering him. I think the entire Wizards defensive strategy of giving up uncontested 3's in the 4th quarter was idiotic and showed an inability to adjust to the opponent.

Getting killed on the boards is a reflection of only having one legit big man, Haywood, who has played well in the series. Cleveland has 4 big men and they eventually wore down AJ. EG needs to take some of the responsibility for not getting a legit backup center once Etan had heart surgery. This organization will continue to be a 5th or 6th seed that gets knocked out every year regardless of whether we resign Agent Zero and AJ until we address some of the coaching and personnel deficiencies. It's obvious that this coaching staff and team has taken us as far as they can, but we're not a true contender which is sad since most of the pieces are in place.

Some observations from a Cavs fan's perspective. First, I was amazed that Caron Butler didn't get a touch on every possession of the 4th q. Especially since LBJ had 5 fouls and was playing way off him. Second, with Arenas unhealthy I hope to see him out there for as many minutes as possible on Wednesday. He ball-dominates and takes away from Jamison and Butler, both very good players. Wednesday should be interesting. Obviously I hope we close it out but you just never know. We failed to close ouot NJ last year in a game 5 at home.

Why would any guy allow himself to be called "Boobie"? Idiotic.

All of you so called Wizard fans should be ashamed of yourselves,blow up the team fire EJ for allowing certain Wizards to trash talk, trade Gilbert for Elton Brand really? first off EJ can't control what certain players will or won't say to the media!! Gilbert for Elton: Elton just came off of what could be a career altering injury I'll take my chances with Gilbert.Fire EJ then what? oh yeah Larry Brown's out there,the king of the coaching merry go round(pro and college) he'd be a great fit here NOT!!!. EJ coaxed an injury riddled squad into the playoff's made them a better team defensively with the help of Randy Ayres didn't allow them to feel sorry for themselves got them to feed into running the Princeton offense effectively and has the respect of NBA executives throughout the league. If all of you so called fans would look at the facts and stop reacting emotionally then maybe just maybe you would stop with the fire EJ rants,I've been a fan for over 35 years I go back to the days of Baltimore before they moved this franchise here no ones more dissapointed then I am after today but I am not ready to blow up the team or fire EJ. By the way this series isn't over not by a long shot!!!!!!!!!.

fat lady, when did you draw up the plans for DC? When did you build any buildings there? Are you the Mayor?

No, I'm not Pierre L'Enfant, I'm the gddmmned fat lady, what's it matter? Did you have a hand in coliformizing that litterbox of a town?

Lalala!

I shouldn't have said better. They're not better, obviously, since they're losing 3-1. But I do think there's more basketball talent on the Wiz team than on the Cavs.

Last year the Wiz had no Caron and no Gil and no bench to speak of. So throw that out. Two years ago the Cavs edged the Wiz by a couple free throws. They were well matched, and hats off to Cleveland for prevailing. This year, after that lousy trade for the Cavs, I do think this Wiz team has more basketball talent than this Cavs team, even with Gil and Caron battling injuries.

"I do think this Wiz team has more basketball talent than this Cavs team, even with Gil and Caron battling injuries.

The Knicks have loads of talent. Doesn't stop them from being an awful team. A better collection of talent doesn't necessarily make a better team. And right now the Cavs are the better team. Period.

Prazak,

I respect your thoughts a lot more than some of these other posters. Resulting to talking about the town. Thats is 3rd grade. I may not agree with you but it sounds like you have sound reasons for why you feel the way you do.

DAGREGMAG, Eddie may have done a great job keeping the team together through injuries, but you can't deny the guy made some horrible calls in this game. And they weren't just a one-off, they're part of long-term trends: the small-ball at inopportune stretches, the lack of discipline and responsibility for players who fail to execute, the carte blanche to Gil. Eddie's done a good job getting a good team to the playoffs, but that's where it ends. If the Wiz are going to get over the hump they're going to have to do it with a different coach. Just like in business, the guys who are great with start-ups usually suck at running an established business. Time for a change at the top.

Good point, New England Patriots were very talented too.

But in a seven game series the best team usually win. You cant hide in a series. Cavs are better than the Wizards.

Kal, the Cavs are the better team right now. But for reasons that are right at the Wiz's fingertips. The Wiz have their problems, but they're not nearly as structural as the Knicks. At all. It's a few AAU-basic coaching decisions: bench Deshawn for talking trash and taking a whack at Lebron's head, get some rebounding in the game at the end of the 3rd Q instead of that idiotic smallball, feed the ball to Caron in the 4th and send him at Lebron in the paint until Lebron either backs off or picks up his 6th foul, sit Gil when he's injured instead of giving him the last shot. How is that anything like the Knicks?

Ivan,
what's up with Brian Windhorst from the Cleveland Paper and his articles on ESPN? He gushes about LeBron and takes sarcastic digs at the Wizards every chance he gets...I know he's writing from Cleveland but it's a little much. His stuff seems to lack a lot of the objectivity that's supposed to come with journalism...

This series has been intense and mean spirited from all sides, so I don't mind that Cleveland fans come up here and gloat about being up 3-1. I do think its really funny how they only crawl out of their sewers to post when their team wins though. After the Wiz ran them out of the gym in Game 3 none of them had the balls to come up here and have any confidence in the Cavs to win the series. Now thats its 3-1 they all say that they knew it was going to happen. Hilarious.

Louis,

These guys didnt exactly write objective articles either.

Prazak may be the only knowledgeable sports fan in DC on this blog

Just read the ESPN article, nothing wrong with it.

"The Wiz have their problems, but they're not nearly as structural as the Knicks. ... The Wiz have their problems, but they're not nearly as structural as the Knicks."

Well, that's where we disagree. Because when all is said and done, I don't think this team is nearly as talented as it's fans would like to believe. Even the talent they have is flawed or lacking in crucial areas. The Cavs are the better team by virtue of having parts that fit together into a better whole than the Wizards.

"what's up with Brian Windhorst from the Cleveland Paper and his articles on ESPN? He gushes about LeBron and takes sarcastic digs at the Wizards every chance he gets...I know he's writing from Cleveland but it's a little much. His stuff seems to lack a lot of the objectivity that's supposed to come with journalism..."

Windhorst is a columnist. Columnists don't have to be objective. just the opposite, in fact. They're paid to write about their opinions.

Chad, are you mentally retarded? You're trying to make an argument about an off-handed comment about Greg Oden which nobody but you cares about. So yes, because of that fact, your naive delusion that you're making a point, your naive delusion that Lebron doesn't juice, your inability to comprehend simple English and your stunning display of womanly logic are called into question. Have you noticed no one else replied to your verbal diarrhea? That's what happens when you type a bunch of words without processing a single thought first. Hope this helps.

Stevenson is a straight sucka!! Face it the Bullets err Wizards fans, Lebron to Stevenson is like Michael Jordan to John Starks!! Eddie Jordan will coach his last game on Wednesday.

Cleveland wins when (1) LeBron is LeBron, (2) they control the offensive boards and (3) they take and hit the kick-out threes. We let them play their game and paid the price, despite a good comeback of our own and a truly inspitred shot ny Gilbert to tie it up.

Barring a divine miracle over the next few days, this is the summer when EG is going to have to really earn his salary.

Who to draft?
What to offer Gilbert... and whether to consider a sign and trade?
What to offer Antawn... and whether to consider a sign and trade?
Whether to match offers for Mason, or willing to believe in Young's upside?
Betting on Blatche growing up, or seeing what he brings in trade?
Deciding if Antonio has another year or two left after getting his gold watch from the Commish?

Should be interesting...

@ Dargreg,

Your optimism is commendable if not foolish. This series is OVER and EJ once again has proven his coaching abilities are suspect. Your telling me that D'Antoni is on the hot seat, but EJ should not be? Mike Wise just said as much in his article.

@ Kal,

Ah, well if you were referring to backups at C then I am completely with you. The Cavs are a bad matchup for AJ as are a lot of bigger teams. With AJ, his number's can be very deceiving in that they can look good, but not take into account what he gave up in either rebounds or points. He had a great year, but he had a little bit of a backslide at the end of the year continuing into the playoffs. Where is the fired up AJ that went crazy on the Celtics?

Why is no one talking about Caron? The emperor has no clothes ! As I've said previously, I like him as a player. He plays hard and from all accounts is a real professional. But he played 46 minutes and had 2 rebounds. He's played at or below average all series. He's the main reason we have lost a couple of these games. Though some people still criticize Gil (some dork claimed that GA's turnovers and poor shooting lost the game yesterday), the fact is that we didn't expect much from him. CB and AJ were supposed to be the main guys in this postseason. Whatever GA gave us was gonna be gravy. AJ has done his part but CB has come up way short.
Looking a little deeper, the problem is the makeup of the team. You can't have 2 undersized guys in your frontcourt with a C who is an average rebounder and expect to win unless you're running D'Antoni's offense (or have that mindset). It worked for Phoenix in 2006-7 with Marion and Stoudemire. That's because Marion is a beast on the boards and a great defender and Stoudemire is an all star. There's a problm with the way this team was built. EG deserves some credit for putting a team with 3 all stars together but ultimately, the parts need to fit. Our parts don't fit.
We can go in either of two ways...
We can re-sign everyone and push the tempo. Or we can try a conventional approach and make BTH more of a focal point and either bench CB or bench AJ and find a specialist rebounder/defender at one of those positions.
I always wondered why Caron wasn't playing the '2' and the answer must be obvious to EJ. Maybe he can't play the two. Obviously, since he's got all start numbers at the 3, he won't be moved but it would probably be better for the team. Imagine a starting lineup of GA, CB, AJ, AB and BTH. It would certainly give us better size. It should also increase our rebounding ability against big teams like the Cavs. We lose the perimeter foot speed advantage at a couple of positions but with BTH and AB down low, we should be able to cover everyone.
As easy as it is to panic right now, we can chalk this season up to injuries again. The real question we have to ask is "do we want to keep hitching our wagon to guys who keep getting injured ?" Plus you have to expect that AJ's numbers have peaked and will start to go down. He'll be 33 playing a physically demanding tough position.

Prazak, you are right on with your post. Both my girlfriend and I were screaming that EJ should have benched Deshawn after that flagrant and both of us felt that Gil should have been benched because it was clear that he was not on his game. Also, Butler has not really played up to his potential since he came back from his injury to his hip. Maybe he's hurt? And when will the Wiz learn to stick with their man. If they had stayed man to man on that last shot, at least the guy would not have had time to set his feet and hit the three. Running at him at the last second does not work and did not work the whole game. Did you all realize that the Wiz practically got beat on that same play in every game they have played against the Cavs during the playoffs. Lebron named them all during his interview. They worked that play to perfection and knew exactly what the Wiz would do. For that I also fault the coach.

Final thought on DS... A lot of folks are blaming DS for calling out LeBron. If Caron had done it, he would have been hailed as a tough guy. I think that it takes a lot of guts to do what DS has done and face up to the expected hailstorm. They had beaten us consistently and we needed someone to step up and say 'Hey we're not afraid of the Cavs'. Personally, I'm behind DS 100%. We got beaten by a team that matches up better against us than probably any other team in this conference. Their strengths are our weaknesses. We didn't lose because DS stood up to LeBron. We lost because our best players played poorly. Specifically, only of our all stars is playing good ball. The other two are either hurt (Gil) or just underperforming (Caron). I'd like to give CB the benefit of the doubt and say that he's also hurt but he looks pretty healthy when he's running up and down the court and jumping the passing lanes to me.

Anon, EJ says that his game plan was to dbl on that last shot and make the worst guy beat us. Well, West made the shot. Sometimes you have to pick your poison. I'd rather have West take that last second presssure shot that LeBron only because LeBron will get all calls. I realize that West was hot but I'm not sure what EJ could have done. If we go straight man to man, LeBron would have driven and either gotten and 'and 1' or gotten fouled. No way he passes that ball if he's not doubled. he also would have dribbled the ball until there was no time left on the clock. We'd have been faced with him on the line with a second or two left.
Th way it turned out, that probably would have been a better option.

I hear you Mark. But, to see West continuously hit that shot from the same corner countless times on Sunday, I think I would have rather forced Lebron to make a jump shot. Just my opinion. But anyway, it really doesn't matter because the team to me didn't seem to have the fire they had on Thursday. Who knows, maybe they CAN gut it out on Wednesday. It would be nice. Maybe it will wipe the smugness off "Your Royal Highnes" face. I hope Stevenson keeps his mouth shut this week before the game though. His taunting the "Annointed One" does not help.

Sorry, Mark for the Deshawn remark but it just seems to me that his remarks made the team lose focus because of all of the media. I definitely hear you in that the Wiz did need to man up and state that they are not afraid of the Cavs. It is just the way in which it was done. If it wasn't personal maybe I could get with it better. But Deshawns beef had nothing to do with the play on the court, it was all personal.

Been reading the posts and I for the most part I agree with Prazak with some of the coaching calls EJ made. That smallball lineup got us killed near the end of the 3rd quarter, but EJ explained why he went with it in a sideline interview.

Sideshow Bob and Joe Smith are very long and are great rebounders. We are outnumbered at that spot, because Haywood is the only "1" on the team with the size and length to at least blockout his man. However, Haywood will have to find a way to gather more rebounds if he can. That is the only part in his game he needs to improve, but other than that my man is playing off of the charts. He deserves his due credit after all of the negative things that were said about him at the beginning of the season.

As for CB, the dude is still hurting from the hip and the knee, period. It is unfair to do a assestment of him when he is not 100%. I think he took a "shot" for that 3rd game and that is why he looked like his old self. The 4th game he started looking like he did in Game 1 and 2. Makes you wonder if he did not want that "shot" for the 4th game because he thought he made it over the hump with the injuries?

Lastly, the Wiz can not keep letting NBA players get wide open looks at three's where they are able to get their feet set. Let LaBron take that last shot by playing straight man to man. If he hits it, only a 2 point game not three. 3 balls break your back and your will, you do not want those happening!!!

*** Missed free throws also killed them!!!

Anon, after writing my post I thought about it and you're absolutely right. An open 3 to a guy who is 4-7 that nighton 3's is not a good idea. You'd have thought that Damon Jones would have taught us that lesson years ago.
We should have played man defense and made LeBron win it at the line or make a great shot. Giving open jumpers to NBA players is never a good idea unless it's a guy who just can't shoot like Ben Wallace.

Just out of curiosity who is Deshawn Stevenson? I've never heard of him before all of this nonsense of talking back and forth. How long has he been in the league? Do Wizard fans like him? I was curious to see the young man in action, so I happened to catch the last game and noticed that he is an average player at best. He doesn't seem like the type of player who has achieved enough credibility to talk as much as he does, not to mention be so demonstrative on the rare occasion that he makes a shot. The sad part is that The entire Wizard team has seemed to take on this same personality and it certainly doesn't seem to be helping. In fact it's embarrassing to watch, I know I couldn't support players who behaved like that. This probably would have been a much better series to this point if they would have just let their play do the talking.

Kal, I always respect your opinion, and you're right that right now the Cavs pieces are fitting together better than the Wiz. But I don't think it's structural as much as a coach making bad decisions in game situations and failing to exercise some discipline on and off the court. The Wiz are flapping their gums more than all the other teams in the playoffs combined. The only other gum-flapping that's caused any press is Melo saying the Nuggets quit in Game 3. You hear nothing like this coming out of the rest of the league. The Wiz are like a juvy ball team where the coach is barely out of high school himself and doesn't see anything wrong with guys talkin' smack out of class. Grow the f*ck up guys. Hats off to Lebron who at 23 is way more mature than those clowns Deshawn and Gil. I wonder what grown-ups like Antawn and Antonio think about the antics of their teammates?

Mark's got a good point about the Wiz's undersized line, and I've said a few times that I think the direction this team needs to go is to start Blatche and have AJ coming off the bench. Undersized or not, Caron is excellent at the 3 and Deshawn is solid at the 2 when he stays disciplined. Right now the problem is an injured PG trying to be the hero again and a coach who tolerates all this b.s. and still believes in smallball during key stretches.

Mike Brown has now taken it to the extreme....saying in his presser that Lebron will go down in history as the "greatest player to ever play the game."

JW, I agree totally. I just think that all of Deshawn's jawjacking threw the Wiz off kilter in terms of their focus. And I felt that for someone who had not proved themselves in a playoff series to be talking smack like that was asking for trouble. Not to mention, it now makes the whole Wiz team look foolish and emabarrassed by the media. Read all of the headlines and articles from the media all around. As a Wiz fan, it is quite embarassing and a little hard to take. Oh, I am much salty over this becuase I really felt if they had played their game they could have won this thing. Just too many outside distractions. The team felt they had to back up Deshawns assertins and now here we sit. 3 and 1 with a must win 5th that is going to be almost impossible to accompish. But as a true fan, it ain't over til the fat lady sings. Yea, I know, I hear her warming up for her swan song, but she hasn't sung yet. So........keep HOPE alive :-)

The Wizards will win the NEXT game. Mark it. It's in there nature to befuddle us.

This is why I don't like Lebron James. Quit whining already - you won the darn game. Your a superstar, please don't act like a crybaby. Why not focus on the outstanding play of your teammates instead of overreacting to a hard foul?

For those of you who wanted to hear the Jay Z, Deshawn Stevenson diss... It's called "Blow the Whistle"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3On85cKXTk&feature=related

If not for caron in the 4th, Wiz lose by 15-20 points. Period. He may be hurting, but to suggest that he is somehow responsible for the losses is utterly ridiculous. He could have had more rebounds, sure. But it seemed to me that the poor defensive rebounds was the result of poor box outs by songaila, jamison, blatche and haywood.

M.E.G., You list the rebounds as a problem for 4 guys but you left out Caron. He's an all star plying below all star level probably due to an injury. The main reason we lost the last game is because of the offensive rebounds we gave up. Aj had 11 rebounds. BTH had 6 in 11 fewer minutes than Caron and even DS had 5 rebounds in 13 fewer minutes. If I implied or stated that CB was solely responsible for our losses, I stand corrected. But going into this series, on paper we were only at a slight disadvantage at SF. LeBron vs. Caron was a Cav advantage but it was still all star vs. all star. All CB had to do was keep the matchup close in terms of production. In other words, do what you did all season and just hit your season averages. Seeing that he was matched up against Sczerbiak, I figured he'd do it. Even hurt, I thought he'd be able to approach his numbers.
CB averaged 20, 7 and 5 this season. he's at 15.5, 4 and 4 so far in the playoffs. He's also shooting 11% from 3 point range vs. the 36% he shot this season. He has 16 rebounds in 4 games! Jamison got that in game 1 and is averaging 11.5 so far in the postseason.
Now, he's not the only culprit. DS is averaging 1.5 rebounds a game. Poor. He should be able to get that many by accident. BTH is only getting 6 per game but he's only averaging 27 minutes per.
The numbers don't always tell the story but it's hard to argue his case. Since CB is hurt, we may be better off with him coming off the bench with GA in spurts and starting AB.

Ivan are you serious? This series was over before it started this team will never beat Lebron in the playoffs and they have proven it over and over again.

All I can say is GILBERT PACK UR BAGS!!!!!

I have been saying it for months now but this series makes it a lock Gilly will not be a wizard next year no doubt in my mind!! The team will be better without him. Honestly dont even understand why he is starting or getting more minutes than daniels or roger mason who have both played better than him in limited mintues except for game 1 where gil had a solid game til he fell apart in the 2nd half.

Been saying this about EJ for two years now. He needs to get rid of his idea of "small ball". He even went on TV and said it himself during the game. It's not like our "small" guys (Mason, Jamison) are super quick or give us some other super adavantage over teams. After Zero made the shot we should've called timeout and went with Zero, Butler, Blatche, Daniels and Haywood. Butler on Lebron, with Zero and AD doubling him at the elbows. Blatche would've gotten out to the shooter in the corner better that AJ did.

Which brings up another issue. I love AJ, but the Wiz need to get a legite PF and let AJ move on. How does a 10-year vet not rotate out on that play? You know it's coming and you know that's your responsibility. His defensive shortcomings just overshadow the value he brings. It's a wash if you get 20/10 every night but your man gets 16 rebounds or they take advantage of you defensively.

"But even if he does bring everyone back, changes are required, most notably at C, where they lack a physical, energetic presence. Maybe Etan can fill that role if he's healthy, but they need one badly.

Posted by: kalorama | April 27, 2008 8:01 PM

This is a joke, right? Surely Etan is NOT the answer at the Center position. If you're not satisfied with how BTH played the whole season then I don't see any reason why you want Etan starting. He's an undersize center, more of a PF to me. Yes, there are a lot of cracks in the team but the starting C is not one of the major ones.

Bye bye nice-guy Eddie. Bye bye Hibachi (unless you don't opt out. but please, do us the favor and do it). Bye bye Jamison. And Trade DeShawn please, he has an overblown sense of self-worth.

We have a nice group of entertainers who like to play basketball. I enjoy their antics and funny stories. But I want a team that wins. We need basketball players who want to play basketball and WIN doing it.

I'm with YOU, Dave. Etan has had EJ's blessing for years and had an ample opportunity to lock that spot down and could not. He is not the answer at C. He's ok in a backup role, though. Even Pech is probably a better option (if we can get him to stay down low) than Etan because he's solid and a legit 7 feet.
How about giving Pech a few minutes to draw the Cavs bigs outside? This is the time for EJ to decide his future and at least try something different. What we're doing isn't working very well. I'd rather go down swinging with a new tactic than lose the same way again. The switching up of defenses between man and a trapping zone was a nice coaching twist but it's time to try something else.

Agree Mark and Dave with your comments on Etan, but I think you're not giving BTH the credit he deserves for having an excellent series. He consistently neutralizes Z and is forced to help out on LeBron on pick & rolls. What we lack is a 2nd quality bigman (someone like Joe Smith) who could either backup AJ OR allow us to go big. Caron would be better at the 2 with DSS coming off the bench - he's not a starter on a good team.

Biggest need besides resigning our FA's is getting a "true" big man (not Blatche or Songaila) who can allow us to compete against bigger teams and not use a bunch of gimmick defenses which we are forced to against Cleveland. No offense against Etan who plays hard, but he's undersized and isn't the answer. EG needs to make some real moves in the offseason or this team will continue to get knocked out in the 1st round.

I'm a Cavs fan and I agree about Windhorst. He is a hack journalist and far overrated. But ESPN has Simmons' blathering, too. Thank goodness ESPN don't let Tom Knott on there, too. Carter and Lee do a pretty good job and are generally even-handed, and entertaining.

The thing that made the Stephenson play so dramatic was he started the swing of his arm with a closed fist - two inches lower and that clothesline would've floored LeBron and you would have had one of the all-time brawls. Luckily it didn't get to that.

LeBron speaking third person and some of the posing is a bit irksome (but almost demanded by the culture of NBA we have today), but the man is a humanitarian away from the court and generally has stayed away from real trouble.

how bout dominic mcguire? in the games ive seen him play d-mac is a rebounding machine. never seen any1 jump so high. why not put him in there to do some glass cleaning. couldnt hurt. jamison and haywood rarely leave the floor when going after balls. they wait for it to come to them. and also how bout a little hack a wallace. that guy cant shoot. take some possessions away from the cavs and put him on the line.
and yea its ova.

Wizfanio - I am more than satisfied with BTH play this season. I can only name 5-8 Cs who are are not in the all-star that have a better impact season than BTH. That means he's in the above average class.

I agree with you that we lack the size and strenth in the PF position (Joe Smith, Jason Maxiell type players). Andre for me is a tweener, more of a SF and maybe move CB to the 2 guard position.

wizfanio, I think BTH is a top 5 center in the league. I'm proabably one of the few who thinks that. I didn't mean to infer that we need another C at all. I believe that if BTH played on a team that showcased the C, he could be a 20-10 guy. That's how much confidence I have in him.

One more tidbit, If we all look at DS's stats, his points/assists/shooting %/3point% are all higher than they were during the regular season. The only thing down is his rebounding by 1.5 per game and you'd expect that against the Cavs.
My point is that while he has done a lot of talking, at least he's doing his part statistically. This is all while guarding James most of the time. Also, LeBron's points and assists are lower during this series than during the regular season. LeBron's rebounds are slightly higher and his shooting % is up to 51% from 49%. I'd say that DS not only deserves some credit for being confident and exorting his teammates to not get psyched out by James but he's also walked the walk by increasing his numbers when the games really count..the playoffs.

Isn't Jay-Z supposed to be a part owner of the Nets?

Geez..how many owners in any sports comes out and openly disses a player on another team? What happened to professinalism?

Is this the way the NBA is moving, or professional sports for that matter?

When is Abe Pollin going to come out with a diss rap song in response to Jay Z? He could solicit some lyrical help from the group Blood of Abraham.

We will be ok. Lets not give up so soon. I think Gilbert really needs to learn some damn team ball and defense. The rest of the team deserves a pat on the back and just focus more on driving and not jumpers! Goodbye Gilbert.

WE SHOULD OF GOT KOBE WHEN WE HAD THE CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stevenson did NOT have his hand in a fist. Look at the replay. He actually hit the ball. It was the way he followed throught that caused the contact. He could took his arm up but he swung down instead. I will come to Deshawns defense on this. It was NOT a closed fist play. You all need to quit with that. How about when Lebron elbowed Blatche in the jaw. Oh, but because it is Lebron, it's okay right? I don't worship dude. He CAN play I give him that but he is arrogant as hell!

I am one of those very disappointed with EJ's coaching. Going with a frontline of Jamison and Songaila was a huge error, but one that EJ makes a lot.
And I think it is clear Caron's knee is bothering him because he lost some battles on the boards he wouldn't lose if he was healthy.
In terms of offseason questions:
1. If Gilbert is going anywhere, it will be in a sign and trade although I am not sure what kind of deal we could get.
2. If Gilbert is here then he needs to move to two and the Wizards need to get a true blue point guard who can run the offense. This has been briefly discussed on the board this week and someone mentioned Kyle Lowry which is a good idea. My suggestion is drafting D.J. Augustin out of Texas. What does everyone think.
3. If Grunfeld decides to whack EJ there aren't a lot of coaches out there who can coach this team as it is currently constituted (of course the roster could be altered significantly this offseason). Honestly there is only one guy I want and that is Tom Thibodeaux. He's done a great job with the Celtics, Grunfeld obviously likes him and he is one of the best assistants in the NBA. What does everyone think about that.

I didn't see the game but it sounds like Gil's being in the game was a liability at both ends of the court. Perhaps if he had been benched,the game wouldn't have come down to one shot. In the commentary later on it was pointed out that the Cavs were simply bigger in the front court and were able to dominate on the boards. Was this the result of EJ going small ball again?

Your stuff is weak. Better luck next year.

"This is a joke, right? Surely Etan is NOT the answer at the Center position. If you're not satisfied with how BTH played the whole season then I don't see any reason why you want Etan starting."

As I made quite clear in more than one post, I'm talking about a C to back up Haywood and supply the kind of high-energy physicality that none of the Wizards current "big" men do. (Although if they can find a starting quality C who can do that and provide consistent low post scoring, even better.)

Prazak, your opinion is well stated, but I still don't buy it. This team has a number of structural flaws (too small and physically passive and the "power" positions, not very athletic, too little quality depth, lack of creative shot making ability, no reliable low post scoring presence, etc.) that cannot be simply coached away.

mark, Haywood is not a 20-10 player in the NBA. He is simply not a natural or fluid enough offensive player to merit enough shot opportunities to put up those kind of numbers. He's capable of being effective as a 4th option, but he is never going to be a go-to 1st or even 2nd option offensive player on an NBA team, even a bad one.

OK. I'll go with you on this one, Kal. Do you agree that he get you the numbers that Big Z used to get in his heyday?
Ilgauskas was an all star game 2 times. One year he was at 15 points and 8 rebounds. The next time he got 16 and 9. Maybe 20 and 10 is a stretch as I'm an admitted BTh fan but no one can convince me the guy can't get 16 and 9 if he played 35+ minutes a game. What do you think ?

"As I made quite clear in more than one post, I'm talking about a C to back up Haywood and supply the kind of high-energy physicality that none of the Wizards current "big" men do"

You have to make it clearer as I don't see the word back-up in your original post. Besides isn't Etan already the back-up?

D-Mac can be the high energy physical big man that we all are looking for but again I think he's undersize. Detriot has one in Maxiell and Dallas's Brandon Bass.

Lebron's going to stay in the east whether it's with Cleveland or NJ.

If Les BouleS are interested in winning championships, they're going to have to bring in someone to deal with him, and that someone may have to be Ron Artest.

Mike Wise wrote this today:

"From Arenas's impending free agency to Eddie Jordan's job security, Ernie Grunfeld, the Wizards' team president, will soon have to make hard decisions about this team. Chief among them: Grunfeld has got to wonder if the roster he composed to be among the East's elite is genuinely capable of ever making a run toward the NBA Finals.

After his virtuoso performance in Game 4, LeBron has all the answers. If he closes out Washington in Game 5 at home, he will be more responsible for a makeover of the Wizards than any executive or player unable to crawl beneath his thick skin and inside his focused, rattle-proof mind."

Change will only come to Les BouleS if Abe wants to win. Otherwise, they're still in the black and making money and can continue with one playoff mediocrity.

I can just hear Barkley laughing now.....

"You have to make it clearer as I don't see the word back-up in your original post. Besides isn't Etan already the back-up?

It's quite clear in the follow ups to the first post, when I was responding to someone else who had already asked the question you were raising. Perhaps You should read the thread more completely and carefully before jumping to conclusions.

"Besides isn't Etan already the back-up?"

Already addressed that one, too.

"D-Mac can be the high energy physical big man that we all are looking for but again I think he's undersize. Detriot has one in Maxiell and Dallas's Brandon Bass."

McGuire is not a "big man" in the NBA. He's a SF at the NBA level. The Wiz need someone who can bang, bump, and physically compete with Cs and big PFs. That's not McGuire.

Actually, the Wizards would have just the kind of player they needed if they'd taken Paul Millsap in the 2006 draft instead of Pecherov.

--McGuire is not a "big man" in the NBA. He's a SF at the NBA level. The Wiz need someone who can bang, bump, and physically compete with Cs and big PFs. That's not McGuire.

have you watched the guy play and jump? he plays bigger and stronger and jumps higher than any guy on the wiz. guy has a huge heart and really really really wants that rebound.
thats half the game in rebounding--wanting it.

"OK. I'll go with you on this one, Kal. Do you agree that he get you the numbers that Big Z used to get in his heyday? "

No, because he isn't a good enough/polished enough/natural enough offensive player that a coach would consider giving him the number of touches that Ilgauskas got. In his two all-star seasons, Ilgauskas averaged about 12 shot attempts per game. Haywood's not going to get that many shot attempts on a regular basis in any NBA offense.

Mark - there's no doubt that Haywood could average 15 ppg and 9 rpg if he were given the 35 minutes per game. His current stats support that.

If you look at his per 40 minutes stats, he's been remarkably consistent for the last 3 years... with the exception that this year's scoring average is up slightly - probably due to his increased free throw percentage and the addition of the drop step that he employs more this year than the last few years.

I do think that Kal is correct in that the Wizards need a backup center that is a physical, energetic presence. And no, I don't think Etan Thomas can fill that role.... It's my opinion that he's undersized. Blatche is NOT a Center, despite his 104 blocks this year; and Songaila is only 6'9", and gets overmatched when he plays Center.

I also like the idea of a backup to Jamison that is a physical banger... a Jason Maxiel type player.

As I've stated before, the Wizards are overstocked at the Forward position, with a lot of players with finesse games. (Jamison, Blatche, Pecherov, Songaila, Butler, McGuire).

Perhaps a trade for a big, low post Power Forward (with emphasis on the POWER) is in order...

They should be able to fill other needs (Center, PG, etc..) through the draft.

"Mark - there's no doubt that Haywood could average 15 ppg and 9 rpg if he were given the 35 minutes per game. His current stats support that."

No, they don't. Because contrary to what the stat heads like to think, a player's production does not necessarily/automatically increase in direct proportion to his PT.

Haywood wouldn't put up Ilgauskas like numbers because he wouldn't get Ilguaskas like shot opportunities. 20-10 big men produce those numbers in large measure because they're so good and/or dominant that their teams force the ball into them, knowing that they have a clear matchup advantage on most nights. They're go-to offensive players and are treated as such. Haywood is strictly a complementary offensive option.

The series is effectively over. There's almost no chance of the Wizards beating the Cavs three games in a row.

Posted by: kalorama | April 27, 2008 8:13 PM

There's about a 5% chance to be exact. And no, the series is not over.

Win on Wednesday and this is a real series again...

Win on Wednesday and we are in the same spot we were in 06, down 3-2 coming home to try and tie it up...

Win on Wednesday and there's another White Out at Verizon on Friday night...

Win on Wednesday and everything changes...

It's always good to have a dream, I guess.

Yes, hope and a dream is never a bad thing. Until the final buzzer in game 5 sounds, we can't just assume they will loose. What kind of fans would that make us? GO WIZ! With you to the end!

I would of liked to have seen Mason take that last shot, but he wasn't even in the game. I mean Gil taking it is fine with me, he had just hit a big shot. But Mason shot so good the previous game I don't understand why he didn't get more run 1st off. But Gil has