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W Washington 99 Cleveland 114

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Glen Infante

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Washington Wizards (5-1) @ Cleveland Cavaliers (5-2)

Tuesday, November 15, 2005
7:00pm ET
Radio : WTAM 1100
TV: FSOhio
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland OH


Probable Starters
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Eric Snow / Gilbert Arenas

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Larry Hughes / Antonio Daniels

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jared_jeffries

LeBron James / Jared Jefferies

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Drew Gooden / Antawn Jamison

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Zydrunas Ilgauskas / Brendan Haywood

Keys to the Game

-Perimeter defense. Gilbert Arenas is a Cavalier killer. Stopping him would be key. I would expect some double teaming from both Eric Snow and Larry Hughes.

-Take advantage down low. Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison aren't the greatest defenders in the paint. Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilguaskas should take advantage of this opportunity.

-LeBron's size over powers Jared's lanky body. It is important that LeBron addresses that and takes it strong on Jared every chance he gets.



Final Thoughts:

I am liking the playmaking Larry Hughes displayed for us last game. Seeing that this is his former team, I expect him to do more of the same here and mabey even better.

Does Larry still hold a grudge on the Wizards for low balling him? We he show them that he is worth the paycheck he is recieving today?

Tune in and find out.

Prediction:

Cleveland Cavaliers win a tight one, 104-99
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

This is an intruiging matchup. Arenas is on fire lately, and will be a tough matchup for Snow and Hughes, as I can see these pair mixing it up defending him. Gilbert will get his 20+ points, its just how many shots you will force him to take.

Too much focus on Arenas allows players like Butler, Daniels and Hayes big opportunities. These guys can take advantage so we need to have our perimeter rotations strong again.

LeBron has a different style small forward tonight. Jeffries will be a tough guy to just drive around with Jared having a Prince like wingspan. James would be better suited attempting to post Jeffries up an over power the stringbeam.

Antawn Jamison is a tough matchup for Gooden. Drew somehow has to try and keep Antawn playing at the perimeter. His skillset and quickness will be too much for Drew around the hoop. Jamison though is poor defensively, so Drew could get some decent looks.

Haywood is an erratic performer. He goes from putting up 16/10 one game to 6/6 the next. Haywood plays the game quite tough which may allow Ilgauskas to trick him into some fouls. Sitting him early takes a big presense out of the paint.

Key things will be limiting the options surrounding Arenas and Jamison. They will score well no matter how we defend. Its how we limit the easy looks on the likes of Butler, Hayes and Daniels and second chances through rebounding machine Michael Ruffin that will determine how we go. Our offense again will feed off our defense. We make regular stops, James and Hughes will creata havoc. If we are forced regulary into a half court game, we will be looking for Ilgauskas and Marshall to give us targets, and for our rebounding to be strong.

Tough game, that I think we scrape away with a 5-10 point win.
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

good job guys.

some other things...

1) this cavs team is great at home, i mean great. thus far they have trampeld their opposition, outscoring them by a margin of over 23 a game. this will be their first real test. im sure the team will be more than up for this game. it better and should be a sell-out. 16000 isnt good enough. the team really feeds of the energy.

2) hughes/james ability to get to the foul line. we have to match up with huges guarding arenas, snow will do nothing. hughes can penetrate on gilbert, who will be looking to score, get him into early foul trouble and the wizards will be playing with their heads chopped off.

3) lebron coming back from a sub-par outing. he has to be pissed over how he played against the magic. i wouldnt be suprised to see him drop close to 40 this game. 3's will be coming.

4) z must have a quality game. haywood is nothing special.

5) dont know their bench but i cant be as strong as ours.

cavs take it away with 5 minutes left in the 4th. 110-95
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

Wizards are pretty deep with decent talent. They spread the talent out over the entire team. Caron Butler, Etan Thomas, Jarvis Hayes and Chucky Atkins are not great players but they are pretty good, especially off the bench.
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

damon will NOT hesitate on the threes, and that should help keep the defense honest... i see him exploding bigtime vs the wiz, scorching for 24 on 6-9 3pt shooting, hughes and james helps out with 23 and 21 points, respectively. cavs should nip wiz out 103-101 :king:
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

Washington plays great man defense, they lead the league in shooting percentage allowed at 39%. If the Cavs do not rotate and find the open man they will be embarrassed at home. This is easier said then done, the Cavaliers are near the bottom of the league in assists per game.

Rebounding will be a huge advantage for the Cavs. The Wizards are quite frankly one of the worst rebounding teams I have ever seen, I'm pretty sure none of their players have learned how to box out. The Cavaliers lead the league in rebounding differential, routinely out rebounding their opponents by 9+ rebounds while the Wizards get out rebounded nightly by over 5.

Arenas vs. Hughes will be the key match up. Will Hughes be able to stop Arenas who is looking as good these past 4 games as anyone I have ever seen.

Jones vs Atkins will be the best bench match up. Both are not afraid to fire up shots from anywhere on the court and neither have been accused of being too defensive minded. This could turn easily turn into a shoot out.

CAVS by 3
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

i live in baltimore so i hear quite a bit about the wiz, they are playing extremely well lately as we all know... not only is arenas on a completely different level but the other guys are all playing very well too, including the new offseason acquisitions. eddie jordan has these guys playing very well

the key to me for this game will be discipline, how disciplined will our guys be on defense to keep their man in front of them and not overrotate to leave a wiz with an open shot, because pretty much every player on this washington team will burn you if left open. and discipline on offense, WHEN the wiz get hot and get some transition opportunities and go on a big run (which is guaranteed to happen), will our guys be able to stay focused and run their plays on offense and not force up bad 3s and awkward circus shots with 18 seconds left on the shot clock to try to personally match bucket for bucket (*looks at lebron and damon*)

if we stay disciplined, continue to focus on defense both in transition and halfcourt, be patient yet aggressive on offense... this is a victory

not to mention we've been quite scary at home
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

Yay for me! I am going to be at the game today!

*Cool-Aid voice*- "OH YEEEEAAH!"
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

Stopping Arenas will be the key to this game. We aren't going to hold him completely in check, but if we can keep him below or near his average, then we should be all right. But, I am expecting a big win tonight. We have been "scary good" at home so far and I expect that to continue. I see us turning some heads this week with a big win tonight and then layin' an ass-whoopin on the Magic on National TV Friday night.

Cavs get up big by the half, Wiz trim it down in the 3rd, and we pull away in the final 8 minutes.

Cavs 111 Wizards 99
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

ima be honest...Cavs arent gonna win this. Wizards are HOT right now.
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

The Wizards haven't faced much tough competition outside of LAC and SAS. They lost to LAC at home, but surprisingly beat SAS. Arenas was too much for them to handle.

But I do recall last season, when we faced the Wizards the beginning of the season, Eric Snow did a fine job of holding him down. Now we also have Hughes on the task.

Jamison will be a handful for Gooden.

The biggest factors, Karma already went over: stopping the role players. Butler will be the biggest one here. He's a tough scorer and LeBron will have to keep him in check.

I can still see a win here. It's in Cav country, I don't think we are ready to give up the first home loss of the season just yet. Larry Hughes will also be out there to prove why he's worth his money, and to show why it was a mistake to let him go.
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

Haywood is an underrated defender: he was the primary guy who held Duncan to 3-18 from the field.

This is a Lebron gut check game: he needs to take it to the whole or post down low because that is the one place where we have a clear advantage.

Arenas>>> Snow/Jones
Butler/AD=<Hughes
Jefferies<< Lebron
Jamison>Gooden
Haywood<Z (the problem is Haywood maybe able to neutralize Z's strenght on O and the glass)

Keys to me is Lebron and Hughes/Snow slowing down Arenas AND not letting him create for everybody else
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

etan thomas is an excellent defender as well.
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

I'm not ready to lay down at Washington's feet because they beat San Antonio at home. Yes, they played well, but it was a combination of Arenas going berserk and Tim Duncan looking awful. Did anyone see that game? He missed easy shots he would have normally made. Ginobli and Parker both had +20 games.

But I do think tonight will be tough. Both teams have a lot to prove. Thanks, Ben, for that rebounding stat, b/c frankly I think that's key. You limit the number of shots Arenas can take and then contest the hell out of those shots. He'll get his 20-25 pts. But if we can outrebound them, especially on the defensive end, we can push the ball when we need to. Frankly, they haven't played a team that runs the break as well as we do, nor have they faced a team as hot in the passing lanes, forcing turnovers. We're very similar teams, only we rebound better and are a little deeper. (A little.)

So everyone needs to play their role tonight. Gooden/Marshall/Z holding Jamison down. Snow focused on locking down Arenas, Hughes helping and letting the game flow to him like he's been doing these past 2-3 games. And LeBron going off for a smart, complete game. This is a pride thing for him, too, with Arenas coming in king o' the world. Not in my house, beeeyaat***. If we rebound like hell, play our roles, and thrive off the home court, we should be able to win by 7-10 pts.
 
Re: Washington @ Cleveland

This will be a tougher game tonight. But, it's not only a game that we should win, it's one we will most likely win. The key is too keep Jamison, Haywood, and Jefferies off the glass, mainy on the offensive glass. Giving them more then one chance at a potential score (especially wth Arenas) is key to shutting down their attack.

I am interested in Drew defensively and Larry offensively tonight..

Drew will have a tough time with the tweener Jamison. But, that will only happen if Jamison is on from outside. If not, Drew should be able to hold his own defensively. Jamison is a pretty good rebounder and is a crafty scorer in the paint. I just believe it's a bit more crucial to keep him off the glass, as opposed to stoping him defensively. He will get his in many ways.

Larry will be interesting to watch tonight. Since accuiring Larry from washington, the one thing several of their fans told me was Larry is a chucker and will kill many offenses. Honestly, I chalked that up to bitterness more then anything, and took a wait and see approach. It has not showed up yet. Although his shot is not falling, he hasn't taken them in volumes that would hurt the team, ot their in game flow.. I hope that doesn't change tonight against the former club.. Hopefully we see the same player that plays within the system and sets up his teammates very well.
 
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