<div align="center">@ <font color="navy">The Washington Wizards (24-15)</font> @<font color="red">The Cleveland Cavaliers (24-15)</font> Time: 7:00 PM eastern Place: Gund Arena TV: Local</div> <div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="navy">Wizards Head Coach</font></font> <font color="navy">Eddie Jordan</font></div> <div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="navy"> Wizards Projected Starting Lineup</font></div></font> <div align="center"> <font color="navy">(Gilbert Arenas, Jarvis Hayes, Jared Jeffries, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood) </font></div> <div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="red">Cavalier's Head Coach</font></font> <font color="red">Paul Silas</font></div> <div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="red">Cavalier's Projected Starting Lineup</font></font> <font color="red">(Jeff McInnis, Ira Newble, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas) </font> </div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Bench Factors</font> (<font color="navy">Anthony Peeler</font>,<font color="red">Eric Snow</font>) </div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Key Matchup</font> (<font color="navy">Gilbert Arenas</font>, <font color="red">LeBron James</font>) <font color="navy">Gilbert Arenas:</font> 23.2 ppg, 4.9 apg, and 4.1 rpg <font color="red">LeBron James:</font>24.7 ppg, 7.3 apg, and 7.2 rpg</div> <font size="5">Keys to the Game</font> <font color="navy">Washington:</font> <ul> [*]Stop the Kid- LeBron...he is coming off of his 2nd consecutive triple double, lets not let him make it three. [*]3 point shooting- I have a feeling this will be huge in this game, we must make a majority of the threes that we take. [*]Bench Play- We had strong bench support in our win over Indy, especially from Peeler, we need that again. [/list] <font color="red">Cleveland:</font> <ul> [*]Z- He is going up against a very good defender in Haywood. LeBron can't do it all for this team, McIninis will most likely play, but how much will his foot bother him? Z is going to have to get going early and get boards and make shots. [*]The Chosen One- LeBron V. Jarvis...yay. Lebron statline in this matchup: 49, 13, and 11. I really hope Peeler sees the majority of the minutes. [*]D- The Wizards are one of the best scoring and offensive rebounding teams in the league. If they score over 105 they will def. win, if they don't it is anyones game. [/list] <font size="5"> Prediction</font> Washington has Sunday off, and they beat Indy on Saturday. Cleveland also has Sunday off and they are also coming off a win on Saturday against Golden State. I really believe Washington can win this one, and I really think it will come down to Arenas. If he has a good game, I take the Wizards in a close thriller 100-99. If he has a bad game, Cleveland 94-90.
First off Good preview bro. Both of the teams are hot.. Both struggled last year but now taking it to two of the better teams in the East. I smell a rough battle but with the Cavs finallly coming home and having the home crowd on their side I will expect a win from the Cavs. 98-89
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Deadlock:</div><div class="quote_post">First off Good preview bro. Both of the teams are hot.. Both struggled last year but now taking it to two of the better teams in the East. I smell a rough battle but with the Cavs finallly coming home and having the home crowd on their side I will expect a win from the Cavs. 98-89</div> Hey, Deadlock, you there!
Had a double-digit lead earlier in the game, and the Cavs lost it in the 4th quarter. Biggest problem was the free-throw disparity. 39 of 49 FT for the Wiz vs. 15 of 23 FT for the Cavs.
What a win, we will turn some heads in the playoffs. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- The Washington Wizards made the Cleveland Cavaliers' return home a startling one. Gilbert Arenas scored 19 of his 30 points in the second half as Washington matched its win total from a season ago by rallying to defeat Cleveland, 106-97. </div> <div align="center"> <font size="1">Arenas scored 19 of his 30 in the second half</font> Wizards/Cavs Recap Wiz/Cavs Box Score </div>
Good game, nice win by the Wizards, Arenas just took over in the 3rd and 4th quarter, and was hitting everything, and getting to the line well. Peeler and Arenas carried the team in the end, and Jared Jefferies also made some nice plays.
What a great start by the Cavs but after that it was all Wizards.. When ANderson went down are team went down.
Ah, what great officials we had last night... It has seemed that every move that Gilbert made, he would draw some sort of contact on his defender. The Wizards carried the momentum the entire 2nd half of play. It is hard to match intensity when you are getting whistled when playing hard nosed defense. The players that the Cavaliers have that "knew how" to play defense was in foul trouble, Gooden/Z/Newble. That didn't help much, LeBron had a nice stat line, but it doesn't matter when you can't carry your team to victory after a 17 point lead in the 1st half. Adjustments for more offense and quicker defense in the paint is much needed. How about we pull the trigger for Z soon Paxon? Zydrunas has been sleep walking, JMac is out, and AV just sprained his ankle.
