This game sees the 0-1 Washington Wizards take on the 1-0 Cleveland Cavaliers at The Quicken Loans Arena. <div align="center"><font color="#006A8F"> <u>Washington Wizards</u> C Etan Thomas PF Antawn Jamison SF Jarvis Hayes SG DeShawn Stevenson PG Antonio Daniels</font> @ <font color="#B94056">C Zydrunas Ilgauskas PF Drew Gooden SF LeBron James SG Aleksandar Pavlovic PG Larry Hughes <u>Cleveland Cavaliers</u> </font></div> <u>Key Matchup</u> ? PF Antawn Jamison v Drew Gooden v These are two competent Forwards who can influence the outcomes of games severely. Jamison is the prominent scorer on the Wizards, as was shown in the first meeting between the two teams as he scored 28 points and had 14 rebounds, and he will need to keep this up if the Wizards are to have a chance. Gooden is a less prominent scorer but is a strong rebounder, thus is a key performer for the Cavs. He had a sub-par game with 10 points and 6 rebounds on Sunday. Should he be able to defend Jamison better in Game 2, the Cavaliers ought to be en route to a relatively easy win. [div=50%] <font color="#006A8F"><u>Wizards? Keys to Victory</u> <ul> [*]Get Jamison going early. If Jamison can start scoring quickly and early, the Wizards have a strong chance at defeating the Cavaliers, especially with LeBron James liable to play limited minutes. [*]Play extremely hard when LeBron is sitting. When LeBron sits for extended periods of time, the Wizards must gain the upper hand. The Cavs will be without their greatest player and therefore the Wizards must be prepared to take full advantage by scoring many points and stopping the Cavs from scoring. [*]Improve Free Throw shooting. Surprisingly, the Wizards lost the battle at the line in Game 1, so must make every effort possible to win the battle this time around. Free throw shooting is the Cavaliers? Achilles Heel, and it must be abused by the Wizards if they are to win the game or series. [/list] </font> [/div] <font color="#B94056"><u>Cavaliers? Keys to Victory</u> <ul> [*]Lift the scoring load away from LeBron James. It is unclear how much LeBron?s ankle could bother him after he sprained it mildly in Game 1. It is therefore important to provide him with more regular rests, not only to take weight off it but also so the training staff can monitor the progress. If they can do that and still win, they will be well set for the latter rounds of the playoffs. [*]Rebound with more venom than Sunday. The Cavaliers won the rebound battle in Game 1, but should have obtained more. They gave up 11 offensive rebounds, whilst only grabbing 10 of their own ? not what is expected from such a strong rebounding team. [*]Shut down Antawn Jamison. It was obvious from Game 1 that Jamison will be the primary, secondary and tertiary options for the Wizards. If the Cavs can shut him down and force the Wizars to go elsewhere, to should be able to grab a simple win. [/list] </font> <u>Prediction</u> Since October 2003, the Cavs and Wizards have met 21 times. The Cavs have won 12 games, averaging 100 points per game, whilst the Wizards have won 9 times, averaging 100.3 points. LeBron James has featured in all 21 games, and averages 28.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists against the Wizards. The Cavaliers should be able to win this game without too much trouble, as well as the remainder of the series. <font color="#006A8F">85</font>- <font color="#B94056">97</font>
Thanks for the preview Chingy. Another important thing for the Wizards is that they must create off turnovers and get easy buckets. They got beat in fastbreak points 21-1, and the Wizards benefit off a lot from it. The Wizards need to look to play better defense and without Arenas and Butler who can create a lot of turnovers are out, the role players need to step up and do so on the defensive end. Eddie Jordan definitely needs to give Brendan Haywood more playing time, espicially against Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Last season in the playoffs and regular season, Ilgauskas has had problems scoring over Haywood almost every time and only playing 5 minutes in game 1 on Sunday won't help the Wizards.
That wasn't a bad first quarter. Besides the fact that we got beat in the paint and on the boards, I'd say we kept LeBron and Larry in check. We're shooting at a better percentage with more ball movement, and we're contesting shots. We just need someone like Jamison or Songalia to lead this team and takeover this game.
Jamison by far, he scored 28 points and 31 points, he's averaging 29.5 PPG, and Daniels is also averaging 11 APG. The Wizards did well for their situation, and being on the road, and with how they're been playing I think they can take one, and maybe 2 at home.
