<table class="gamePreview" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="center" colspan="2"> <p align="center"><font face="Verdana">December 5, 2007 @ 7:00pm EST Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. FSN Ohio, CSN-HD</font></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="center"> <p align="center"><font face="Verdana"> </font></p> <p align="center"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Washington Wizards (8-9)</font></p> </p> </td> <td class="center"> <p align="center"><font face="Verdana"> </font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#b90456"><font face="Verdana">Cleveland Cavaliers </font><font face="Verdana">(9-10)</font></font></p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr class="sectHeader"> <td colspan="2"> <h4 align="center"><font face="Verdana">Projected Starters</font></h4> </td> </tr> <tr class="roster"> <td> <p align="center"><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font> <font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f" size="2">PG Antonio Daniels SG DeShawn Stevenson </font><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f" size="2">SFCaron ButlerPF Antawn Jamison C Brendan Haywood </font><font color="#006a8f"><font face="Verdana"> <font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font></font></font></p> </td> <td> <p align="center"><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font> <font face="Verdana"><font size="2"><font color="#b90456">PG Daniel Gibson SG Shannon Brown SF Sasha Pavlovic PF Drew Gooden C Zydrunas Ilgauskas</font> </font> </font><font color="#b90456"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font></font></font></p> </td> </tr> <tr class="sectHeader"> <td colspan="2"> <h4><font face="Verdana">Season Stats</font></h4> </td> </tr> <tr class="seasonStats"> <td> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Points</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">101.3 PPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">FG%</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">45.1%</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">3pt%</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">34.8%</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Rebounds</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">43.5 RPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Assists</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">20.1APG</font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> <td> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Points</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">96.6PPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">FG%</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">43.4%</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">3pt%</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">36.4%</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Rebounds</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">44.2 RPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Aassists</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">18.9APG</font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <tr class="sectHeader"> <td colspan="2"> <h4><font face="Verdana">Season Team Leaders (Expected to play tonight)</font></h4> </td> </tr> <tr class="seasonStats"> <td> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Points</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Butler23.0 PPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Rebounds</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Jamison10.2 RPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Assists</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#006a8f">Daniels4.9 APG</font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> <td> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Points</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Gooden14.4 PPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Rebounds</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Ilgauskas 11.1 RPG</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Assists</font></td> <td><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Gibson3.1 APG</font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <tr class="sectHeader"> <td colspan="2"> <h4><font face="Verdana">Situation with Cleveland</font></h4> </td> </tr> <tr class="keyStrategy"> <td colspan="2"><font face="Verdana"> A lot can happen in Cleveland in a short space of time. LeBron James' injury looks set to keep him out at least until the end of the week, possibly more. From reading about his injury status from various sources, my estimation for a return date is probably the home game versus Indiana. It leaves him another week to fully recover, and it is a less difficult game than most, along Coach Brown to pull him out if he suffers any discomfort whilst still giving the Cavs some chance of winning. I would expect him to play reduced minutes in that game, to hopefully be fully prepared for the game at New Jersey next Friday. With LeBron, the Casv averaged 102.1 points, 45.9 rebounds and 20.8 assists. Without him, they average a measly 76.3 points, 37.5 rebounds and 13.8 assists. It is almost as though nobody is stepping up to fill his hole. They are simply leaving it alone, without any contribution he would have given to them.</p> Breaking News from Cleveland is that Varejao's offer sheet with Charlotte has been matched, and therefore he seems likely to make his return against Indiana too, depending on his fitness levels. The deal is for the MLE for 3 years, the third of which is a player option. Judging from the games without LeBron, the Cavs need Varejao the player, but Varejao the character will need to win back many people's, including my, respect.</p> </font></td> </tr> <tr class="sectHeader"> <td colspan="2"> <h4><font face="Verdana">The Cavs since 2003 v Washington</font></h4> </td> </tr> <tr class="since03"> <td colspan="2"><font face="Verdana">Including Playoff matches, there have been 24 matchups between the two teams. The Cavs average 100.2 points and have won 15 games, whilst the Wizards average 99.6 points and have won 9 games. Tonight will almost certainly be the first time LeBron James has missed a game against the Wizards.</font></td> </tr> <tr class="sectHeader"> <td colspan="2"> <h4><font face="Verdana">Prediction</font></h4> </td> </tr> <tr class="prediction"> <td colspan="2"> <font face="Verdana">I'm sure some Cavs fans a getting deja-vu from the 2002-03 season, when they went 17-65. The Cavs have been simply awful without LeBron, highlighting once again that they need solid support for him. That might not come until 2009, when the Cavs are projected to have between $15-18 million cap space. As for tonight's game, I would say the writing is on the wall, even though the Wizards are without their star, Gilbert Arenas, too.</font></p> <font face="Verdana" size="4"><font color="#006a8f">91</font> - <font color="#b90456">80</font></font></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </p>
That's a pretty low score for a Wizards game. Either way, getting any win against this Cavs team is nice after whats happened int he playoffs between these two.</p>
