When it comes to the Washington Wizards’ rivalry with Cleveland and LeBron James, which will be renewed tomorrow night, Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler prefer the high road, while DeShawn Stevenson has no fear of the most direct route. But there’s no question it’s on players’ minds because Randy Foye took it upon himself to do homework to learn about it.
“I knew about it just from watching it, and I YouTube’d a few things,” said Foye. “I heard Brendan saying a few things. But I can remember watching the playoffs when he was supposedly getting fouled. But I think the biggest thing is, like I said before, is just that we play together as a team and try to get the victory… I just YouTubed DeShawn Stevenson versus LeBron and see what came up because I heard him talking about it, and so I got a little bit of everything. I heard Brendan talking. I heard Caron talking. I heard [ESPN’s] Stuart Scott saying things. From then on, I understood that it was a big rivalry.”
Being that it’s my first year on the beat, I followed up on what Foye said. Check out this, the first search result on YouTube.
“I saw Soulja Boy, Jay-Z, but I just checked up on it to see what it was about and how serious it was,” said Foye. “Just from practicing and preparing for these guys, that’s been the talk from day one of training camp, that we gotta go out there, and whenever we play them. Even in the preseason, they booed us [in Cleveland] as soon as we ran out there. They was waiting for us to come out. You gotta understand, when there’s games like this, the coach don’t to say too much. Guys are ready to play as soon as they take steps on that Cleveland soil, they’re ready to go.”
Still, the atmosphere when the Wizards visited Cleveland in preseason surprised Foye.
“I was like, ‘LeBron’s not even playing,’” said Foye. “These fans are hostile here. It’s preseason, and they’re booing like this. Just think how it’s going to be during the regular season going to be.”
Stevenson, who was booed at the airport during the preseason visit, took the latest installment head on. He said James was “playing awesome right now,” but acknowledged that there’s no love lost between the teams.
“As long as I’m on the court, yeah, [the rivalry is still on],” said Stevenson. “As long as Gilbert’s on the court, ‘Twan [Jamison], Caron. We have a little rivalry with them so until pretty much at that goes away, it’s going to be a rivalry.”
Does it go both ways? The Cavaliers have beaten Washington three straight times in the first round of the NBA playoffs. “Definitely. Just the fans. Just watch the tip-ball, nobody say what’s up to each other. No handshakes. Any other team, you give a handshake before. I know it’s going to be hard fouls and fans booing so it’s going to be a tough game.”
But James said there wasn’t a rivalry? “He’s the Golden Child. He’s going to say that. He got a lot of stuff to lose. I don’t. I don’t care.”
What about talk that [former Wizard] Antonio Daniels might end up with the Cavs? “I like A.D. as a person because he was my teammate for three years. But I’m still going to talk to him. I have nothing against him, just that jersey and that person that’s over there.”
Would you ever play for Cleveland? “You think they would sign me?! They would never sign me, I already know that.”
Especially not after this: “I really don’t go out when I go to Cleveland no more. I just chill in my room. I expect it anyways because he’s from there, but I really don’t care. I just care about getting a win on that court…Ain’t nothing to do in Cleveland. You been there?”
He said he doesn’t do lakes, and his comments probably won’t help reinforce any goodwill sought by Haywood and Butler…
“I think some guys have a distaste for Cleveland on this team, but me personally, it’s just another game,” said Haywood. Can’t be the same guy.
As for Butler: “I’ll tell you half the story. The rest, you have to fill it in. I’m just ready to play.”
