Cavaliers rebound against Wizards

Sunday at Verizon Center, the Cavaliers tightened their drawstrings, popped in their teeth guards and hit the boards in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Propelled by a 51-31 rebounding edge and a 3-pointer from Delonte West with 5.4 seconds left, Cleveland defeated Washington 100-97 to take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven series.

“We just attacked, period,” said James. “We didn’t do a good job of attacking, at all, in Game 3. When you don’t shoot well from the field, you have to find way to get extra possessions.”

Cleveland did that by grabbing 18 offensive rebounds, which produced 20 second-chance points to six for Washington. Helping James (34 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists) inside were Ben Wallace (12 rebounds), Joe Smith (8 points, 7 rebounds), and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (9 points, 7 rebounds).

“We have to rebound. That is what killed us today,” said Gilbert Arenas (10 points). “The rebounding is what got them going and what got them up big.”

But despite falling behind by 15 points, Washington still had a chance to win as Areans hit a pair of free throws with 57 seconds left, then dropped a bank shot with 28 seconds left to tie it, 97-97.

James played for the last shot, drawing the Wizards’ defense and passing from the top of the key to the corner to an open West who hit his third 3-pointer of the fourth quarter with 5.4 seconds left.

“Everybody in the gym, including the Wizards defense, thought LeBron was going to take the last shot,” said West. “I think sometimes guys forget that he has great court vision and he made the right play.”

James also showed he has a strong chin as he absorbed a hard foul from DeShawn Stevenson, which took James to the floor and was ruled flagrant.

“I didn’t even know he hit me with a closed fist untilone of my teammates told me. If we were in the park, something definitely would have happened,” said James. “I guess that’s what they want to do — hurt LeBron James. It ain’t working.”