Wizards 101, Cavaliers 98
Even though he left only two years ago, most of the current Wizards are too young to remember Antawn Jamison’s tenure in Washington, his arsenal of wily veteran moves and his cozy relationship with the rims at Verizon Center.
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But after tormenting his former team in his first game in Washington since being traded to Cleveland in 2010, scoring 29 points in the opening three quarters, Jamison had to watch as the Wizards (8-28) turned the tables and held him scoreless in the final period – and overcame a few familiarly self-inflicted wounds of their own – to snap a six-game losing streak with a 101-98 victory over the Cavaliers.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “I think I saw some packs of cigarettes falling on the floor again with our bad habits coming back at times “We’re going to have to fix that. Again, this was a game we made harder than we should’ve, but that’s the learning process.”
Washington’s 10-point lead, 96-86, with 3:44 remaining appeared to been enough until JaVale McGee (nine points, 12 rebounds, four blocks) took the ball from double-teamed John Wall (24 points, five assists, five rebounds), spun in the lane and flipped a wild miss at the rim. A moment later Kyrie Irving (20 points, six assists) hit the second of back-to-back 3-pointers for the Cavaliers (13-22) then got inside for a layup to make the score 100-97 with 1:03 left.
After John Wall (24 points, five assists, five rebounds) missed a poorly taken fall-away jumper that would’ve put the game away, he recovered on Irving, who was fouled by Trevor Booker – who should’ve stood his ground for a charge – making a block to prevent a three-point play with 7.0 seconds left on the clock.
Each point guard added one more free throw before Anthony Parker’s game-tying bid from 3-point range missed long.
“A couple plays before, I was stopping once he got off the pick and roll and not keeping up and [Ryan] Hollins got a couple tip ins so I just wanted to keep going on the play,” Wall said.
Jordan Crawford helped build the Wizards’ advantage with 12 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter, even if his unconscious long-range shooting (career high-matching five 3-pointers) was interspersed with fatigued passes (four turnovers).
McGee also took off on his first full-court dribbling escapade of the year, which finished with him losing the ball out of bounds, and later appeared to have an errant shot blocked by the backboard during a 9-2 run for Cleveland in the third quarter.
“That wasn’t the only pack of cigarettes that fell out,” Wittman said. “Cigarette smoking is a tough habit to beat.”
In the first quarter it was Jamison, a 13-year veteran, who put second-year Booker (nine points, six rebounds) through school, scoring 15 points in the period with his unique brand of curling flips, floaters and jump shots.
“I think he wanted to come back and show the crowd that he still had it,” Booker said. “He might’ve been mad that they traded him away or something. But he came out hot. It was tough to slow him down.”
Wall did his best to lead the charge the other way with aggressive, highlight-worthy plays, splitting a double-team with a dribble behind his back and finding cutting Jan Vesely (nine points, five rebounds) for the first of four dunks on the night.
With Washington trailing 33-24 after one quarter, Roger Mason Jr. came off the bench to score the Wizards’ first nine points of the second, converting a four-point play to make it 36-33. Vesely caught an outlet pass from Shelvin Mack (five assist) and didn’t need to take a dribble before soaring in for another slam, and Maurice Evans (seven points) temporarily put Washington on top with a three-pointer for a 41-40 lead. But after former Wizard Alonzo Gee (11 points) sparked a 10-2 run for Cleveland, Vesely’s third dunk could only cut Cleveland’s halftime margin to 55-50.
The Wizards’ closed the third quarter with a 14-6 run, finishing it off with coast-to-coast action from Wall, who took an inbounds pass in his own end with 3.9 seconds left in the third quarter and burst past Jamison and the rest of the Cavaliers on the floor for a buzzer-beating layup to tie the game at 78.
“I was just showing my track speed,” Wall said.
By that point, Washington had gotten valuable minutes from Andray Blatche, who scored just a single point but racked up nine rebounds and five assists in his first game after missing more than a month of action with a left calf strain.
“I didn’t want to come out there and force nothing,” said Blatche, who did have one airball. “Just play the game and try to help my teammates win and do the small things like hustle and rebounds and set other players up.”
In similar fashion, it was McGee who turned facilitator on more than one occasion. Having already set up Booker for a slam in the third quarter, the 7-foot center fed Crawford for a dunk and a 94-86 lead, which Booker then extended to 96-86 with a payback jumper over Jamison.
“I definitely went coast to coast and lost it so I was hesitant on the second one to go up because I knew they were going to probe at me,” McGee said in the light-hearted locker room. “I’m not looking to score all the time. I have a high shooting percentage. It means I don’t shoot a lot. I like to pass but sometimes people aren’t open to get it.”
After Parker’s miss on the game’s final possession, the buzzer sounded and streamers shot from behind the baskets.
“I didn’t even see them,” Mason said. “That’s news. That’s news to me. I’m just glad we ended this six-game game losing streak, and I was headed back to the locker room with a win.”
