Well, that didn't take long at all.  7 minutes into the Wizards' 5th pre-season game and we have our first injury to one of the Wizards' Big 3.  Understandably, this set the Wizards blogosphere into a bit of a panic.  We'll get to some of those reactions after the jump, but first I wanted to highlight this passage from Brian Windhorst's recap:

Playing against a rather deep Washington Wizards team expected to contend this season, the Cavs couldn't keep up. Getting 18 points from Gilbert Arenas, 24 from Mike Miller and 21 from Randy Foye, the Wizards left town with a 109-104 win. Seven players were known out before the game including LeBron James, who was home sick. Then during the contest Anderson Varejao suffered a wrist contusion and Daniel Gibson bruised his tailbone.

Welcome to life as a Wizards fan, Cleveland.

Jamison Sprains Shoulder In Win - Michael Lee, Washington Post

The loss of Jamison for a lengthy period of time would greatly sour the enthusiasm surrounding the team, which always seems to be in an annual, yet futile, attempt to stay healthy. Jamison's injury places in doubt his availability for the season opener against Dallas on Oct. 27. "Antawn is pretty tough," Wizards Coach Flip Saunders said. "For him to be out an extended period is going to take a lot. Right now, it's all speculation, we'll have to wait and see. Luckily, we still have two weeks and hopefully he'll bounce back for us."

Shoulder sprain sidelines Wizards' Jamison - Mike Jones, Washington Times

The Wizards hope the injury isn't another of the many strokes of bad luck the team has experienced in the past four seasons. Since acquiring forward Caron Butler in 2004 and pairing him with Jamison and point guard Gilbert Arenas, the Wizards' mantra has been that they can compete with the league's elite - if they stay healthy. But year after year, injury has claimed one or more of their core players - whether it be Jamison, Butler, Arenas or Haywood - shattering their lofty postseason aspirations.

Wizards 109, Cavaliers 104 - Michael Lee, Wizards Insider

Losing Jamison would be a huge blow for the Wizards because he is the one member of the Big Three that doesn't have a proven backup to fill in if he gets hurt. Gilbert Arenas has Foye. Caron Butler has Mike Miller. Jamison has ... Andray Blatche? JaVale McGee? Fabricio Oberto? Dominic McGuire? That isn't a knock on those players, but there would be a significant dropoff from a player who is good for 20 points and eight rebounds almost every night. If you don't think losing Jamison would be huge, all you had to do was watch Butler at the first timeout after Jamison went to the locker room. Butler hopped off the bench and sprinted back to check on him. "I'm real overprotective of my dudes right now," said Butler, who did the same thing when Brendan Haywood sprained his right ankle against Dallas. Jamison "told me he was fine and he'd be okay. I felt cool after that." "I'm not even used to the history of being on the sideline with guys going down, but I heard some guys say, 'Aw, not again,' " Randy Foye said after the game.

Wizards 109, Cavaliers 104 - Mike Jones, Outlet

Mike Miller, who has been struggling to figure out his role on this team, had no doubts tonight when Jamison went down. He came out with guns blazing and knocked down all five 3-pointer attempts and finished with 24 points on the night.      "He went down and I felt like I needed to get more aggressive, period," Miller said. "I'm starting to learn a little more, find my spots, see what I can do to help this team. Especially with Antawn down, I got a little more aggressive and made a few shots."

Wizards 109, Cavaliers 104: Split-squad effort falls short - Bob Finnan, The News-Herald

It wasn't exactly what one would call compelling basketball. In fact, it was almost unwatchable at times. Much of the interest in Wednesday's preseason game ended when the Cavaliers announced that superstar LeBron James would be sidelined with flu-like symptoms.

Flip’s Well-Oiled 3rd Quarter Offense: Wizards 109 – Cavaliers 104 - Kyle Weidie, Truth About It

Yes, Blatche had a bounce-back ’statistical’ game with 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals to only 3 fouls and 1 turnover. And I don’t want to come down too had on the guy … I did see several good things from him (see #9, 16, 17 & 19 above). But still, it’s the little things that continue to frustrate me — Andray reaches too much when he’s guarding the ball. He needs to better keep his balance/position and move his feet instead of becoming an AAU-style matador. He also closes out on shooters at bad angles. He doesn’t break down into a defensive stance enough when playing the drive against non-shooting big men when they’re away from basket. And finally, over and over, Blatche falls for pump fakes. Discipline my friend, discipline. 

Non-game related links

Tough Juice is blogging!

Newly mum Arenas needs to resurrect his talkative ways - Steve Aschburner, NBA.com

What Lies Beneath The Gilbert Arenas Identity Crisis - William Yoder, Agent Dagger

WIZARDS: Washington Wizards 2009-2010 Media Guide

Best of Twitterville

Twitter / Brian Windhorst
Starting lineup: Gibson, Parker, J. Williams, Varejao, Shaq. Yikes.

Twitter / Truth_About_It
Wizards-Cavs tied at 33 ... this is the best I've ever seen Andray Blatche play in the open court.

Twitter / Michael Lee
Mike Miller is flammable right now. He's 9-12, 5-5 from 3-point range and has 24 points. I guess with no Antawn, he knows he needs to shoot

Twitter / The BF gang
JaVale McGee just got shoved out of the way by Daniel Gibson.

Twitter / Truth_About_It
How weird would it be if DeShawn Stevenson got a tat of LeBron's face on the right side of his neck? Bet it'd scare the sh*t out of Bron.

Twitter / The BF gang
Dear opposing fans: DeShawn Stevenson does that "I Can't Feel My Face" thing when he makes a shot. Anytime, anywhere. Don't get offended.

Twitter / Mike Jones
Cavs making a killing from 3-point range tonight. 10-for-16 from the arc.

Twitter / CavsBlogger
Things have just gotten plain sloppy now....mop up time for both teams...

Twitter / The BF gang
You know, I can see now why everyone, particularly the Wiz FO, is in love with Oberto's "intangibles"

Twitter / Michael Lee
If we stay healthy. Have you heard that before? Will that ever happen for the Wizards? Not looking like it with Jamison down.

Twitter / David Aldridge
There's good luck...there's bad luck...and there's Wizards Luck.

Twitter / DrewBreez
Antawn Jamison's funereal message to Wiz fans does not bode well for Gil Arenas/expectations for 09-10.

Twitter / LZ Granderson
The Wizards Mike Miller has grown his hair out and now looks like an Eastwick witch

Twitter / Take a guess!
Omg my cavs lost!!! Boo!! And to the wizards!! That's crazy!

Twitter / Brooklyn
how the hell the cavs get beat by the f'n wizards!?!?! lol -appalled-

Twitter / Jordan Hall
ohh jeez,wizards are gonna be on some big power trip because they beat the cavs