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That was bad. The Cleveland Cavaliers blew out the Washington Wizards Wednesday, where they were blown out of the Q, 113 to 87. This game was fitting payback for Cleveland after they were soundly beaten at Verizon Center last Friday.
This game was effectively over when the Wizards committed seven turnovers in the first quarter which turned into 11 Cavaliers points. During this time, the Cavaliers to go on a 15-2 run to turn a 12-10 game with 6:04 left into a 27-12 game that was dangerously close to being a blowout. Fortunately, Rasual Butler and John Wall made back to back threes to make the game more respectable, at the time at least. But every time the Wizards made some attempt at a run, Cleveland responded, and in the fourth quarter the game just got ugly.
Another thing that the Wizards were just not able to do was get points on the fast break. They had just two (toward the end of the game) while Cleveland had 17.
Besides LeBron James, who had another LeBron-esque performance with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, Anderson Varejao also scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting, all in the first half, he scored 10 points while shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the field. Not having someone like Nene to defend either Love or Varejao certainly hurt.
But with the exception of Butler and Paul Pierce in the third quarter, it just appeared that the Wizards seemed to be more excited about Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow than the game tonight against a rival. I am particularly disappointed in Wall, who appeared totally listless at times, minus a verbal altercation with Tristan Thompson in the second half. He only scored six points on 2-of-6 shooting, all in the first quarter, and had five turnovers. Yes, he's a pass-first point guard, but he's also the best player on this team. When things are not going right, Wall shouldn't be hesitant to take over, and I don't know why he didn't show that tonight, when he has done just that in other games this season.
To this point, the Wizards haven't faced too much adversity, at least from the standpoint of wins and losses. But now they just had their first losing streak of the season, we'll see how they respond to it. Hopefully they get their mojo back before they return home Saturday against New Orleans.