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Magical Pixels, Wizards vs. Cavaliers: Washington lays an egg at home, falls back below .500

We thought the Washington Wizards might have turned the corner over the past couple weeks. Silly us.

By Jeff Newman
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

It was fun while it lasted, eh gang? The Washington Wizards fell back below .500 last night with a 115-113 loss at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who came in as the losers of six straight and eight of their last nine, and having just fired their general managers.

Washington, D.C., where the rest of the NBA comes to get right. Why does it seem like teams in turmoil always reach their tipping point just before playing the Wizards, who then reciprocate with an apathetic effort?

Ugh. All you really need to know is that Cleveland shot 59.5 percent in the first half...and it felt worse than that. Somehow the Wizards were only down four at that point, but once they came out with the same (dismal) effort in the third quarter, it was pretty clear where this game was headed.

Too bad, because they wasted a pretty good game from John Wall, who finished with 32 points and 10 assists. Actually, all the starters not named Bradley Beal played decently. Marcin Gortat (19 points, eight rebounds,) Nene (13 points, eight rebounds) and Trevor Ariza (14 points, six rebounds) weren't the problem, at least not offensively. Beal, yeesh, finished 4-for-15, with only one of those shot attempts coming from beyond the three-point line. You can probably guess where he took a bulk of those shots. Martell Webster, on the other hand, didn't attempt a shot from inside the arc, and finished with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from three.

But the real problem last night was defensive effort, and the Cavs repeatedly beat Wizards off the dribble and got up shots without having to work for them. Randy Wittman was not pleased, and laid into his team during his postgame presser, calling them "not a good team." We'll have more on that later. In the meantime, try to forget this one.

KEY LINKS

Home team recaps: BF StoryStream | Washington Post (gamer, sidebar) | AP | CSN Washington (recap, sidebar) | Wiz of Awes | DC Pro Sports Report | Wizards.com | Monumental Network | Daily Wizdom

Road team recaps: Fear The Sword | The Plain Dealer | Akron Beacon Journal | Right Down Euclid | Cavs.com

Game highlights

Postgame interviews: Randy Wittman | John Wall | Bradley Beal | Trevor Ariza | Marcin Gortat | Kyrie Irving

KEY STATS

11 - Cleveland's rebounding advantage (45-34) against Washington.

13 - Cleveland's free throw advantage against Washington. The Cavs made 29 of their 33 freebie attempts (87.9 percent), while the Wizards made only 16 of 23 (69.6 percent).

TWEETS OF THE NIGHT

VIDEO/GIF OF THE NIGHT

Remember, the Wizards lost by two. (H/T @adammcginnis)

GAMETHREAD COMMENT OF THE NIGHT


GAMETHREAD ROLLCALL

# Commenter # Comments
1 qthaballa 139
2 Wall_Hopeful 125
3 HailSkinz 74
4 richkam14 53
5 elliotlevy2 52
6 neualex308 48
7 Rice2012 45
8 dc_chilling 43
9 Singhgidda 40
10 abala 33
11 KINGWIZ86 32
12 Hands11 31
13 WASwizardsfan671 30
14 Gators2015_BB3 28
15 KurisuDevil 26
16 souldrummer 24
17 lobster11 24
18 imperialme 23
19 LeHalfrican 23
20 Shark Fin Soup 19
21 Craig_ 17
22 Nickdoggmoneycash 14
23 DCrez 13
24 ZonkerBL 13
25 Alpha_Snail 10
26 wad0cash 10
27 Krobify 10
28 DCKRS 8
29 17squall 8
30 almacy 8
31 tw10 7
32 Banode 6
33 RCpige 5
34 gavalon55 5
35 freshcat 5
36 jaffejoe 4
37 jazzy1 4
38 Ryan Mourton 4
39 ATrueNigerian 4
40 johnny obeid 3
41 'SkinsFan214life 3
42 tarheel723 3
43 thewiz06 3
44 FTT 3
45 Pluto1911 3
46 t0Shihiro 3
47 kudokensei 2
48 PrymeTyme301 2
49 John Wall Stan 2
50 p.robb87 2
51 DCeee 2
52 BigPenisArenas 1
53 Jolly Greene 1
54 satchmore 1
55 bartek.biadasiewicz 1
56 Im_So_DC 1
57 The Hoops Guru 1
58 spanishfalcon 1
59 forthepeople 1
60 silver-lining 1
61 All dc and unc 1
62 nesby8 1
63 TJWater 1

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