Richard Jefferson denies that the Cavaliers are afraid of the Wizards

Last week, Bradley Beal said in an interview on CSN Mid Atlantic that the Cavaliers wanted to avoid the Wizards in the second round of the playoffs and insinuated that they “tanked” the second half of the season to avoid such a matchup.

The thing is that the Wizards are at home, while the Cavaliers are in the Eastern Conference Finals.

After the Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 130-86 on Friday in Game 2, Cleveland veteran swingman Richard Jefferson was asked about Beal’s remarks. Here’s his response, from James Herbert of CBS Sports:

"It seems like the teams that are at home now want to start talking," Jefferson said. "Dion Waiters was saying that nobody wanted to see the Miami Heat, nobody wants to see the Miami Heat. Then Bradley Beal says nobody wants to [see the Wizards]. Well, if no one does, then show up. If you get there, then prove it.

"Bradley's a great young player, he's going to have a great career in front of him, but don't talk about teams that didn't want to see you when you're out of the playoffs. It makes absolutely no sense. A team that has now won 10 in a row in the playoffs, the defending champions, didn't want to see you, but you didn't get out of the second round? It makes headlines, but does it make sense? How does it make you come across when people want to talk about basketball IQ?"

As fans, I like Beal’s confidence in the Wizards. I think they would put up a good fight against the Cavaliers if they made the Eastern Conference Finals. But it’s better to leave those hypotheticals to the fans. Hopefully, we’ll see the Wizards make it to the Conference Finals next season.