The Washington Wizards reached a new level of futility tonight.
They faced a Cleveland Cavalier team that had only 6 regular players in uniform. In fact, the Cavs had to sign two D-League players in order to reach the NBA mandate of 8 players in uniform.
Yet, the Wizards still found a way to lose the game.
They were beaten on the boards 43-31. The team defense was lousy, as evidenced by the fact that Damon Jones scored 27 points.
Damon Jones can do two things well...shoot 3-pointers and run his mouth.
The Wizards allowed Jones to do both while never exploiting his weaknesses...he's a poor on-the-ball defender and ball handler. He didn't need to dribble, however, because he was getting wide open 3-point shots all night.
Jones scored 10 field goals, 7 of them triples, none of them contested. I think it's fair to say that the Cavs would not have won this game without Jones' scoring.
LeBron James scored 33 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Only one other Cleveland player scored in double figures. Five Washington players scored in double figures, which only goes to show that it's not the quantity of the scoring but the quality of it that counts.
They never really exploited the Cav's small lineup.
They jacked up early shot clock jump shots instead of exploiting the size advantage they had along the front line.
They failed to close out on shooters.
Sure...the Wizards are missing players too, but the players on their roster have been with the team the entire season. I doubt that a team comprised of Gilbert Arenas, Roger Mason, Oleksiy Pecherov, Dominic McGuire, and Darius Songaila could have defeated an NBA team missing two of its starters.
All this game did was enhance LeBron's profile as an MVP candidate and push the Wizards a step closer to missing the playoffs. They are 1-10 in their last 11 games with an overall record of 25-29, good for 6th place in the Eastern Conference. Washington has very little margin for error right now.
This team needs its veterans to play at a high level physically and mentally. It also wouldn't hurt to get Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas back in the lineup.
More than anything, this team needs to string together some wins. That will take a more cavalier approach to the game than we've seen lately.
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