Cavaliers vs. Wizards: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2014 Regular Season

The Washington Wizards picked up their biggest win of the season to date, knocking off the Cleveland Cavaliers 91-78 on Friday night in the Verizon Center.

The Wizards entered the game with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, but many contended that they had a relatively easy schedule to start the 2014-15 season. The Wizards had an opportunity to lay down a marker against the heavily hyped Cavs, and they did so emphatically.

John Wall had a great game, leading all scorers with 28 points, adding seven assists and six rebounds. Bradley Beal and Paul Pierce chipped in 12 and nine points, respectively.

Washington out-rebounded Cleveland 45-41 and outscored the Cavs 50-34 in the paint. More impressively, the Wizards held their opponents to 36 percent shooting from the floor. The Cavaliers missed 21 of their 27 three-point attempts.

LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all shot below 50 percent, with Love in particular failing to make his presence felt. James and Irving were the Cavaliers' co-leaders in scoring with 22 points apiece.

On Thursday, Love talked about the struggle of going from the unquestioned No. 1 option on the Minnesota Timberwolves to the third wheel on the Cavaliers. A shift like that is bound to have an adjustment period.

"It's come to a point where I'm just trying to find myself in this offense," Love said, per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin. "It's almost related to when you come into the league; usually the guys that dominate the ball so much tend to learn a lot quicker than a guy like myself, a big man. So I'm just trying to find different spots in the offense."

Love's role didn't become any more defined on Friday. He attempted eight shots the entire game, scoring eight points and grabbing eight boards.

The 26-year-old power forward was among many Cavs players who looked like they wanted to be anywhere but Washington, D.C., on Friday. Grantland's Bill Simmons felt that the poor body language was far from encouraging:

The first half reinforced seemingly every criticism of the Cavaliers after their underwhelming start to the season. They dug themselves into a 55-42 halftime hole.

The Wizards shot 52.1 percent from the field as a team, with Pierce, Wall and Beal combining for 29 points. Kevin Seraphin added 12 points off the bench as well, as nobody on Cleveland could combat his presence inside. Love was often matched up against Seraphin, which didn't work out well for Cleveland, as USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt notted:

Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group felt Seraphin's big half was more evidence of how badly the Cavs need a rim protector:

Offensively, the Cavaliers weren't much better. They were extremely reliant on James, who led the team with 14 first-half points. Love and Irving added 10 and eight, respectively, meaning Cleveland's Big Three were responsible for all but 10 points of the team's first-half scoring output.

The Wizards bench as a whole outscored the Cavs bench 29-0. The five subs who appeared for Cleveland shot a combined 0-of-6.

NBA.com's John Schuhmann made sure to credit the Wizards for locking down Cleveland's offense:

Washington often had it easy, though, with too many of Cleveland's offensive possessions consisting of one guy dribbling around in isolation until something happened.

Many wonder whether David Blatt is the right guy to lead this team, but The Associated Press' Tom Withers felt Blatt wasn't to blame for the Cavs' poor offensive showing:

Things didn't improve for Cleveland in the third quarter, as the Cavaliers had no answer for Wall. He missed only two of his nine field-goal attempts in the third quarter en route to dropping 17 points. It felt like whenever the Cavs started closing the gap, Wall was there to halt their momentum.

Many NBA fans and experts argue that when the 24-year-old point guard gains a consistent jumper, he'll be unstoppable. Friday night was a taste of Wall at his full potential. Michael Lee of The Washington Post felt the game was Wall's statement to the rest of the league:

The Nation sports editor Dave Zirin countered that Wall's performance was somewhat inflated by a Cavaliers defense that varied between the matador and nonexistent variety:

Washington entered the fourth quarter with a 15-point lead, 80-65. Although the offense dried up for the Wizards, Cleveland went nearly seven minutes without a field goal, missing all 10 of its shot attempts. By the time the Cavs got to within single digits, 86-77, 2:15 remained in the game. Beal hit a three shortly thereafter to restore Washington's double-digit advantage and end any attempt of a Cavs comeback.

Aside from that patchy period in the fourth, the Wizards were impressive from start to finish and thoroughly outclassed Cleveland.

Washington heads to Milwaukee on Saturday for the second half of a back-to-back. The Bucks have been one of the surprises in the East, with their defense playing very well. They'll be a tough hurdle for the Wizards with the short turnaround.

Cleveland will hope to get back to .500 when it meets the red-hot Toronto Raptors on Saturday. The Raptors are the class of the East at the moment, so the Cavaliers will have their hands full as they hope to break their three-game losing streak.