Wizards vs. Cavaliers: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2014 Regular Season
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a quality victory to truly get on course for a rise toward the top of the Eastern Conference. They achieved that in an impressive 113-87 win over the Washington Wizards at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday.
Washington entered the evening second in the East, while Cleveland, though coming off of a blowout win over Orlando, hovered below .500.
Cavs superstar LeBron James led by example, stuffing the stat sheet with 29 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals. He sank 14 of 17 free throws and provided the stable, high level of play this young team's nucleus needs to learn how to win.
Fox Sports Ohio's Sam Amico felt Cleveland put together its best overall effort of the young 2014-15 NBA campaign:
Keith Britton of 92.3 The Fan had a similar take:
"I could get use to watching performances like this from the #Cavs every night. Complete team effort. Amazing how much better they look
— Keith Britton (@KeithBritton86) November 27, 2014"
Anderson Varejao (10 points, seven rebounds) knows how to click with James thanks to their time together in James' previous Cleveland stint. Conrad Kaczmarek of NBA.com observed this phenomenon as James fed Varejao for a ton of easy buckets in the first half:
James is trying to deliver a championship for his home team, and while he has two fellow All-Stars in Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving flanking him, they've never played in the postseason.
ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst documented James' thoughts before the Cavs rattled off their two most recent wins:
"I'm a winner, I want to win, and I want to win now. It's not tomorrow, it's not down the line, I want to win now. So it's a fine line for me, but I understand what we're enduring right now. ...
... I have a low tolerance for things of this nature. So it's something I'm working on, as well, which I knew from the beginning that that was going to be my biggest test to see how much patience I've got.
"
That killer instinct and mindset to get the job done are characteristics James exuded Wednesday, attacking the Wizards and getting to the free-throw line frequently.
Cleveland.com's Chris Haynes noted how James set the tone from the start, sparking the Cavs to a 31-18 lead after the first quarter:
Zach Lowe of Grantland noticed how the Cavs made adjustments on defense to stymie the Wizards, whose dynamic backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 16 points on 16 shot attempts:
Cavs.com's Joe Gabriele weighed in:
Rasual Butler led the Wizards with 23 points off the bench, but the Cavs did an admirable job shutting down most of Washington's top offensive threats.
Love has had a rocky start to his time in Cleveland, yet he was far more proficient versus Washington and shot 7-of-10 from the field with 21 points.
Wizards star Paul Pierce started to go to the bucket often himself in the third quarter with Washington down 58-46 by halftime. Bob Finnan of The News-Herald noted how the veteran was rising to the challenge, while Irving was struggling in the big game:
But that dynamic didn't hurt the Cavs overall. Irving turned it on in the fourth as a scorer to finish with 18 points and was still helping facilitate improved execution in the half-court offense before his late surge.
Passions were high, as the home crowd was in full support of the energized Cleveland squad—and even head coach David Blatt implored the fans, per the Akron Beacon Journal's Jason Lloyd:
Now the Cavs have some serious momentum to build on ahead of a favorable stretch of their schedule. Before a road trip to Toronto on December 5, Cleveland faces Indiana, Milwaukee and New York, with a golden opportunity to vault up the East standings.
Zac Jackson of Fox Sports Ohio brought up a relevant point regarding the Cavs' ongoing search for synergy:
One alarming development is the volume of shots Dion Waiters takes off the bench.
Waiters, who missed 11 of a team-high 17 attempts from the field, has dubious shot selection and must be more of a complementary player given the superior talent on his team. The fact that Waiters had six assists is a good sign moving forward, though.
Bouncing back from Wednesday's loss right away won't be simple for the Wizards. They open a four-game homestand against New Orleans and Miami, then play the Los Angeles Lakers before taking on the streaking Denver Nuggets.
