How to Beat Cleveland

[omegatronic3]

Cleveland has become somewhat of a nemesis for us. Last year doesn't really count and the previous years were close. The matcheups have changed a bit so I think there is a bit of unknown here.

Here are the keys as I see then;

1) Gil and Stevenson stop giving Lebron amunition. Calling Lebron Overrated and saying we want clevenland because theyre a 500 team does nothing but give the opponent motivation.

2) Health - obviously we've barely been healthy this season but we need Butler, Jamison and Arenas..and god forbid we have no other injuries.

3) Haywood needs to contain Big Z - he's got the length

4) Keep Lebron out of the lane - he can kill you from the outside but the odds are better than letting him in the lane. Stevenson better eat his Wheaties!

5) Don't let guys like Damon Jones kill you with 3's . Thats all he can do so we have to close out on him. We have to give up something so rather that give up the 3 or let em in the lane give Joe Smith his 15 foot baseline jumper.

6) Steal game 1

x factors -
Cleveland - I think Delonte West is the x factor for them. If he can break us down then it'll free up James.

Us - Gilbert. Can he be the Gil from the second half of the the Philly game or is he gonna be Gil from the beginning of the season. If he can pick his spots while getting everyone else involved then we definitely have the offensive edge.

comments?

[Lord_Zagnut]

Here are the keys as I see then;

1) Gil and Stevenson stop giving Lebron amunition. Calling Lebron Overrated and saying we want clevenland because theyre a 500 team does nothing but give the opponent motivation.

I'd rather see Gilbert maintain radio silence too. Seems like the more Gilbert gets involved in drama--the last year and a half anyway--the greater the odds are that he and the Wizards will lay an egg shortly thereafter. Saw it when he guaranteed the first win against Boston, when he made his big entrance against the Bucks a couple of weeks ago, etc., etc. I don't know if he puts extra pressure on himself or what, but it doesn't seem to be productive for him.

Outside of that, Stevenson's talk doesn't bother me. With the last two years of history between them, there's already plenty of bulletin board material. I'm also interested to see how Lebron reacts to this kind of challenge. Who knows? Maybe Stevenson can be the Wizards' John Starks this series.

[BanndNDC]

keys to beating the mistake by the lake

1. contain Z
2. make letravel pay for entering the lane (off with her head), don't let lebronze get a second guy hot through dish offs, make him work on D. let the queen have her cake, primadonnas don't win.
3. close down on the 3 point shooter
4. dont give up easy putbacks off of offensive rebounds
5. don't let the goons, the crybaby or the favoritism of the refs get to you

i too am worried about West, local guys always seem to kill us.

what do people think about EJ making a preemptive public comment about ref bias (a la Jackson and Shaq or was it Riley)? im kinda torn on the matter

[queridiculo]

Here's a novel approach, score more points than Cleveland.

[BanndNDC]

Here's a novel approach, score more points than Cleveland.

naw, that never works. just ask philadelphia.

[mhd]

Sasha being out is a key. He hurt Butler because of length. He's also got some "thug" in him. He was a guy who could down boards, make shots, and be a running mate. Aside from Lebron, the Cav don't have a wing with length. Wings with length hurt Caron (see Hedo).

I hope Mike Brown continues to not play Joe Smith. He's their best PF. Blatche and Songaila will have to outplay Varejau in this series as well. Haywood has got to neutralize Z and prevent ANY of his tip in putbacks that he excels at.

I think AD may not get much PT. Mason has been on fire from 3 lately.

[fishercob]

The notion that Lebron is going to try harder to win because of the Wiz talking smack is stupid. Isn't he going to try his hardest no matter what?

The trash talk may even prove valuable if it distracts Lebron from the task at hand. If he and Deshawn are engaged in a game within the game, that's a net gain for the Wiz.

[Wiz99]

Simple, more of this:



For those of you who don't remember this particular episode, that's Haywood putting the hurt on Lebron via a hard foul in our 2006 playoff pairing. Lebron wasn't the same after and we won the game.

James also was never the same after Washington center Brendan Haywood laid a hard foul on him late in the first quarter, catching James with a forearm across the neck after he had scored nine of the Cavs' first 19 points. James had only two points in the second quarter and four in the third period before shooting 2-for-10 in the fourth.

I'm not advocating hurting Lebron. But let's get physical with the guy. The Cavs don't have much else, and if we can knock him off his game again, even in a couple of the games, we will this series.

[nate33]

Simple, more of this:

[url=http://www.espn.go.com/photo/2006/0425/nba_g_james_268.jpg[/url]



Yup.

One or two hard fouls on Lebron early in the series would be nice.

The other thing we need to do is make sure that nobody doubles down off of Damon Jones or Gibson. It's not like Gil/AD are going to make much difference in stopping Lebron or Z in the lane anyhow. Let Haywood and Stevenson (and rotation help from Jamison) do their job. Stay with your man on D.

Cleveland's best chance is to play Z in the high post and have Z hitting his jumpers. Haywood has trouble with him when he hits the J. Haywood has no problems dealing with him in the post. If Z can spread the floor and draw Haywood out, it could be a long night for Washington.

[mzaretsk]

since cleavland traded away hughes, they have noone to defend the quick point guard. if gil plays 30+ mins, we have a great shot at winning the series quickly.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

I'm all for clubbing LeTravel and physically intimidating him- that Haywood foul got a standing O from me when he did it- but jawing with him usually doesn't end well, just ask Chris Bosh's girlfriend. What I like is DS has the opportunity to do both, call him overrated and then go out and prove it (at least in his own mind) by physically matching him on the court. But I have a bad feeling the only way Gil will back his talk up is by trying to outshoot him.

But yeah, the big #1 would be play with playoff intensity on the defensive end, which means don't allow the Queen to travel (literally) down the lane for an easy layup without first knocking his block off.

[closg00]

Coaching is going to be more important than the match-ups IMO. Brown beat us with an NBDL team, and they nearly beat us again last time we played...and they were injury depleted as-well. Brown hasn't forgotten how he beat us last series - A big lineup, that will abuse us with second-chance rebounds and putbacks, Boobie killing us with threes, and the Prince doing his thing.

If EJ puts hurting starters out there for too long, or fails to spell anyone having a bad game were done. Riding a tight rotation no matter what will be a disaster.

To win, I think we need to give AB & Mason heavy minutes.

[mhd]

-= original quote snipped =-



[url=http://www.espn.go.com/photo/2006/0425/nba_g_james_268.jpg[/url]



Yup.

One or two hard fouls on Lebron early in the series would be nice.

The other thing we need to do is make sure that nobody doubles down off of Damon Jones or Gibson. It's not like Gil/AD are going to make much difference in stopping Lebron or Z in the lane anyhow. Let Haywood and Stevenson (and rotation help from Jamison) do their job. Stay with your man on D.

Cleveland's best chance is to play Z in the high post and have Z hitting his jumpers. Haywood has trouble with him when he hits the J. Haywood has no problems dealing with him in the post. If Z can spread the floor and draw Haywood out, it could be a long night for Washington.

Right on Nate. The key is that Jamison should be the one doubling when Big Ben is on the floor. Heck, whenever Big Ben is on the floor, double off him. Same with Anderson Vareajau. DO NOT LET GIBSON SHOOT!. I don't think Damon Jones will play much. West and Gibson will be the primary options at the 1 and 2, and Devin Brown is above him as well. That's a mistake, IMO.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

In a perfect world the series won't go anything like this...

[FreeBalling]

This is how we stop James.

LBJ vs. Wizards. Make the call.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EGiBXYJiTF8&feature=related

20 second clip. Cheers all.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Gil has a new blog

Bush-League Gimmicks
I

[TheSecretWeapon]

I agree with fishercob -- if smack talk gets LeBron more motivated, then LeBron ain't the player I thought he was. I suspect he'll play exactly the same game he would have played anyway. Yeah, it'd be a little embarrassing for Stevenson if Lebron goes off and the Cavs win. But, if Stevenson can get in Lebron's head -- even a little -- it's probably a good thing for the Wiz.

Keeping Lebron out of the lane is probably impossible. Big thing is to try to keep him out of the middle. Send him baseline as much as possible. And definitely knock the crap out of him when possible. Not flagrant stuff, but good, hard fouls when he tries to go inside.

[Wizardspride]

You guys should read some of the things Cavs
fans are saying about Gil and us as Wiz fans,
on thier board. I don't know whether to laugh
or be angry.

[fishercob]

I agree with fishercob -- if smack talk gets LeBron more motivated, then LeBron ain't the player I thought he was. I suspect he'll play exactly the same game he would have played anyway. Yeah, it'd be a little embarrassing for Stevenson if Lebron goes off and the Cavs win. But, if Stevenson can get in Lebron's head -- even a little -- it's probably a good thing for the Wiz.

All that stat-goobering is finally making you smart!

[closg00]

;

1) Gil and Stevenson stop giving Lebron amunition. Calling Lebron Overrated and saying we want clevenland because theyre a 500 team does nothing but give the opponent motivation.

Barkley thinks the Wizards will be sorry.

"I think for them to rile up LeBron, who's the second-best player we've got in the NBA . . . I think that's just stupid," Barkley said. "I thought [the Wizards] had a chance to win that series. I don't think that anymore.

"I think it would be totally different if they had the homecourt. But, for them to think they're going to go into Cleveland . . . they just riled up LeBron, the Cavaliers and all the fans. I just think that was stupid."