The sellout crowd donned white shirts, waved white towels, booed all-star G Lebron James every time he touched the ball, and supported the home team to the highest degree.  The Washington Wizards ended their eight game losing streak in the post-season (all to the Cavaliers) by destroying Cleveland 108-72.

         
  The tone was set from the beginning as the Wizards got every one involved.  Six players scored in the 1^st quarter alone and with 4:10 left the Wizards took the lead for good on a fade away jump shot from all-star F Caron Butler. 

       
    It appeared that the Cavaliers’ big men, C Zydrunas Ilgauskas and F/C Ben Wallace, were still bitter towards C Brendan Haywood after the hit he gave all-star G Lebron James in game two.  Wallace and Ilgauskas were banging on Haywood, trying to get him mentally out of the game.  Haywood went off after he drew a technical foul from Ilgauskas, became a major presence in the middle and didn’t back down.  Haywood finished with 14 points off 5 from 6 shooting and 7 rebounds.

      
     Gilbert Arenas initially wasn’t scheduled to start, but he did for the first time since November.  Arenas however left the game with 3:09 left in the 2^nd quarter and did not return.  He is suffering a bone bruise in his left knee and is listed as day-to-day.  Arenas finished with just 2 points on 1 of 2 shooting, 1 rebound and 3 assists.

      
    When Arenas left the game, the Wizards were up by 11 points and kept the double-digit lead all game thanks to a total team effort.  Lead by Butler and all-star F Antawn Jamison, the Wizards stayed aggressive on both ends of the court.  Butler had some fancy moves to the basket finishing with 17 points on 7 of 14 shooting and Jamison, again, was everywhere finishing with 15 points on 5 of 10 shooting and 7 rebounds. 

    
      No player was more impressive than-local son-Roger Mason, Jr.  Mason led the charge off the bench with 18 points on 8 of 14 shooting, including 2 for 3 from three-point range, and 2 steals.  When asked if he take took this game personal, his response was,” We haven’t been getting what we needed from our bench and tonight I wanted to take it upon myself, offensively and defensively, to bring energy”.

     
     It was fitting to see G Deshawn Stevenson lead the team in scoring and helping to hold James to 22 points on 10 of 19 shooting. James came into this game averaging 31 points.  Rap star Souljah boy was in the building supporting Stevenson, after comments Lebron James made about them. Stevenson did not disappoint finishing with 19 points on 5 of 9 shooting, including 5 for 7 from three-point range, and 3 steals.  (It is unknown to Stevenson and I how a comment from a “private” conversation in early March about Lebron James being “overrated” went so far).

         
The Wizards shot 52 percent from the field and 72 percent from the line.  This is normal Wizard’s basketball.  Winning the way they did last night, should give the Wizards a boost of confidence against a Cavaliers team eager to get revenge on Sunday.

 Written By Barry Barnes