Sweep!

Yes, I know. We were supposed to win this series anyway. Hell, even the Wizards fans knew that the series was over, judging by the number of empty seats in the Verizon Center last night.

I heard that they didn’t do player introductions before the game. They wanted to save time, so instead they had every fan in attendance stand up and tell a little something about themselves.

What impressed me about last night is the way the Cavs won the game. Washington threw everything they had at this game, desperate to keep their lockers from being cleaned out for one more game. But yet, the Cavs prevailed. The stats that jump out at me are the ones that have me smiling as we face off against New Jersey or Toronto…..

– LeBron James had 31 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists
– James was 14-17 from the free throw line
– As a team, we shot over 90% from the line (LBJ’s 3 misses were the only misses all night)
– Z had a 20-point, 19-rebound night
– Larry Hughes had 19 points and one turnover

But the stat that I am most thrilled about is the way we won WITHOUT having to rely on LeBron. 18 of our final 20 points were scored by Z and Hughes. We are a team that often stands around and watches to see if LBJ will win the game. Not last night. The rest of the team took control instead.

So now we sit back and wait. New Jersey and Toronto play tonight at 7pm. If the Nets win, they advance to the second round to play us. If Toronto wins, Game 6 takes place on Friday night.

There is no word as to when the second round will begin, even if NJ advances tonight. The NBA has not released any second round schedules yet, even in the case of Chicago/Detroit, who both advanced over the weekend. In years past, the NBA has been hesitant to start any new round until the previous round is nearly completed on both sides of the league.

I’d like to see the Cavs get some rest, but I can’t see us playing again until at least three days after Jersey or Toronto advances. Detroit and Chicago may get a reprieve and start soon, but expect to see their games all get two or three days between each other. It could be very, very ugly if they allowed that series to start too early. For example, if one team swept the other, it could end up forcing a full 7-10 days of down time, especially if NJ/Toronto goes 7 games, followed by a 7 game series against Cleveland.

My crystal ball says that Toronto wins tonight, Jersey finishes the series at home on Friday, and the Cavs/Nets begins on Monday or Tuesday of next week.