Game 1 is now complete, and despite what the commentators on TNT think, Washington doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.
The Cavaliers opened up the playoffs with a 97-82 win over the Wizards. Larry Hughes had 27 points, and LeBron James had 23 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.
Seriously, John Thompson just said that “Washington has to walk away from this thinking like they’ve done some damage”. When he said it, Cleveland was ahead 97-80. Sit down, Thompson, you’re officially irrelevant.
TNT’s reasoning, if you can call it that, is that Washington had a bad game and they just HAVE to get better. Seriously. That’s their summary. One of their key points was that DeShawn Stevenson shot 3-12 from the floor, and that when he shoots better, they’ll be able to compete.
Honestly, DeShawn Stevenson?
If Stevenson had shot 11 for 12, it would have given them the 16 extra points they needed. So, yeah it’s possible. But it’s possible that Scarlett Johannson will someday fall in love with me. In reality, neither is ever gonna happen.
Yes, Washington shot 37 percent from the floor, and odds are that they’ll do better at some point during the series. But what Thompson and the rest of TNT fail to recognize is that Cleveland only shot 44% and they too will improve.
What I saw today inspired me. The Cavaliers did not play a great game, but they blew out their playoff opponent. As this series wears on, the Cavs will improve, but I don’t really believe Washington has much room to improve. If they are going to take anything away from Cleveland, it’s going to require a lights-out performance from one or two unexpected players.
They just don’t have the clutch player they can lean on to pull them through the 4th quarter. Antawn Jamison is a great player, and he was deadly when the Wiz had Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler on the floor. Jamison was a perfect choice to bury a big shot when we had to put our best defenders on Arenas and Butler….but now the Cavs have the luxury of double-teaming Jamison, because nobody really expects the rest of Washington to do anything resembling “clutch”. I know these guys are all professionals, but Antonio Daniels and Eton Thomas just do not and will not strike fear in my heart.
On an average day, the Cavs won by 15. Imagine what they’ll do on a good day.
But on a special note to John Thompson….do you really think that Washington can have a perfect day, good enough to beat the Cavaliers in these playoffs? OK, it’s possible. But do you actually think they’ll do it four times?
No, I didn’t think so.
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