Wow, so much to glean from Thursday night's 101-99 Wizards victory over Cleveland, and not enough deadline wiggle room or inches in the paper to get it all out. So here are a few more nuggets on the Wizards vs. the Cavs ...
Stevenson laughs last
The smack talk started before the game when a comment regarding DeShawn Stevenson was relayed from the Cavaliers locker room to the Wizards. It kept right on rolling as soon as the teams took the court for tip-off. LeBron James walked up to Stevenson and started jawing, and Stevenson jawed back. Stevenson was also a target of the Cavs' eccentric Damon Jones, who railed the Wizards' top lockdown defender/3-point specialist, from the bench and when he got into the game.
Stevenson responded by matching up with James and forcing him into seven turnovers -- canceling out his seven assists. He also recorded 13 points -- making four 3-pointers -- and five assists and three steals.
Stevenson had given his I-can't-feel-my-face gesture after 3-pointers a rest in recent weeks, but he broke it out again after his first trey. But he switched his celebration on the last three 3-pointers to mock Jones, holding the last three fingers of one hand above the open palm of the other -- as if serving a trey up on a tray -- and then reaching back and smacking his butt as he glared at Jones and ran down the court.
Stevenson also drew a rare charge call on James out of the referees with less than a minute left to play.
When asked what all the smack talk was about he shrugged it off saying, "Man, we said so much stuff out there, it's hard to remember."
Fans rise up
The Wizards fans, normally rather quiet and not always aware of what's going on, came out in force last night, numbering 20,173 -- the Wizards' 18th sellout of the season. And they went to work on James, booing the NBA's leading scorer nearly every time he touched the ball in the first half.
During a timeout with five minutes left in the second quarter, a fan sitting behind press row heckled James as he walked to the bench, screaming "LeBron! Three-of-10? Three-of-10? C'Mon, that all you got?" James chuckled and said "It's early, it's early." The fans continued to pester King James throughout the game, calling him a bum and reminding him how badly he sucked. Funny; 25 points and seven rebounds is considered sucking, but hey, at least the Wizards fans were into the game for a change.
Game balls
First half: Caron Butler. Tough Juice returned from a 16-game layoff because of that labral tear in his left hip and hit his team's first two shots of the game. He finished the first quarter with a team-high nine points and scored the first points of the second and third quarters. After the game, Butler admitted feeling some fatigue in the second half. But the game ended with the ball in his hands as he pulled down the rebound on James' missed 3-pointer at the horn. And he said his hip still felt great despite recording a team-high 41 minutes. Happy 28th Birthday, Caron!
Second half: Antonio Daniels. A.D. badly injured his left thumb Tuesday when he got it caught in an opposing player's jersey. He played anyway, but considering he had nearly an inch of tape around his thumb and wrist and the fact that every time he caught the ball, or got bumped, he winced badly, Daniels injury could be more serious than he's letting on. He took only four shots in the game, and went to his right a lot. But he stepped up when it counted, making six of seven foul shots in the final 2:31 of the game, which was decided by just two points.
By the numbers
17
Cavaliers turnovers, which the Wizards converted into 23 points. It helped offset the Wizards' struggles on the offensive glass. They had only seven offensive rebounds and got out-rebounded 51-36 for the game.
Soundbites
"Golly, I can't even tell you. I can't even tell you."
-- Daniels on how uncomfortable his thumb was.
"I'm always comfortable at the line. And I wanted to be there at the end of the game. I wanted the ball at the end of the game to knock the free throws down."
-- Daniels on his six fourth-quarter foul shots.
"We're having a good time. We're shutting K Street down tonight. We'll have a good time out there, then we'll get back up and get back to the drawing board."
-- Caron Butler on celebrating his 28th birthday after the game.
"We're just waiting on Gilbert. Just hoping he comes back, next week or the next week. But we're gonna hold it down 'til he does."
-- Butler on the Wizards getting back to full force.
"The world was watching, it's your birthday, you know you have a lot of things ruling in your favor, so you knew it was gonna be an exceptional night."
-- Butler on coming back on his birthday on a nationally-televised game.
-- Mike Jones
Photo by Joseph Silverman / The Washington Times
