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Cavs-Wizards 1st round playoff series

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Somehow I think the Washington perspective will be a little different today on PTI. At least those two aren't complete dumbasses like these douchenozzles. IIRC Lebron got 2 fouls that should have gone on Arenas last night.
 
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http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20060423-124015-1982r.htm

LeBron has it his way in first playoff showing

By Tom Knott
April 23, 2006


CLEVELAND.
Hopefully, in the future, medical science will make the necessary breakthroughs that will allow the swooning men around LeBron James to have his children.
Let the nauseating, repulsive deification of James ascend to even more torturous levels after he fashioned a triple-double in his first playoff game in leading the Cavaliers to a 97-86 victory over the Wizards yesterday.
The giggly, easily awed males interpreting the every breath of James will have three days between playoff games to dissect and discuss in numbing detail every move the chosen one made on a sunny but sulfuric day in this gritty city.
Look. Did you see that? James just took several flawless steps from the bench to the scorer's table. My, how does he do that? It is poetry in motion, and to think the Wizards have a working poet on their team.
It should be noted that James finished with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against a team that acted as if it were playing the Hawks on the second night of back-to-back games.
The Wizards might as well have saved themselves the time, energy and expense and phoned this one in from Tony Cheng's neighborhood. That would have been preferable to playing patsies to James and his three buddies in striped shirts.
The outcome was not about James, really, although the panting gushers in his midst will be certain to portray it that way. You figure it takes two teams to deliver a masterpiece. The problem is there was only one team on the floor.
The outcome was mostly facilitated by the indifference of the Wizards. Not once did they knock James on his behind. Not once did they deliver a playoff-quality blow to his body.
Of course, if one of the Wizards had done that, the three referees would have charged the culprit with assault and battery and awarded James as many free throw attempts as the rule book allows. And, no doubt, the three referees would have felt compelled to send James a get-well card, flowers and a box of chocolates.
This is not to suggest that this fawning, twisted attitude is the fault of James.
He plays basketball. That is all. He is not even Bono trying to save the world in those silly, wraparound sunglasses. James probably never imagined how the mere act of dribbling or dunking a ball would send so many gut-packing, middle-aged men into a frenzy, as if they were high school teens again chasing the cheerleaders.
Everything about the Wizards was wrong, and they were the ones, not the Cavaliers, with the playoff experience from last season.
The Wizards started to sag after the Cavaliers forged a 12-0 run near the end of the first quarter. Donyell Marshall hit a 3-pointer that pushed the lead of the Cavaliers to 30-18 with 32 seconds left in the first quarter, and that was the game.
NBA games, playoff or otherwise, are rarely decided in the first quarter. But this one was over before the players were able to mount a serious sweat.
Gilbert Arenas appeared to play much of the game in a fog, which no doubt explained coach Eddie Jordan's decision to sit the two-time All-Star for an extended period in the third quarter.
"You'll have to ask him," Jordan said of the dazed befuddlement plastered on the face of Arenas at times.
No, Arenas insisted, he was not in a fog.
"I was just trying to get Caron [Butler] and Antawn [Jamison] going early," he said. "If that is not working and I am not attacking the basket, it can look pretty bad, and I think Coach was thinking that in the third quarter."
Jordan was thinking lots of things after the game, none of it positive about his team.
He checked off his team's transgressions: lack of focus, composure, discipline and execution.
It was a hard afternoon to stomach for a coach who expected his team to be in a playoff state of mind.
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What a fucking joke? Seriously, is this guy's daily column a Lebron bitchfest?

He complains about grown men being in awe of Lebron's talent as if we want to have his children, but he spends most of his time bitching and obsessing over him. Even after game 1, he couldn't be a good sport and congratulate James on a masterful performance. I mean, Jesus, I freely admit to being very impressed with Arenas and Jamison even despite the fact that they are the opponents.

To paraphrase Kobe, I don't think this guy was hugged enough as a kid.
 
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This guy must have some serious penis envy going on.

He writes articles about how the Wizards basically need to hack James more, and do it more often - and then writes articles about how James is upset about being hacked.
 
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This guy transcends the term crybaby. Doesn't he realize that these poorly written articles make him look like a two-year-old? For that matter, any respect I had for the Washington Times (which actually was none b/c as someone who used to live outside DC, that paper's not even on the radar screen) is gone. This guy is absolutely pathetic. There's no other way to describe him.
 
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ABJ

5/5/06

Rivalry is best show in playoffs

Watching LeBron, Arenas battle for spotlight fun

By Tom Reed

<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - LeBron James possesses the spotlight Gilbert Arenas craves.
James is the Chosen One, and Arenas is the one who chose uniform No. 0, a jab at detractors who said he would not play at the University of Arizona.
The Cavaliers superstar entered this Eastern Conference playoff series against the Washington Wizards generating top billing. All the more reason Arenas has spent the first five games trying to rearrange the names on the marquee.
Judged on their own merits, they are two of the NBA's top young players. Pitted against each other in a series straining to contain their talents and personalities, James and Arenas are the best show in these playoffs.
Their inspired play, remarkable point production and late-game heroics are making the defensively challenged Cavaliers-Wizards series the most fascinating of the first-round offerings. James leads the NBA playoffs with a 36.4 point average. Arenas is second at 33.6.
Almost as intriguing is the contrasting paths by which the duo have arrived at stardom.
James has been destined for it since gracing a Sports Illustrated cover at age 17. Arenas, 24, has used every slight and snub to fuel him to be the player many never thought he would become.
``LeBron was kind of groomed for this; you knew he was special when he came in and he has lived up to the expectations,'' said Paul Silas, an ESPN analyst and former Cavs coach. ``Gil really has had to prove himself. I don't know of many who foresaw him becoming the superstar he is today.''
``He's kind of a throwback player. It brings a smile to your face when you hear about him going to the gym at midnight to work on his shot.''
The Cavaliers hold a 3-2 edge after James scored a franchise playoff record 45 points and delivered his second game-winning shot of the series in a 121-120 overtime victory Wednesday night. In each instance, James' last-second baskets have trumped stunning plays by Arenas, who nearly secured wins in Games 3 and 5 for the Wizards.
Thirty minutes after Wednesday's game, Arenas was spotted in the Cavs' locker room talking to friend and former teammate Larry Hughes. Arenas couldn't resist addressing James, according to a Washington Post report.
``Yo, that was my Game 5,'' Arenas, who scored 44, told James. ``You took my Game 5. I had my speech prepared and everything after the game. And you done messed up everything.''
Arenas was joking, but only to a point.
You sense how badly he wants to win the series for his team and himself. It's another challenge for an athlete who thrives on them.
Arenas has never forgotten he earned a scholarship at Arizona only after another recruit turned it down. He occasionally calls himself, ``No. 31,'' a reference to the pick used to select him in the 2002 NBA Draft. When Arenas wasn't picked for this season's All-Star Game -- NBA Commissioner David Stern added him as an injury replacement -- he vowed vengeance on Eastern Conference coaches who voted for others.
``What strikes me about Gilbert is his sense of pride, his sense of responsibility, the willingness to put the weight of the world on his shoulders and never complain,'' said ESPN analyst Bill Walton, whose son, Luke, played with Arenas at Arizona.
It's hardly surprising that Arenas relishes the chance to ruin James' postseason debut. The two players are on friendly terms, but there's an edge to the budding rivalry.
James' surrogate father, Eddie Jackson, seated courtside, and Arenas were seen yapping at each other throughout Game 5. The Wizards' guard also delivered the one-liner of the series following his 28-point, second-half performance that beat the Cavs 106-96 on Sunday night.
``This is the LeBron show you know,'' Arenas said. ``We're all just... We're all just witnesses.''
Arenas is not afraid to say anything. He and James are charismatic, but the Cavs' star is more guarded about his personal life.
Since he entered the NBA three seasons ago, James' image has been manicured like a championship golf course. Arenas preaches his quirky lifestyle to anyone who listens. ``Gilbertology'' is what they call it in Washington.
Arenas plays online poker at halftime in the locker room. He throws his jersey into the crowd after games. He plays practical jokes on teammates. As a member of the Golden State Warriors, he once took a shower at halftime -- in his uniform and sneakers -- and proceeded to score 23 points in the second half.
Since joining the Wizards last season, however, Arenas has matured on and off the court.
One of the most impressive aspects of the series-long duel is it hasn't come at the expense of their teams. They are not trying to one-up each other. Their terrific play has come within the flow of the games.
Each probably has been guilty of not being selfish enough. That certainly was the case with James during the decisive third quarter of Game 4. He shot only three times, as the Wizards rallied from a 13-point deficit.
``What LeBron and Gilbert are doing is unbelievable,'' Walton said. ``Forget what they will be doing in years to come, I can't wait to see what they're going to do in the next 48 hours.''
The rivalry hasn't reached the level of Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson, and it's certainly not the dynastic Celtics vs. Lakers.
Right now, however, James and Arenas are making the first round worth watching.
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Canton

5/5/06

Game 5 may stand as the night that cavs grew up together

Friday, May 5, 2006

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]SPORTS SPOTLIGHT TODD PORTER[/FONT]


The pose will be remembered for a long, long time. Amid a celebration by the loudest Cavs crowd since the Miracle at Richfield, LeBron James stood and soaked it in.
The King and his men rode out of Quicken Loans Arena after nearly tripping away. James stood about midcourt with his arm raised and fists balled, the same baby face that Ali had in similar shots that never seem to leave our memory.
Anyone who was at the Q won’t forget how special the night was. They will remember how loud the arena floor was after James took an inbounds pass from Larry Hughes and blew past three Wizards for the lead with less than a second left. They will remember how King James made it look so easy.
They’ll remember the remarkable fall-away jumpers he hit from 15 feet away.
When the dust settles, they will look back on May 4, 2006, as the night the Cavs changed. They didn’t grow up; they grew together.
What was lost in winning the pivotal Game 5 is the stretch in the third quarter when James was whistled for his fourth foul on a questionable (at best) call.

Cleveland didn’t melt. Head Coach Mike Brown didn’t panic. The game-winning baseline drive? That wasn’t LeBron making a play, it was LeBron executing a play. Brown drew it up in the huddle.
“It was a heckuva execution by the five guys on the floor,” Brown said.
Not bad for a rookie head coach, either.
Cleveland heads to Washington today to try to close this series out. Going solely by the looks on the faces of Washington stars Gilbert Arena and Caron Butler after Game 5, the Wizards are down.
“We have to worry about Game 6,” said Arenas, whose 44 points — coincidentally or not, 1 shy of LeBron — were one less than his team needed. “We’re a little down. Down because two of the games we’ve lost, we lost them close. But we’ll bounce back. The series is not over.”
Both of those games it was King James sticking a dagger into the Wizards’ hearts and pulled out their dreams.
The Cavs have all the odds in their favor. Game 1 winners take 73 percent of the series. Game 5 victors of a 2-2 knot win nearly 85 percent of a seven-game series.
You see why it was so important for Cleveland to win.
You see why LeBron refused to lose.
“It would have been devastating (if we had lost),” James said. “Being up 7 or 8 points with a minute and a half, we got soft. We let them get layup after layup.”
As impressive as the King was, he had a bench. Nearly seven minutes ticked off the clock and James sat on the bench. Hughes, Donyell Marshall and Flip Saunders held serve.
Brown itched to get his star back in the game, but saw what was happening.
His team was becoming a team.
“That’s probably the longest I’ve left LeBron out of a close game,” Brown said. “The guys we had on the floor ... gave us the opportunity to try to win the game at the end. I take my hat off to all those guys.”
More than become a team, they’re maturing.
It was interesting to see Arenas in Cleveland’s locker room when the game was long over. He was chatting with Hughes and joking with LeBron.
“You took my Game 5,” Arenas said. “You took it away from me. That was my game.”
LeBron barely smiled. The game still meant something to him.
And he meant business. “We have to go to Washington and take care of business,” James said. Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: [email protected]


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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Brutus1 said:
Aside from Hughes, where the heck are the rest of the guys? I realize there wasn't much time left but what if an offensive rb was needed?

Why are the dickheads in the first row sitting down? Maybe they're Bullet fans.
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I heard Mike Brown on the radio talking about the play he drew up. The other guys were all supposed to be on the perimeter to open up the baseline for James, so I can't blame them too much for not getting in underneath in time.
 
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