Wizards Show Glimpse of Future in Win Over Cavs

With two more familiar faces in the starting lineup and a familiar foe coming to town, the Washington Wizards showed a national TV audience what next year could be by beating the rival Cavaliers 109-101. In his first game of the season at Verizon Center, Brendan Haywood finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds and five other Wizards finished in double figures including Gilbert Arenas who recorded 11 points and 10 assists in his second game of the season.

"We hope that this will give people a preview of what we will be next year. This is what we thought we would be this year," said interim Head Coach Ed Tapscott on his starting lineup that featured Haywood and Arenas for the first time this season. "Injuries, perfect storm, robbed us of that. Despite our troubles this group has held together and worked hard in practice. These guys have hung together and supported each other and I'm very proud of what they've done."

Despite having Brendan Haywood and Gilbert Arenas in the starting lineup for the first time all season, the Wizards struggled out of the gate as Cleveland built an 11-2 lead. After a slow start, the Wizards quickly gathered themselves and answered Cleveland's start with a 10-2 run to cut the Cleveland lead to one and eventually took a 16-15 advantage after a Jamison runner. In his first home appearance of the season, Haywood made his presence felt in the first, grabbing seven rebounds in under 10 minutes of action.

"I think he did a great job," said Arenas of Haywood's performance. "I think what people don't realize about Brendan is that he plays great defense. He is a smart defensive player. I'm glad we had him tonight against Ilgauskas."

After closing the first on a high note with a three-point lead, the Wizards quickly increased their advantage to seven thanks to JaVale McGee and Darius Songaila who came off the bench to ignite the Wizards with inside scoring and a few highlight dunks from McGee. While the Wizards built a seven-point advantage, the Cavaliers slowly cut into Washington's lead and tied the score at 32.

Threatened by the team with the best record in the NBA, the Wizards did not fold, closing the half on a 17-9 run led by the "Big Three" of Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison who combined for 15 of the Wizards' points during the run to help Washington take an eight-point lead into intermission.

The Wizards held onto their momentum to start the second half, quickly building a double-digit lead after back-to-back dunks to start the second half. After controlling the glass in the first quarter, Haywood got going offensively in the third, dropping in eight points with most of the baskets coming from Arenas who had four of his 10 assists in the third. The returning starters helped carry Washington to an 80-70 lead entering the fourth.

"Gilbert has come back with a wonderful pass-first mentality," said Tapscott. "He picks his spots to score. We've often said the success means 20 assists for our team. We had 15 at halftime and 12 in the second half. When we share the ball, we are a much better team. Gilbert sets that tone."

After outplaying the 61-13 Cavaliers for the first 36 minutes, the Wizards watched Cleveland cut into their lead and tie the score at 86 following a three-pointer by Wally Szczerbiak. Having watched their lead slip away, the Wizards turned to Songaila, who matched up against the smaller Szczerbiak and took him into the post and outmuscled the physically-inferior foe, dropping in five of 17 points during an 8-2 run that saw the Wizards push their lead to 94-88 with 5:36 to play.

The Cavaliers made one final push, but the stingy Wizards defense would have none of it as the Wizards came up with key defensive stops and made their free throws in pulling out a 109-101 win.

"There is a long history of these two teams going back to the playoffs from the last couple of years," said Tapscott. "I think we get prepared to play against Cleveland. We also took the challenge that they are the best team in the league this year. It's always great to measure yourself against the best."

The Wizards will now look for back-to-back home wins when they host the Miami Heat at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.