Photo. MannionMichael Wilbon’s column in today’s Washington Post rips the hometown Wiz and their money players (and rightly so) for their performance in the first two games of their series with the Cavs.
He points out that the gap between LeBron - a true superstar - and the Wizards’ All-Stars is vast … and getting wider by the day. From his column:
… LeBron also proved for the second straight game that it’s also true he’s better than Butler, Jamison and Arenas combined. LeBron attacked the Wizards physically, played smarter and harder, and led his team to a 23-point bulge after three quarters that made the rest of the game useless.
Get this: LeBron, all by himself, outscored Washington’s three all-stars 30-28. None of the three scored as many points as Wally Szczerbiak. None scored as many as Daniel Gibson. The Wizards ought to be ashamed of themselves to get into the playoffs and come up this small.
As great as LeBron is, the Cavaliers should never dominate the Wizards to such an extent in a playoff game. The Cavs aren’t the Celtics or Lakers; they’re not even as good as they were last year. Not close. Plus, the Wizards are supposed to be better than they were a year ago. Yet, last year’s team, short Arenas and Butler, who were hurt, gave a much greater effort in all four of those games than they did in Game 2.How dumb of me to have presumed on the eve of the series that three all-stars could eclipse one LeBron. Okay, the series isn’t over yet, what with the Wizards getting the next two games at home. But they have to do a 180-degree spin-o-rama to change the momentum Cleveland has built, and nothing the Wizards did Monday night even hints at such a dramatic turnaround.
LeBron, even if he hadn’t had 30 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds, would have been effective because he drove his team with his force of personality and basketball intellect. Arenas, even when he’s on fire shooting the ball, has no such personality in these playoff games.
Read the rest of Wilbon’s story HERE.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
AY says:
It sounds so easy; why doesn’t he play against lebron himself?
I’ll prefetch the response: he’s saying that the wiz players are not delivering while getting paid a lot of money. Know what, I want to see if someone paid Wilbon 10 mil a year to play basketball, whether if he could turn it down.
What does he want from those guys? If you say try harder, it’s one thing. If you say on Arenas’ best day he can’t hold lebron’s jock, then do your essay on the wizard’s gm, not the players.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
GEE..What goes up....Must come down..Not me clown! says:
P.T.I. going off! He is correct though. This time it’s really on the Wiz too, cause ok fool me once you know shame on you, after that it’s all on me.
It’s not like the world doesn’t know LeBron is going to drive and shoot the occasional J and 3. It’s not like the world doesn’t know to force everyone else to shoot on his squad yet….you surrender 30.
Can’t wait to see P.T.I. today…except for when they talk about Utah being up 2-0. Naw props to Utah so far, more Dwill than anyone though, I already was impressed but now I am amazed!
Come on Wiz you are better than that!!?!….ain’t you??
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
nbaroundtable says:
Does anyone else think Caron Butler is injured? He seemed very limited those first two games.
He can’t even take advantage of Wally Szczerbiak. Only 14 and 12 points respectively from the first two games. It’s not like Wally is a defender.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Bust Jlaze says:
Yo this is going to swing the other way in Washington (I hope)
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
bxballer says:
I can’t wait until the Wiz get back in this series. Their is a lot of LeBron slurping going on in the media lately.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
word says:
lol @ Lebron slurping, I dunno though, if the Wiz get swept, DeShawn is going to look like an idiot, more so than he already does. And then no one is going to take them serious unless they change up the roster. Than again, changing up the roster doesn’t always equal improvement.. see the mavs.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
hotdog says:
you called it word, Deshawn will look like a freakin clown if the get swept in this series. With Lebron averaging 30/10/8 on his face. He shouldnt have opened his mouth.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
QQ says:
SHITTY ARENAS ANNOYS THE HELL OUT OF ME!!!
That is all
PS: Seriously.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:37 am
doc says:
I feel bad for Jamison and Caron,because they were just balling then all of a sudden this dickhead Deshawn and Gil decide to disrespect the most powerful force in the game when they’re about to play them.Thats probaly why Eddie Jordan put Gil on Bron.You talked shit you bought this ass whipping.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Reed Ewing Frazier says:
Go Wizards!! haha superman dem hoes!! But Wilbon is right handle you business the Wizards should not be looking this bad for real.