Cavaliers fan were excited and ready to celebrate a Cavalier win last Wednesday. That didn’t happen and tonight the Cavaliers will try again.
Reasons to be optimistic about thonight’s game:
1- In the past two postseasons, Cleveland has eliminated the Wizards at Verizon Center
2- The Cavaliers have failed to close at home last year in game 5 against the Nets, and the previous year against the Pistons.
3- The Wizards haven’t been eliminated on the road since 1988, when they were knocked out in the first round at Detroit.
4- Cavaliers in game 5 missed 15 layups and 16 three-pointers and still lost by just one point.
Â
Game Bullets:
– Wizards new tactic, Shut up and play:
“We just said, ‘It’s time to stop all the talking.’ A lot of guys were trying to defend themselves as far as this and that. But it wasn’t working,” Jamison said Thursday. “We said: ‘The ultimate change-around is for us to just be quiet and find a way to come back from 3-1 and win the series.’ I think they finally got it.”
Neither DeShawn Stevenson nor Brendan Haywood met with the media after the Wizards’ brief practice and video session Thursday.
– Mike Brown on the Cavaliers Wacky play:
“I don’t know if wacky is the word,” Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown said when asked to describe this series. “The playoffs is a season into itself. You can experience a lot of highs, a lot of lows, a lot of good things, a lot of bad things, and we definitely have run the gamut so far.
– Coach blames self for not calling Ilgauskas’ number
”It was bad decision-making on my part; I didn’t call his number,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said of Ilgauskas Thursday after practice. ”I thought we had some good
looks — one look that was a little questionable was probably LeBron’s 3. In terms of Z not getting touches down the stretch, I didn’t call his number, but I’ll live with every other possession we had besides that 3.”
Ilgauskas offered no criticism of what happened, emphasizing that the Wizards played him well.
”It’s hard to get anything in the post because they bottle up and send two people. I had a hard time getting the ball,” he said. ”Usually they have two people on me even when I don’t have the ball, usually someone in front of me and someone in back.”
Â