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Wizards-Cavaliers Preview

Jan 6, 2010 - 9:36 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Washington (11-21) at Cleveland (27-9), 7:00 p.m. EDT

With his team coming off a rare home loss and looking ahead toward the longest road trip of the season, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown isn't concerned with the Washington Wizards and their recent issues. Brown just wants his squad to avoid another letdown against a sub-.500 team.

The Central Division-leading Cavaliers try to win their seventh straight home game against the Wizards on Wednesday night, with Washington playing its first game without suspended guard Gilbert Arenas.

Cleveland (27-9), which opens a five-game western trip Friday in Denver, had its seven-game winning streak snapped Sunday with a 91-88 loss to Charlotte.

With their 11-game winning streak at Quicken Loans Arena also over, the Cavaliers will try to improve upon their 13-3 home record as they face a Wizards team that's been embroiled in a scandal involving Arenas, who was suspended indefinitely by the NBA hours before this game for bringing guns into Washington's locker room.

"I really don't know them well enough. ... I'm not being mean, but I don't even care (about the Arenas situation)," Brown said following Tuesday's practice.

"They're very capable of coming in here tomorrow and giving us a good run," he added. "They get up to play us ... if they beat us they can use it as a game to say we've arrived, we've got over the hump, now let's start rolling."

Washington (11-21) overcame an 18-point deficit and snapped its four-game slide with Tuesday's 104-97 victory at Philadelphia.

Antawn Jamison, who had 31 points and 10 rebounds in his season debut as the Wizards defeated Cleveland 108-91 at the Verizon Center on Nov. 18, matched season highs with 32 points and 14 rebounds against the 76ers.

Arenas scored 19 with a season-high 14 assists.

While Arenas' off-the-court drama has provided plenty of distractions, the Wizards have to focus on Cleveland, which is among the league's top defensive teams. The Cavaliers, who haven't allowed any of their last 26 opponents to shoot 50 percent or better from the field, are holding teams to 93.5 points per game.

Washington also must contend with LeBron James, who is averaging 24.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists during the Cavaliers' six-game home winning streak versus the Wizards. In the teams' first meeting this season, James had 27 points and eight rebounds, Shaquille O'Neal scored a season-high 21 points and the host Cavaliers rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit to defeat Washington 102-90 on Nov. 3.

Arenas and Caron Butler each had 22 points in that matchup, while Jamison was sidelined with an injured right shoulder.

Cavaliers guard Mo Williams has scored 20 or more in six of his last eight games, but he is averaging 10.5 points and shooting 29.6 percent versus Washington this season.

Daniel Gibson is expected to see more action after the Cavs announced Tuesday that Jamario Moon could be out at least three weeks with a left abdominal strain. Gibson, averaging 6.3 points off the bench, has not played in two of the last four games.

Arenas led the Wizards with 26 points and nine assists in their last victory in Cleveland - 102-94 on Feb. 24, 2006.