Wizards 86 - 93 Cavaliers
Final
  for this game

Cavaliers open playoffs with Wizards, again

Apr 19, 2008 - 11:25 AM Washington at Cleveland 12:30 pm EDT Eastern Conference first round

CLEVELAND (Ticker) - The Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards continue their budding rivalry when they open a best-of-seven series on Saturday in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

This is the third straight season the Cavaliers and Wizards have met in the first round.

Cleveland swept Washington last season, but that series came with a caveat - both Gilbert Arenas (knee) and Caron Butler (wrist) were sidelined by injuries.

While Arenas is still not at full strength after a second knee surgery, which forced him to miss most of the season, this series should be more indicative of the 2006 meeting which saw the Cavaliers prevail in six games - the final three of which were decided by one point.

The teams split four meetings this season, with Washington posting a 101-99 victory on March 13 when LeBron James missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

James' failure to convert that shot spurred Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson's to refer to the 23-year-old phenom as "overrated."

Arenas took his comments a step further saying that he had hoped the Wizards met the Cavs in the opening round.

"I think everybody wants Cleveland in that first round," Arenas said on his NBA.com blog. "They've been a .500 team ever since they made that trade, and everybody wants a chance at that matchup.

"We want Cleveland for our own reasons, we don't think they can beat us in the playoffs three years straight. It's hard to beat a team three years straight. We want to try our luck."

However, James, who chose not to engage in the trash talking, will likely let his performance speak for him.

"Of course, they are gonna talk," James said. "That's what they do."

James won his first NBA scoring title by averaging 30 points per game and could be headed for his first league MVP award after added almost eight rebounds and seven assists a contest.






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