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Wizards' trash talking hasn't slowed James, Cavaliers

Apr 24, 2008 - 2:34 PM Cleveland at Washington 8:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference first round Cavaliers lead, 2-0

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Washington Wizards' trash talking has done nothing to slow down LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The fourth-seeded Cavaliers try to take a three-games-to-none series lead against the Wizards in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs when the teams square off Thursday at Washington.

James, who was referred to as "overrated" by Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson before the series, finished with 30 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds on Monday, leading Cleveland to a dominating 116-86 blowout victory in Game Two.

"We just wanted to continue to be aggressive," James said. "In the first half, we were aggressive. We wanted to be aggressive and continue to execute.

"We're a mentally prepared team. We're focused. We know (in) Game Three, we're not going to win by 30. But we know we can control some teams, and that's defensively."

The win marks the eighth straight time that Cleveland has defeated Washington in the playoffs over the past three seasons, as James rose above hard fouls for a second straight game to finish just one rebound shy of a triple-double.

Brendan Haywood was ejected for a flagrant foul at the 6:59 mark in the third quarter after he pushed the 6-8 superstar during a layup attempt, leaving James with a slightly bloodied forearm.

"It was scary, honestly," James said. "That's the only thing I could think of when I was in the air was hopefully I can get one foot under me so I can break my fall. I knew it was going to be a tough fall."

Cleveland coach Mike Brown hopes the hard fouls don't get out of control.

"You can't have grown men saying, 'I'm going to hit somebody,'" Brown said. "If that's the case, we, the NBA, the officials, cannot allow anything to get out of hand and they have to keep control over the game on both sides."

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan blames himself for the Game Two loss, but also realizes that James is causing his team trouble.

"We are playing the (Eastern Conference) champions and I know they changed their team, but they still have the same coaching staff, and in a respectful way, the monster player (James), and he's taking over the series," Jordan said. "I did a horrible job trying to keep our guys playing with intensity, discipline and organization."