Wizards vs. Cavaliers final score: 3 things we learned from Washington’s confident win over LeBron
John Wall was exquisite, putting up 28 points to comfortably beat LeBron James and the Cavs, who didn’t hit a field goal for the last nine minutes of the game.
Wall had 17 points in the third quarter, showing his entire repertoire, even connecting over and over on his sometimes-shaky jumper to brutalize the Cavs from midrange. And although Cleveland had an opportunity to get back in the game late, the team missed its last 12 shots of the game, never threatening in the second half.
The Cavaliers led early -- LeBron had nine points in the game's first eight minutes -- but a 9-0 run to end the first quarter gave the Wizards a lead they'd hold onto the rest of the night. They'd push the lead to double digits in the second, and it would stay there for most of the game. The Wizards only scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs' horrendous shooting meant Washington still won by double digits.
LeBron had 22 points, but it took him 21 shots. Kyrie Irving also had 22 on the night, but he and LeBron didn't get a whole ton of help from anybody else on the roster.
The win moves the Wizards to 8-3, second in the Eastern Conference.
Here’s what we learned from the game:
1. When the Cavs’ bench is bad, it’s pretty bad
This screenshot from about halfway through the third quarter.
Zero points. Zero! The bench would finish with nine points on 16 shots, 1-for-9 from three.
With LeBron, Kevin Love, and Irving in the starting lineup, nobody expects Cleveland's bench to be the primary reason for their success. Those three will play the most minutes, handle the ball the majority of the time, and take the most shots. That's a given.
But it would be nice to get *something* from the other 12 guys with contracts. When LeBron was with the Heat, he had a slew of teammates who could come off the bench and impact games: Shane Battier, Ray Allen, Chris Andersen, and even current teammate Mike Miller.
Tonight, the Wizards had several of those players: Kevin Seraphin put up double digits off the bench, and so did pseudo-starter Bradley Beal. The Cavs had none. And in a game they were competitive in, a few points from their non-starters might've been helpful.
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2. Bradley Beal will be starting pretty much tomorrow
The jury is in: Bradley Beal is juuuuuuust fine, thank you, and Garrett Temple’s stint in the starting lineup should be just about over. Beal was a sparkplug for the Wizards early, scoring nine points shortly after entering, and finished with the highest plus-minus of anybody in the game, +24.
Beal finished second on the team in scoring with 12 points and also had five assists, five rebounds, and three steals. Temple only played nine minutes. The backcourt gang of Wall and Beal is back, and it’s just as good as it should be.
3. The Cavs’ effort will be a question
At halftime, Chris Broussard spoke to Mike Miller, with Miller essentially saying that he felt the team wasn’t playing hard enough. It sorta looked that way:
LeBron's utter dejection at having to play with Dion Waiters https://t.co/AvhDGAG9Ja
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) November 22, 2014 The "wanting it more" stuff is normally BS, but not in this Wiz-Cavs game. Bron losing Pierce for wide open corner 3 is good example.
— Jack Winter (@ArmstrongWinter) November 22, 2014 Early on, the Cavs’ struggles were chalked up to the fact that a team filled with star power needed to gel. This looked less like a team that needed time to work and more like a team that wasn’t playing at full speed.
It's a long season, and the Cavs can't give 100 percent every night. No team can, if they want to go deep -- look at the way the Spurs rest players at this point in the year out of routine. But it's still weird to see a team looking a bit bored and admitting they're a bit bored.
