Grading the Bullets on Game 1

Washington got nothing from its bench apart from Gilbert Arenas and the starting backcourt, which should have an advantage over Cleveland, was terrible. Getting outscored by 11 points in the 4th quarter simply isn’t acceptable.
Caron Butler: We don’t know how injured Caron is. He should have been far more aggressive on offense considering he was being guarded by Wally Szczerbiak. Caron’s 14 points were too few and his 4 turnovers were too many. Is it realistic to expect more, considering how injured Caron might be. Grade: C
Antawn Jamison: His 19 rebounds were huge and he worked hard on defense, but he missed too many open shots in the 4th quarter. Make those shots and the Bullets win the game and Jamison is the undisputed hero of the opening match of the series. Grade: B
Brendan Haywood: 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. Sounds like a perfect game, eh? Except that Haywood got himself into early foul trouble, limiting him to less than 30 minutes on the floor and Big Z destroyed the Cavs when Haywood had to sit. Brendan must do in game 2 what he did in game 1, but do it without all the fouls. If he does, Washington probably wins. Grade: B
Deshawn Stevenson: Scored 3 points on 1 for 9 shooting and, after the first quarter, didn’t defend Lebron James particularly well. The only thing he did right was dish 5 assists. Don’t talk the talk if you’re not going to walk the walk. Grade: F
Antonio Daniels: Played only 20 minutes because Arenas was needed and Daniels was awful. Didn’t defend well and committed 2 turnovers with only one assist. Dismal. Grade: F
Gilbert Arenas: Shot well from the perimeter and committed no turnovers. Led the team in scoring despite playing only 28 minutes. On the other hand, Gil made some very bad decisions with the ball in the last 2 minutes. On the other hand, it wouldn’t have been a competitive game without Gilbert on the floor to save the team in the second quarter. Grade: A-
Andray Blatche: Committed 3 fouls in less than 9 minutes, one of them a hard shot to James. Otherwise, he did almost nothing. Finished with 2 rebounds, but never even took a shot. Washington needs more than that from Blatche, particularly when Haywood is in foul trouble. Grade: D
Darius Songaila: Had a hard time defending Big Z when Haywood left with foul trouble, but that’s to be expected. Three points on 1-6 shooting is not acceptable, however, particularly when several of those shots were clean looks at the basket. Grade: D

Roger Mason: Missed all 4 of his shots, including some nice, clean looks in 12 minutes on the floor. Did nothing else. Grade: F