Lebron dominates the Wiz again - AP Tony Deja

The Washington Wizards showed up to play in the first quarter tonight, using early often, great rebounding and solid shooting to jump out to a 31-17 lead after 12 minutes. Unfortunately, NBA games are played in four quarters and the Wizards didn’t do much at all in the following three. Lebron James scored 27 points and added 8 rebounds and 6 assists, while Shaquille O’Neal had easily the best game of his season, pouring in 21 points on 7 of 9 shooting and 8 rebounds. Shaq got all the Wizards big men in early foul trouble and the Wiz never recovered from a disastrous second quarter. When the collapse came it was spectacular and quick and, I thought, felt quite inevitable.

Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler both scored 22 points, but each also missed 11 of 18 shots and Butler, in particular, did almost nothing after a hot first quarter. The Wizards were outscored 85-59 in the last three quarters of the game. The offense began to bog down early in the second quarter and never recovered. The fast breaks and quick passing disappeared, replaced by mindless dribbling and hapless isolation plays with the clock running down.

Andray Blatche returned to earth, scoring only 7 points on 3 of 7 shooting, though he did grab 8 rebounds in 25 minutes.

Wizards fans will focus on all the bad calls that went against the team and there were certainly plenty of those. However, the Wizards lost because their big men couldn’t handle Shaq at all and because the entire team had nothing after a quick punch to start the game. The Cavaliers are an elite team and elite teams don’t quit after the first quarter. [Hint: Wizards are NOT an elite team.] The Cavaliers were always going to recover and fight back and the only question was whether or not the Wizards would be able to handle it. They were not. The Wizards are simply not in the same class as the Cavaliers are right now. Gilbert Arenas is not Lebron and Haywood is certainly no Shaq. The real question for the Wiz now is whether or not they will learn anything from a very humbling loss.

The Wizards laid a big fat egg tonight, but need to have short memories, as Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat await them tomorrow night in Washington.