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Do IT this week: Layering
Cavaliers defender disrupts Wizards' star player
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008
CLEVELAND: Great players win games at key moments in the NBA, especially in the playoffs.
So it went Saturday in the heated and chippy first game of the first-round NBA playoffs series between the Cavaliers and Washington Wizards. One great player made two key baskets in the final minutes. Another couldn't make a knot in a shoelace.
LeBron James sank two difficult but graceful shots, with 1:37 left and 55 seconds left, to put the Cavs ahead by four in what would be a seven-point win.
Gilbert Arenas could not make a thing in the fourth quarter, missing his final four shots for the Wizards.
There was a reason: An unheralded Cavs guard took it upon himself to get in Arenas' space and face.
Forced to forgo the jump shot he loves, Arenas wound up throwing up airballs in crunch time.
Agent Zero took the zero — as in zero-for-four in the final 2:13.
Two 17-foot jumpers missed, then Arenas missed the basket completely on attempted drives — from 5 and 2 feet.
The last two weren't close.
All came off the dribble — even the 17-footers.
The reason?
Delonte West forced the issue.
The guard who came over from the Seattle SuperSonics at the trade deadline was vital in changing the tone of the game by taking away Arenas' jumpers.
''He is a very underrated defender,'' James said of West. ''Before we got him, I never knew how good of a defender he was. Gilbert played exceptionally well coming off the bench, but down the stretch, (West) made him take some tough shots.
''It was key.''
James' shots and his overall play (32 points and much hostility toward Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson) were typical.
But the Cavs don't win Game 1 without the play of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who kept them in the game in the first half and fought his way to loose balls at key moments in the second.
Nor do they win without West.
Strong first half
Arenas almost shot the Cavs to Canada in the first half. Coming off the bench, Arenas shot four-for-four from 3-point range, including one from Ontario to end the first quarter.
Fourteen first-half points seemed to indicate that Arenas was correct when he said he might not be totally healthy — he's only six games back from a knee injury — but his shot was fine.
Early in the game, Arenas seemed to salivate at the possibility of West guarding him. He called for the ball, tried to post up West and did all he could to take advantage.
In the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, things changed.
West moved closer to Arenas, forced him to drive. The open jumper was no longer there. And because he's coming off a knee injury, Arenas was not able to finish his drives.
Arenas ''got them an 11-point lead almost by himself,'' Cavs forward Joe Smith said. ''For Delonte to take that personal, take pride in it, and do what he did and make him take tough shots in the second half, that was big for us.''
And Niagara Falls is a tad wet.
Arenas, though, might not agree.
He blamed the situation on his knee and not being totally back from the injury.
He said he got tired as the game went on, that he didn't have his legs to take 3s and didn't have the legs to finish his drives.
''It's not the old Gil,'' he said.
Especially on the drives.
''Still, I should have made those shots,'' he said. ''They were easy shots.''
They didn't look easy, as Arenas disappeared into a cluster of players and the ball came flying out. Even when he made a driving layup in the fourth quarter, it looked more like a flip-it-up effort rather than a confident shot.
''As the game goes on, I start to get tired and fatigue a little bit,'' he said.
No excuses
West's thoughts on whether Arenas was tired?
''We're a no-excuse team over here,'' West said. ''We can't speak for anybody else. All we're worried about is getting wins. We got the win, so now it's time to focus on Monday.''
OK, then.
But before heading to Monday, give West some credit. He had as good a game as a guy can have who shoots 3-for-10. West's floor play was important, as he matched Daniel Gibson for a team-high five assists. So was his free-throw shooting (8-for-8, including making four late after James had missed two). But most important was his defense.
No sense kidding ourselves. This won't happen with Arenas every game. He's just too good a scorer.
Even with the final four misses, he still finished 8-for-16 and led the Wizards with 24 points.
But when Arenas misses four times at the most important part of the game, it's more than coincidence.
This game started nasty. No handshakes from James before the game — a huge statement by omission. Two hard fouls of James and James' retaliation with an elbow to the jaw of Andray Blatche and a near-brawl at the end of the first half.
But basketball took over in the second half, and late in the game, Arenas was missing.
Whether he was tired or he didn't have his legs or he forced the issue because he wanted to match James or he simply was not very good in this one case, it really doesn't matter.
Bottom line: West did a better job on him as the game went on, and Arenas missed when his team needed him to make.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/
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