Two teams that generally don’t like nor seem to have much respect for each other tip off the 2008 NBA playoffs on Saturday afternoon when the Washington Wizards visit Cleveland, with the Cavs 2-point betting favorites (over/under: 188) on WagerWeb.com.
The clubs know each other well: The home team won all four games in the regular-season split, and the Cavs beat the Wizards in the first round of the past two playoffs.
Yet that success hasn’t quieted a few Washington players.
DeShawn Stevenson has called Cleveland star LeBron James “overrated.” Gilbert Arenas recently declared, “I think everybody wants Cleveland in that first round. They’ve been a .500 team ever since they made that trade and everybody wants a chance at that matchup. We want Cleveland for our own reasons, we don’t think they can beat us in the playoffs three years straight.”
It will probably be due to Arenas that the Wizards can turn it around this year. He missed most of this season due to injury and did not face the Cavaliers at all but is finally healthy. In fact, Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison only played together in 11 games this season and only three since Arenas returned.
All three sat out a meaningless regular season finale, but Butler said Wednesday night that he still was bothered by swelling and soreness in his right knee. He said he would have been in the lineup Wednesday night had it been a playoff game.
Butler said he expects to be ready for Game 1.
"I've been getting a lot of treatment, I'm icing it and the swelling has really gone down in the last day or two," Butler said.Washington isn’t totally familiar with this version of the Cavs: the teams have met only once since the Cavaliers shook up their roster with a trade that acquired Ben Wallace, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak.
It still all revolves around LeBron, who averaged 27 points on 49.1 percent shooting over the three of four games in this series in which he played. Butler gets to guard him - so his knee better be healthy.
James became the first Cavalier to finish as the league's leading scorer with an average of 30 points per game.
Cavs coach Mike Brown rested James and his bad back on Wednesday, but he knows James will be ready for the playoffs.
"He's a tremendous talent," Brown said. "He can win a series all by himself. Hopefully he doesn't have to do that. He doesn't have to do anything magical - just go be himself, try to limit his mistakes and stay poised and continue to lead this team. That should get us to where we need to go."
Cleveland also has an injury concern: Sasha Pavlovic has a sprained ankle and is out the entire series.
Cleveland's two strengths are LeBron and rebounding (the Cavs lead the league in offensive boards; the Wizards ranked 27th in defensive rebounds). But since the big trade, the Cavs are just 14-13, while the
Wizards are 18-9 over that stretch.
Over the past five years the No. 4 seed has lost only two opening-round series (Miami in 2007 and Chicago in 2005).Betting trends: Over is 21-7 in Wizards’ last 28 vs. Eastern Conference. ... Under is 11-5 in Wizards’ last 16 road games. ... Under is 16-5 in Cavs’ last 21 home games. ... Cavs are 3-9 ATS in their last 12 games overall. ... Under is 14-6 in the teams’ last 20 meetings in Cleveland.
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