West's three-pointer ruins Wizards' rally

[Ed_Palmedo]

Tim Hipps, PA SportsTicker - Published: Monday, April 28, 2008

 

Delonte West made a three-pointer from the left corner with 5.4 seconds remaining yesterday, lifting the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 100-97 victory over the Washington Wizards in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

 

LeBron James had 34 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers, who took a 3-1 series lead and will host Game 5 on Wednesday.

 

On the game-winning play, James drew a double-team inside the key and passed the ball to West, who was wide open.

 

"I'm pretty sure everybody in the gym, including their defence, thought [James] was going to take the last shot," West said. "And I think sometimes we forget this guy has great court vision. He made the right play, and that's what makes him a great player.

 

"The play was really drawn up for everybody just to get out of the way and let LeBron do what he does best. Fortunately, that's one thing that he does best is he finds the open man."

 

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown confirmed West's assessment.

 

"The only talk was to get the ball to LeBron -- and he could figure it out from there," Brown said. "It's about trusting your teammates. We know and he knows that he's going to get double-teamed, and everyone is going to shrink that floor.

 

"If he drives and kicks, be ready to lock and load and knock that shot down."

 

The finish was reminiscent of the Cavaliers' 114-113 overtime victory in Game 6 of the teams' Eastern Conference first-round playoff series when Damon Jones came off the bench to bury the Wizards with 4.8 seconds left in overtime.

 

"A couple years ago it seems like Damon Jones was right there in the corner on almost the exact same play, but that's why he's LeBron James," Jamison said. "He demands so much attention, and we did a great job as far as boxing him up and not letting him get the opportunity to drive to the basket."

 

West scored a career play-off-high 21 points for the Cavaliers, who outrebounded the Wizards, 51-31. Ben Wallace led the way on the glass with 12 rebounds for Cleveland while Joe Smith had eight boards and Zydrunas Ilgauskas seven.

 

"We've been a good rebounding team, but the guys just gave a lot of effort today," Ilgauskas said. "There were a lot of missed shots, and we got good position under the basket. It's hard for a team to play defence when you keep getting offensive rebounds because it does tire you out."

 

"They really got on the offensive boards," Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said. "It seemed like every rebound they got, they converted on."

 

Gilbert Arenas made two free throws with 57.1 seconds remaining that pulled Washington to 97-95, but his three-point attempt as the final horn sounded fell short.

 

"Most of the time he makes it, but he's not the real Gil," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "He made a great shot there to tie it up and he had the juice, so I thought he could come up with the magic one more time."

[Guest BOOBIRDS]

I think the Gizards are out.