Crowd Had A Voice in Game 4 Win

The atmosphere inside Verizon Center was as wild as it has been all season during the second half of the Wizards' Game 4 win on Sunday night, and the players seemed to feed off the extra energy.

The noise coming from the sellout crowd of 20,173 was particularly earsplitting when Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back three-pointers and the volume reached its peak when Antonio Daniels made a pull-up jump shot moments later, giving the Wizards a six-point lead on their way to a 106-96 victory.

Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown called a timeout but his team never recovered. Daniels experienced a similar sensation last spring when he and the Seattle SuperSonics turned Seattle's Key Arena into a madhouse while taking two games from the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in a second-round series.

"That's what you like to see," Daniels said. "I love it. You feed off that. And it's demoralizing to your opponent when you go on a 10-0 run or a 12-0 run. When that crowd gets going and those towels and T-shirts are waving, it puts chills down your spine. That's what the playoffs are about. It's a different element."

The Wizards expect to walk into a similar situation tomorrow night when Game 5 tips off at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.

The two arenas resemble each other from the inside but the club level at t he "Q" -- as it's called in Cleveland -- juts out like the upper deck at old Tiger Stadium, so it can feel as though fans are right on top of the floor when the Cavaliers get on a major run as they did en route to winning Game 1.

"We have to go out there and try to silence them," Arenas said. "That's the only way to take them out of it. Don't even let it be close."

Critical Comments

As of yesterday afternoon, Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan had not been fined by the NBA for comments he made after Game 3 that were critical of the referees. Jordan was particularly frustrated that LeBron James was not called for traveling on what turned out to be the game-winning shot.

After Washington's win in Game 4, it was Brown who chirped about calls that didn't go his team's way. First, Brown wondered how Arenas attempted 10 more free throws than James. Brown then pointed out that James was whistled for four offensive fouls.

"I don't know how LeBron James can be on the floor for 45 minutes and pick up four offensive fouls," Brown said. "To me it's shocking. It's tough to overcome."

Jared Jeffries, who took two fourth-quarter charges by James on Sunday night and also took a pair of charges by James in Game 2, said he's simply playing good defense. James has been called for six offensive fouls in the series and all but one were called on plays when he was dribbling to his left.

"He's going to try to initiate contact and get into you, so you just have to move your feet and stay in front of him," Jeffries said. "You have to keep your feet moving and not give him an angle to get by your hip."