Wizards on Brink Of Being Eliminated

Cavaliers 98, Wizards 92

Antawn Jamison stalked through the tunnel leading from the court to the locker room, peeled off his jersey in frustration and exhorted his teammates to do better.

That halftime image, more than any other, captured the mood at Verizon Center last night as Jamison and the undermanned Washington Wizards were defiant but ultimately overwhelmed by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who took a 3-0 series lead with a 98-92 victory.

As he has all series, Jamison tried to carry the Wizards by scoring 38 points with 11 rebounds, and injured Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler tried to put a charge into to team by revving up the sellout crowd during pregame introductions, but in the end the Wizards were plagued by the same issues that have hounded them since their all-stars went down.

Jamison didn't go easy.

He drew the Wizards to within 93-89 with just under two minutes to play by making three free throws after drawing a foul on Sasha Pavlovic. After the teams traded misses, Wizards center Etan Thomas cut the deficit to three by making one of two free throws with 38 seconds left

James, who did most of his damage in the first half when he scored 20 of his 30 points, started to drive from the top of the key and was convincing enough to draw Wizards guard Antonio Daniels away from Pavlovic. Seeing Daniels coming to help, James passed out to Pavlovic, who calmly drained a three-pointer to give Cleveland a 96-90 lead with 26 seconds left.

Roger Mason missed a three-point attempt on the next Washington possession and after Darius Songaila grabbed the offensive rebound, Pavlovic blocked his attempt at a putback layup.

The Cavaliers will have an opportunity to close out the Wizards at Verizon Center for the second straight season tomorrow night in Game 4.

The Cavaliers asserted themselves in the second quarter by outscoring the Wizards 35-22. Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 10 of his 24 points in the period on 4-of-6 shooting and James helped Cleveland close the first half on a 12-4 run by making a pair of three-pointers before Pavlovic finished three straight fast breaks with easy layups as the Cavaliers went into the locker room with a 61-44 lead.

The Wizards responded with a third-quarter push that was sparked by Jamison, who channeled his halftime feelings into shot-making. Jamison, who scored 28 points in Game 1 and 31 in Game 2, got rolling by sinking a 20-foot jump shot off a pass from Daniels and followed that shot with a three-pointer and a 22-foot jumper.

Feeding off of Jamison's energy, the Wizards picked up their defensive intensity while some of Jamison's teammates started knocking down shots themselves. Jarvis Hayes made a three-pointer, cutting Cleveland's lead to 10 and later, DeShawn Stevenson, whose shot has been off all series, drained a three-pointer, cutting it to three.

Jamison made 7 of 9 shots and scored 17 points in the quarter, but Cleveland still led 77-75 going into the fourth.

After getting 38 points from reserves in Game 2, the Wizards received limited contributions from their reserves last night. Brendan Haywood didn't score a point or grab a rebound in 10 minutes while Songaila (six points) and Mason (three points) were the only reserves to score.

After mostly cruising through the first two games, James was far more aggressive, particularly in the first half, in Game 3. He made 8 of 13 shots, including 3 of 5 three-point attempts, and threw down two thunderous dunks.

Wizards Notes: Assistant Coach Mike O'Koren was forced to leave the bench with illness in the third quarter. No team has overcome an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven NBA playoff series and only eight teams have overcome a 1-3 deficit to win. Jamison's previous high for points scored in a playoff game was 32 against Cleveland last May 3. Daniels finished with a career playoff-high 13 assists.