WASHINGTON — Midway through the third period, the Cavaliers’ second-leading scorer was, drum roll please, Ben Wallace. He had exactly five more points than Soulja Boy, who was in attendance.
Not surprisingly, Cleveland trailed by 26.
Yes, it was that kind of night Thursday at the Verizon Center, where the Washington Wizards finally walked as well as they talked while putting themselves right back in this best-of-seven series with an impressive 108-72 victory in Game 3.
“That was a good old-fashioned behind kicking,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said.
While the Wizards, who are still down 2-1 heading into Game 4 Sunday at 1 p.m., were good, the Cavaliers looked like they had just met one another for the first time.
Cleveland’s offense was so out of sync, LeBron James didn’t get his first assist until the 5:44 mark of the third period. By that time, the game was already over, largely because the Cavaliers’ defense was equally bad.
“We definitely didn’t play well,” James said. “We can’t carry this over to Game 4. They completely dominated us tonight.”
The positives? There were none from a Cleveland standpoint.
Once again looking dazed and confused on the road, the Cavaliers shot poorly from the field (29-of-73, .397), from behind the 3-point line (.125, 2-of-16) and at the line (12-of-23, .522). They handled the ball even worse, committing 23 turnovers that led to a whopping 30 Washington points.
It added up to the worst playoff loss in franchise history, surpassing a 121-91 defeat at Boston on May 15, 1992. Stunningly, it came one game after the Cavaliers had recorded the largest playoff win in franchise history, a 116-86 dismantling of these same Wizards in Game 2.
“You can’t turn the ball over that many times,” James said. “We turned the ball over more times tonight than we did in the first two games (18 total). That ain’t going to cut it on the road, especially in the playoffs.”
James, who left the game for good with 7:11 to go while the crowd chanted “overrated” in support of Washington guard DeShawn Stevenson, finished with 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.
The 23-year-old, who earlier said that responding to Stevenson’s March 13 claim that he was overrated would be like music mogul Jay-Z worrying about something Soulja Boy said, attempted just four free throws after taking 31 over the first two games.
“I’ve played in more hostile environments than this,” James said when asked about the fans chanting overrated. “I’ve been in the Eastern Conference finals in Detroit. I smiled when it happened. It was no big deal. I had fun with the fans.”
While the first two games featured a lot of hard fouls, physical play and heated words, this one was as one-dimensional as Soulja Boy’s one-hit singing career to date. On a night when they had to “Crank It,” the Wizards did just that.
Washington, which set franchise playoff records for largest margin of victory and lowest opponent scoring total on a night when they led by as many as 39 points, had five players — Stevenson (19), Roger Mason (18), Caron Butler (17), Antawn Jamison (15) and Brendan Haywood (14) — score in double figures.
Devin Brown, who finished with 10 points, was the only Cleveland player to join James in double figures.
“Some of the things (that were said) in the locker room (between games) I can’t say,” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. “We read them the riot act the day after the game in Cleveland, then the next two days we told them how great they were.”
In the first half, the Cavaliers looked like Browns quarterback Derek Anderson against the Cincinnati Bengals, as they threw a lot of passes to guys wearing the wrong color uniform.
With Washington extending its defense and applying more pressure, Cleveland players zigged when the passer thought they were going to zag, the result being 15 first-half turnovers that led to 18 Wizards points and a 49-33 Washington lead at intermission.
“The turnovers we had were bad turnovers,” Mike Brown said. “The biggest thing is we have to be strong with the basketball.”
The Cavaliers, who only had six assists over the first two quarters, probably should have been behind more, but the Wizards weren’t much better for most of the first half.
Washington finally started to put things together midway through the second quarter, leading by as many as 18 behind inspired play from reserves Mason and Blatche and starters Butler and Haywood.
The Wizards, who outscored the Cavaliers 30-12 in the paint in the first half, then blew the game open in the third period while the fans had a good time giving James the business.
“I’m not going to talk about LeBron,” Jordan said. “As soon as our crowd chanted overrated, he jumped to the moon to get a dunk.”
Gilbert Arenas, who came back from serious knee surgery late in the regular season, made his first start of the series for the Wizards, but ended up limping to the locker room with 3:08 to play in the second period. He is listed as day-to-day with a bone bruise on his knee.
“He’s got two days to get his leg cleaned up,” Jordan said. “I think it’s going to be OK Sunday afternoon.”
Despite the lopsided defeat, Mike Brown is equally optimistic the Cavaliers will rebound.
“LeBron’s a big-time player,” he said. “He, as well as the rest of our team, will regroup. We’ll give a better effort Sunday.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

NEXT UP

WHO: Cleveland at Washington
WHAT: Game 4, Eastern Conference quarterfinals; Cavs lead series, 2-1
WHEN: Sunday, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Verizon Center, Washington
TV/RADIO: Channel 5; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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