Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Eye-opener: Wizards race past James, Cavs
Wall, Beal spark Washington victory
CLEVELAND — LeBron James yanked off the tinted googles protecting his injured eye and flung them away. His vision was clear. However, one blur wouldn’t go away: John Wall.
Washington’s faster-than-fast star scored 37 points, Bradley Beal added 27, and the Wizards again showed they’ll be a handful in the playoffs by beating James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-115 on Saturday.
Wall scored 18 in the first quarter, when the Wizards shot 82 percent, and Washington held on down the stretch to avenge an overtime loss to the NBA champions last month.
There’s a chance the teams could meet up in the postseason, and, if that happens, the Wizards believe they can hold their own.
“You don’t want to go into the playoffs knowing you have to face those guys and you never won against them in the regular season,” Wall said. “To come here and win in a tough place, it’s definitely a boost.”
James briefly wore goggles to protect a scratched cornea sustained Friday at Charlotte and scored 24 points with 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Kyrie Irving added 23 points and Kevin Love 17 for Cleveland, playing at home for the only time in a seven-game stretch.
The Cavs, though, struggled again on defense, and coach Tyronn Lue isn’t certain there’s time to fix everything.
“I’m not confident,” he said, “but we’ve got to.”
Washington’s victory cut Cleveland’s lead in the Eastern Conference to a half-game over idle Boston.
More importantly, the Wizards, who are 29-10 since Jan. 6 and within 2½ games of first, showed they could put a complete game together against the Cavs. They lost to Cleveland 140-135 on Feb. 6, when James banked in an impossible 3-pointer to force OT.
“When (Wall) is making shots like that, they’re a very tough team to beat,” James said.
The Wizards, who opened a challenging five-game road trip that include games against the Clippers, Jazz and Warriors, didn’t leave anything to chance this time.
Clippers 108, Jazz 95 — At Los Angeles, Jamal Crawford scored 28 points off the bench for Los Angeles, which clinched a playoff berth for the sixth straight year. The Clippers trail Utah by a half-game in the race for the West’s No. 4 seed.
Trail Blazers 112, Timberwolves 100 — At Portland, Ore., C.J. McCollum scored 32 points for Portland, which pulled within one game of Denver for the West’s final playoff spot. Minnesota lost its sixth straight.
Spurs 106, Knicks 98 — At San Antonio, Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points for San Antonio, which overcame 24 points apiece from Derrick Rose and Willy Hernangomez to win its fourth straight.
Raptors 94, Mavericks 86 — At Dallas, DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka scored 18 points each for Toronto, which won its fifth straight. Dallas missed 18 of its first 22 3-point shots.