By Tom Withers
Associated Press
CLEVELAND ó Maybe Gilbert Arenas was talking about some other Cavaliers.
LeBron James scored 30 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 and the Cavs played their best game since their Feb. 21 megatrade, blowing out the Washington Wizards 116-86 to take a 2-0 lead in an opening-round playoff series oozing with bad blood.
The 30-point margin of victory was the largest in Clevelandís 112-game postseason history, and the Cavaliersí performance was perhaps their finest 48 minutes since November.
iWe are playing the champs,î Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. iI know they changed their team. But they still have the same coaching staff, the monster player. Heís taking over the series.î
James was scary all right.
He scored 14 points in the third quarter, when the Cavs opened up a 25-point lead.
James, who finished with 12 assists and nine boards, withstood more rough treatment.
In the third quarter, Washington center Brendan Haywood was ejected for a flagrant foul on James. Haywood didnít make much of an effort to go for the ball and shoved a driving James hard with both hands. He went flying out of bounds.
iIt was scary,î said James, who compared it to when he got undercut as a high school junior and broke his wrist. iI knew it was going to be a tough fall. I bounced up, though.î
Haywood, who had an altercation with James in Game 1, could face further discipline for the intentional foul. He didnít speak to the media and was escorted from Quicken Loans Arena by a security guard.
James didnít have an opinion on whether Haywood should be suspended.
iIt was not a basketball play in any shape or form,î he said.
The Wizards have lost eight straight playoff games to Cleveland, and theyíll have to figure out something before Thursday nightís Game 3 in Washington or theyíll be heading off for summer vacation.