Face the facts, the LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are not afraid to see the Washington Wizards in the playoffs.
The latest matchup with LeBron James ended in very typical fashion for the Washington Wizards. The Wizards outplayed the Cleveland Cavaliers for a long stretch of action last night.
Washington led by 17 points with just over six minutes to play in the fourth quarter. And yet, when the buzzer sounded the dejected Wizards walked off the court slowly, following a 119-115 defeat. None of what occurred over the final six minutes was at all shocking.
James owns the Wizards. He has his entire career. But after another gut wrenching loss to a James’ led team, it’s time to realize this as well: the Wizards don’t matter to James.
This is very important for all of DC Family to realize. John Wall before the game referred to the game as a “statement game.”
After the game James was asked about Wall’s comments, and if that they gave the Cavs motivation. A stoic and calm James responded, “I didn’t even know he said that.”
The Wizards don’t impact the orbit of LeBron. It’s been at least a decade since they have. Sure the Wizards have really good players like Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter and others. But at the end of the day, James knows they can’t touch him.
So oftentimes, when the Wizards start to feel themselves a little too much (and this year they’ve done that far too much for a team so unaccomplished), James is there to remind them they don’t matter to him.
Whether it’s going off for 57 points on your home floor or leading a 17-point comeback when you think you’re about to send a statement, James is always there to reinforce the point. In the four games against the Wizards this season, James averaged 35.3 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
And the worst part for the Wizards? They want to matter so much. Constantly being slighted and overlooked is one of the reasons Wall works so hard, plays the way he does. Wall is often talking about how he, and in turn his team don’t get the love they should.
Beal speaks of that same motivation. It must be absolute torture knowing that they don’t matter to James.
James treats the Wizards like a lion toying with its prey, always knowing the final outcome.
LeBron James is the really pretty popular girl in high school unbothered and indifferent towards to the lesser than band nerd Wizards. There was chatter last night how a potential playoff series would be fun to see.
And in a way it would be fun to see the lion toying for five, maybe six games, stalking its prey before finally boring and putting its prey out its misery hearts ripped out again. Lather, rinse, repeat.