Miller and Foye shine in Wizards win over Cavs

Just when Anderson Varejao thought it was safe to score
a lay-up, Mike Miller arose like a great white shark breaching
the water after striking a seal. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

While overshadowed by Antawn Jamison's injury scare, former T-wolves Mike Miller and Randy Foye found no trouble fitting into the rivalry scheme last night, as the Washington Wizards defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-104.

First, the good news.  Mike Miller scored 24 points last night and shot a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arc, while Randy Foye scored a blistering 19 points in the fourth quarter to secure a Wizards victory.  The bad news?  Antawn Jamison went out with 4:33 left in the first quarter and would not return after a collision with Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Ilgauskas, who came off the bench last night as a substitution for Cavs' center Shaquille O'Neal, proved to be a problem for Washington in the paint.  Jamison took the responsibility of trying to rebound against the 7'3" Lithuanian late in the first quarter, and during a series of swipes, Big Z went up strong with the recovered ball and caught Jamison's right arm at an awkward angle.  Jamison immediately bent his head to the right, and with his right arm hanging limp at his side he quickly walked off the court and directly to the locker room.

While diagnosed as having a "sprained right shoulder," the incident appeared to have the look of a shoulder dislocation, which would drastically challenge Washington's hopes for a Playoffs drive this season.  Let's hope AJ will be okay, and not a Dwayne Wade story. 

Jamison will have an MRI today, so keep your eyes peeled for a Wizards Blog post sometime today.  I'll also be sure to Tweet after the news is released.

On a lighter note, the T-wolves connection of Miller and Foye combined for 45 points on 15-for-22 from the field.  Miller kept Washington in the contest early (Washington looked as if their perimeter defense was on vacation) while Foye's fourth quarter explosion guided the Wizards to victory.  Both Miller and Foye proved their weight as "combo" athletes, doing a bit of everything to insure the win.

LeBron James headlined a long list of DNPs for the Cavs.  James reportedly suffered the effects of the flu, as did teammates Darnell Jackson and Coby Karl.  Cleveland's Maurice Williams, Daniel Green, and Leon Powe all sat out due to injury, while Delonte West sat out for personal reasons.

Of those who played, I have to say I was most impressed by Shaq.  He is lean, mean, and still a post-dominating machine at the age of 37, and I think he has more of a drive in Cleveland than he did in Phoenix a year ago.  I'm not sure what his mindset was when he went west to play for the Suns, but the Cavs are a much more well rounded team on the defensive end, and Shaq should only improve that area of play for the franchise.  Another nice pick-up by Cleveland was Jamario Moon, who last played for the Miami Heat.  Moon has great length on defense and range on offense and is a tough match-up to check.

I also have to highlight Jawad Williams, who I wouldn't have thought to highlight prior to the game.  Williams scored a team high 21 points for Cleveland in last night's loss, which triple-upped his grand total of 7 points in his first three preseason games.

With the win, Washington improves to 3-2 in the preseason standings while Cleveland falls to 3-1.  That gives Washington back-to-back nights defeating perfect 3-0 teams.  Not too shabby. 

The Wizards will hope to rest up and get positive news (and negative results) from Jamison's MRI today, and will play their next game on Monday when they visit the Atlanta Hawks for some Southeast Division action, their first of this preseason.

For more on the Cavs, check out the Cleveland Cavaliers Examiner.

Update on Jamison: Antawn Jamison suffered a subluxation of his right shoulder.

If you enjoy my column here on Examiner, please subscribe for instant notifications of new articles and follow me on Twitter!