The Wizards should probably stop trying to injure LBJ

April 22nd, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

The tactics the Wizards are employing against LeBron James to try and curb his game a bit — namely, the cheap shots shown above in part with this Brendan Haywood push — is pretty tactless, but it’s far from unique. Teams back in the 80’s did this kind of stuff to slow opponents, get in their heads, fire up the fans. And small little physical moves (grabbing jerseys on a screen etc.) go undetected all the time. But as Marcel Mutino points out over at Slam today, how much longer can the Wiz continue to do this?

As far as I can tell, their only goal in the series is to knock him to the ground as much as humanly possible.

On offense, there’s no chemistry whatsoever, as guys simply take turns going one-on-one.

[ … ]

Unfortunately for Eddie Jordan and co., no one on the Wizards seems to really believe in this physical plan. Guys have sheepish looks on their faces after knocking LeBron down; when Brendan Haywood got kicked out of the game last night following his hard foul on James, Antonio Daniels slid over to LBJ and asked him if he was OK.

Can you imagine any of the Riley-Era Knicks or Isiah’s Bad Boys checking on MJ’s well-being during their postseason wars? Me neither. So, there you have it Wizards. No one believes you’re hardbody (not even yourselves); focus on the actual game instead. It’s your only hope.

So not only does the plan leave you with a near 30-point loss last evening, but it’s something you’re not even wholly comfortable to begin with. Yeesh.

{Vid HT: Stet Sports.}