The Cleveland Cavaliers came out flat on Tuesday night hosting the Washington Wizards at “The Q.” With Gilbert Arenas’ strong shooting the Wizards built a 16-point lead. The Cavs charged back late in the half as Mo Williams setup a Delonte West basket then scored a jumper in transition to cut the Wizards lead to 7 at 49-42 at the 2:32 mark of the 2nd quarter. The Cavs continued their charge to cut the Wizards’ halftime lead to just 54-50 with both LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal scoring in double figures at the half.

In the second half the Cavs started strong as LeBron and Mo Williams each hit 3-pointers to give the Cavs a 62-58 lead prompting Flip Saunders to call a timeout with just over 7 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter. A Shaq basket closed the quarter with Cleveland on top 78-73 with LeBron sniffing a triple-double at 25 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

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The 4th quarter saw the Cavaliers again start strong with a Shaq hook shot as well as a 3-pointer from Moon and a layup from Williams to open up a 10-point lead at 85-75 with 9:32. With LeBron and Shaq watching from the bench, Williams sunk another 3 ball followed by a 3 pointer from Boobie Gibson resulting in another Wizards timeout at the 7:28 mark. With Cleveland leading 91-77, Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown was able to rest both LeBron and Shaq as they enjoyed the show from their comfy courtside seats. during much of the final period. In the end, Cleveland was victorious by a 102-90 score led by LeBron James’ 27 points and Shaq’s 21. Williams, Gibson and Anderson Varejao each added double-digit points with Varejao’s 10 rebounds leading the way.

Cleveland has now won 3 straight after an 0-2 start to the season and the Cavs return to action on Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls on TNT.