The Washington Wizards clearly were ready for this showdown with the abysmal Cleveland Cavaliers. After one half of play, the Wizards lead by 22 points, even though they have yet to win a road game all season.
It's a stunning performance, given what we know about this team. Sure, the Cavaliers are bad, but nobody could have expected the Wizards to blow them out like this. As we mentioned earlier, the Wizards' road woes have mostly to do with their poor performance in the first half, not in the second half.
So just how unprecedented is it for the Wizards to put together a first half like this? We have to go back a little while to find the last time they led by at least 20 points at halftime. The last time it happened in any venue was 56 games ago. On April 6 of last year, the Wizards led the Golden State Warriors by 25 points at halftime in an eventual 112-94 win.
But what about the last time it happened on the road? You have to go back all the way to April 4, 2008, 266 games ago, when they led by 21 at halftime in an eventual 101-77 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. For perspective, here were the starters for that game.
- WASHINGTON: Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood.
- MILWAUKEE: Mo Williams, Charlie Bell, Bobby Simmons, Yi Jianlian, Andrew Bogut