NBA Road woes continue for struggling Cavs

Cleveland has lost 28 straight games on the road.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Injured and overlooked under Michael Jordan and Doug Collins, Etan Thomas is now the "heart and soul" of the new Washington Wizards.
Thomas flung his body around the paint on his way to a career-high 18 points and 10 rebounds, including seven offensive boards, to lead the Wizards to a 106-95 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
"He's the heart and soul of what we do," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. "We've kind of taken his personality, his grit and determination and second effort. He's our leader right now."
Thomas played in roughly half the Wizards' games during his first two seasons in Washington, averaging just 4.5 points. Now, not only is he healthy, he's getting a chance to play in an offense where he's expected to handle the ball and not just set screens.
"Injuries aside, I think that I could have played more last year," Thomas said. "You just have to wait until your time comes. Sometimes it's kind of hard. There are certain coaching styles that are more apt to certain players. Maybe it seemed for a while that I didn't fit with Doug Collins' style. But things change, and everything's going good now."
Not enough
LeBron James scored a career-high 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting with eight assists and seven rebounds, but Thomas was by far the dominant force in the game in his role off the bench. Thomas' eventful evening started with a fender-bender in the rain on the way to the arena and ended with six late points after a fourth-quarter altercation with Ira Newble.
"They came out with a lot of big dunks and high-flying acts," Thomas said. "And we just had to come out and set the tone."
Thomas and Newble both got technicals for their fourth quarter back-and-forth, which ended with Newble flinging the ball toward Thomas. Newble said he was reacting to Thomas' physical game.
Gilbert Arenas scored 25 points, and Larry Hughes added 22 for the Wizards. Kwame Brown had 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Washington frontcourt had one of its best all-around games of the season.
The Wizards avenged a 111-98 loss at Cleveland on Nov. 8 -- the Cavaliers' first victory of the season after starting 0-5.
Struggling
Chris Mihm had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who are 0-7 on the road this season and 0-28 away from home since January of last season.
The Cavaliers played without leading rebounder Carlos Boozer, who did not travel with the team after spraining his right ankle in Tuesday night's win over the Los Angeles Clippers. DeSagana Diop started for Boozer but got into early foul trouble and didn't play in the third quarter.
James' highlights included a perfect alley-oop pass to Ricky Davis and a spectacular reverse dunk on an alley-oop pass from Darius Miles in the first quarter. That basket, however, was followed by a three-minute Cavaliers drought in which the Wizards opened an 11-point lead.