James conjures triple double for series lead

By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CLEVELAND -- On the first shot of the first playoff game of what most people expect to eventually be a championship career, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James stepped behind the 3-point line, raised up and ... missed everything.
"I was nervous on the bench and that relaxed me," said Cavs forward Donyell Marshall, drawing laughter from the media -- and James.
"Well, in my first All-Star game last year, my first shot was an airball," James said. "I got out it of me early."
James' next shot was a driving layup over the Wizards' 7-foot center Brendan Haywood. The nervousness was gone. The clinic had started.
Over the next 45 minutes, James dominated Washington, finishing with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to become just the third player in NBA history to get a triple-double in his playoff debut.
The others? Some guy named Magic Johnson in 1980 and Johnny McCarthy of the Hawks in 1960.
"It's a great class to be in," James said.
Series lead
Oh by the way, the Cavaliers won 97-86 at Quicken Loans to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which resumes Tuesday.
"Everyone made a big deal about whether he'd play good in his first playoff game," said Cavs forward Drew Gooden, who had seven points and 10 rebounds. "But he's been on big stages his whole life.
"This was expected."
Marshall added 19 points off the bench -- Cleveland's bench outscored the Wizards 32-16 -- and point guard Eric Snow came up with a surprising 14 points, nine more than his regular-season average.
Snow, who was playing in his 72nd playoff game and who played in the NBA Finals with the 76ers, downplayed his role as the grizzled veteran. When asked if some of the other Cavaliers asked him for advice, he shrugged.
"We have talked about it a lot," he said. "Like I said before, experience is the best teacher. You really have to go through it to understand.
"This is just one game. Game One is in the books and that is not going to guarantee us a win on Tuesday."
Reversal
The Wizards, who held a 3-1 edge in the regular season series, openly admitted they wanted to play the Cavs in the first round rather than face one of the Eastern Conference's three division champions.
"We didn't have it," said Washington's All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas. "It was disappointing just the way we played."
Arenas scored a team-high 26 points, but shot just 7-of-20 from the field and scored 17 of those points in the fourth quarter when the game was all but decided.
"We'll take 7-for-20 every game," James said. "As a unit, we did an excellent job on him."
Washington's other two standouts, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, each scored 11 points while battling foul trouble and frustration. Jared Jeffries had 15 points and Antonio Daniels added 14 off the bench, but the Wizards trailed by double digits for the game's final 30 minutes.
The big blow came early. After Washington tied the game at 18, James scored the next nine points and Cleveland ended the quarter with a 31-20 lead. The game was never again close.
"I thought our guys came out with poise and I thought we executed our game plan on both ends of the floor," said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, who won an NBA title as an assistant with the Spurs in 2003. "It was a good first step in a long process."
scalzo@vindy.com