Cavs' streak ends

The Cavaliers' five-game winning streak came to an end last night in a 108-91 loss to a Washington Wizards team that broke its own six-game losing streak in the process. How can this be? Well:

• Antawn Jamison was playing his first game of the season, after missing the Wizards' first nine games with a shoulder injury, and returned with a vengeance, scoring 31 points and pulling in 10 rebounds. He was a monster.
  
• The Cavaliers were playing the second night of a back-to-back, on the road, while the Wizards had been off the previous three days. And it was pretty obvious that played a part, as the Cavs got off to a fast start — up 17 in the second quarter — but faded down the stretch.
  
• The Cavs were without Shaquille O'Neal or Anderson Varejao, which left them with a combination of a suddenly very old Zydrunas Ilgauskas, J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson to man the post. And they simply couldn't hang. Z and Jackson each scored 10 points, but Hickson had his worst game in recent memory.
• Mo Williams, a very hot-and-cold shooter, was cold as ice in this one, going 2-for-13 from the floor.
• The Cavaliers committed 26 fouls, to the Wizards' 15. Whether that's because the Cavs actually fouled more or because the officials were calling the Cavs more tightly in enemy territory, it was definitely a factor. The Wizards went 31-of-35 from the line, the Cavaliers 14-of-15. That 17-point edge is equal to the differential in the final score.
  
• And the man the folks all pay to see, LeBron James, had a bad second half. He put up typical numbers — 34 points, nine assists — but turned the ball over six times, committed four fouls plus a technical, missed some shots badly, and while he had some fine moments, he totally failed to take control of the game. He also hurt his left wrist on a dunk, though it seems unlikely that it will make him miss any time. Hey, even superstars have off nights.

Speaking of that technical foul, it came after one of the most ludicrously bad calls I've ever seen in my life. LeBron drove the lane and was practically tackled by DeShawn Stevenson, but the official called a freaking jump ball. I can't imagine what he was looking at.

The Cavaliers now stand at 8-4, half a game ahead of Milwaukee for first place in the Central Division. This is a very good team that had a bad night.