The Wizards had better hope that they don’t have to face Drew Gooden and the Cavaliers in a Game 2 on this date – April 25 – next season.
For the second straight year, Gooden destroyed Washington in the second game of their seven-game series – scoring 15 points during a torrid six-minute stretch in the second quarter to give the Cavaliers a lead they would not relinquish. He finished with 24 points and a game-high 14 boards this season; 24 and 16 last season.

The only difference – and it’s a big one – is that last year on this date, the Cavaliers dropped an 89-84 decision to the Wizards and this year the Wine and Gold moved that much closer to the Second Round with a hard-fought 109-102 win.

With the scrappy Wizards leading by five and the Cavaliers’ offense stuck in second gear, Gooden simply caught fire – hitting six straight shots and scoring Cleveland’s last 11 points of the quarter. But despite Gooden’s offensive explosion, the Cavaliers still only led by three points – 51-48 – heading into the locker room at half.

"One thing that helped me during this stretch was my teammates and my coach having confidence in me," said Gooden. "They kept feeding me the ball and I had confidence in myself."

"We went to (Gooden) and he did what I asked him to do and he carried us through two quarters," said LeBron. "We were down and we kept feeding him the ball because we knew he was feeling good."

It was a different story in the third quarter, however, with the Wine and Gold seemingly on the verge of blowing the Wizards out of the building. Zydrunas Ilgauskas and LeBron James began to heat up by quarter’s end, the Cavaliers were up a dozen – 75-63.

But the injury-ravaged Wizards would not go away and despite the Cavaliers leading by nine – 99-90 – with just 1:35 to go, continued to claw back with strategic fouling and a pair of clutch three-pointers. Jarvis Hayes’ trey with 17.4 seconds to play brought the Wizards to within three points – 105-102 – but Larry Hughes hit six straight free throws to ice the Game 2 win for Cleveland.