体坛英语新闻：Cavs top Wizards, Jazz beat Rockets

BEIJING, April 23 -- Lebron James scored 30 points, made 12 assists and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 116-86 victory over the Washington Wizards and a 2-0 lead in the NBA playoffs on Monday.

    The Cavaliers, who won the Eastern Conference last year, were simply too good for the Wizards.

    "We are playing the champs," Washington coach Eddie Jordan told reporters. "They made changes, but they still have one of the best players in the NBA and he was at his best."

Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James (L) congratulates his teammates Anderson Varejao and Daniel Gibson (R) during the second quarter of Game 1 of their NBA basketball playoff series against the Washington Wizards in Cleveland, Ohio, April 21, 2008. Wizards beat Cavaliers 93-86

    The Wizards tried to be as physical as possible with James throughout the game, with Washington centre Brendan Haywood ejected for a flagrant foul in the third quarter after he shoved the Cleveland forward, who ended up careering out of bounds.

    The strategy, however, did not seem to bother James, who sat out the last six minutes with his team well in control.

    Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers, while Wally Szczerbiak scored 15 points.

    Cleveland shot 52 percent from the floor, including making 10 of 19 attempts from three-point range, in a game that was never close after the Cavaliers' 17-4 run late in the second quarter.

    Caron Butler, Darius Songaila and DeShawn Stevenson all had 12 points to lead the Wizards, while Gilbert Arenas was held to just seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.

    Elsewhere, the Utah Jazz took a 2-0 series lead over the Rockets with a 90-84 victory.

Houston Rockets forward Tracy McGrady (R) is guarded by Utah Jazz guard Ronnie Brewer as he waits for a ball to be thrown inbounds during the first half of Game 2 of their NBA basketball playoff series in Houston, April 21, 2008.

Deron Williams scored 22 points to lead the Jazz, who will host the next two games on Thursday and Saturday. Mehmet Okur had 16 points and 16 rebounds.

    Houston's Tracy McGrady scored 23 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and made nine assists, but his team managed to score just 17 points in both the first and fourth quarters.

    Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks moved quickly to find their new coach, signing Scott Skiles to a four-year deal.

    Skiles takes over for Larry Krystkowiak, who was fired last week.

    The 44-year-old Skiles brings extensive NBA head coaching experience and a disciplinarian approach to Milwaukee, something the Bucks didn't necessarily get from their two previous coaches, Krystkowiak and Terry Stotts.

    And Skiles didn't back away from his reputation for being demanding on players.

    "I always feel like I'm supposed to apologize for that," Skiles said.