The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Washington Wizards, 97-82, in their first playoff game this year to make the series 1-0. Larry Hughes had a breakout performance scoring 27 points, grabbing seven rebounds with one assist. Lebron James scored 23 points, with nine rebounds and seven assists. Although James proved his toughness today playing with a sprained left ankle.

Lebron looked as though he were seriously injured in the third quarter after landing hard on his left ankle reaching for a rebound. He sat on the bench after hurting his ankle, but entered the game later.

“I had no intention of not coming back,” said King James. “First game of the playoffs, we’ve got to set a tone. If I was able to limp on it, I was going to be in there.”

Although he is still in pain, he will reportedly be playing the second game of this series.

The Wizards had two very good performances from Jarvis Hayes and Antawn Jamison. Jamison scored 28 points, dished out two assists, and grabbed 14 rebounds. Hayes scored 18 points. Other than that there was not much to be thrilled about from the Wizards’ perspective.

“We were worried about LeBron, we were worried about the big fella down low and trying to box out Drew Gooden,” said Jamison. “Larry (Hughes) did a great job of getting in the teeth of the defense.”

The two teams tangle again in game two on Wednesday.