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It was a tale of two halves in Washington on Wednesday night.

The Cavaliers were well on their way to a fifth-straight victory after the first half of play at the Verizon Center. They were outplaying and out hustling the Wizards on both ends of the court. Their strong play resulted in a 10-point lead after the opening period, and they were up by as many as 17 at one point in the second quarter. It seemed that only a complete collapse could end their winning streak, which is exactly what happened.

LeBron James and his teammates came out flat, to say the least, to begin the second half and never regained the form that helped them build their early lead.

“It’s a 48-minute game, and that’s what we preach,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown. ”We did not play 48 minutes.”

The result was a 108-91 loss that featured two distinctly different Cavalier squads. The one that came out to begin the game looked like a team ready to compete for the 2010 NBA title. The one that showed up in the second half looked more like a intramural team. 

It may be easy for Brown to find fault in his player’s effort and focus after the loss, but the opposition does deserves some credit.

The Wizards turned up the heat after intermission, scoring inside and out on the offensive end, while forcing the Cavaliers into tough attempts on the other end. Led by Antawn Jamison, the Wizards shot over 56 percent from the field in the second half and made it their mission to get to the free-throw line. Their 17 second-half foul shots were more than the Cavaliers took the entire game.

“I felt, especially in the second half, we brought the ball to a complete stop offensively,” said Brown. ”We didn’t get any player movement, nor any ball movement.”

The Cavs may have struggled mightily in the second half, but that surely wasn’t the case before the two teams headed in for halftime.

They made 50 percent of their first-half field goal attempts with James, center Zydrunas Ilgauskas and reserve Darnell Jackson leading the way.  The three combined for 33 points in the half, and the 24-year-old James dished out seven assists.

On the other side the Wizards labored to a meesly 44 points in the opening 24 minutes. Gilbert Arenas, the team’s leading scorer, made just 1-9 from the floor to open the game. The only real bright side in the half was Jamison, who scored 21 points to lead the Wizards.

The 33-year-old Jamison didn’t have to carry his team much longer, however, as he got some much-needed support in the second half. Arenas, Caron Butler and Mike Miller all came alive towards the end of the contest. Arenas finished the game with 18 points, six rebounds and eight assists, while Butler and Miller combined for 36 points.

The end result wasn’t quite as pretty for the Cavaliers. James finished with 34 points and nine assists, but was the only Cav to score more than 10 points.

The starting backcourt for the Cavs was especially inept on the offensive end. Mo Williams and Anthony Parker were a combined 4-20 from the floor for the game. The two have been consistent from the three-point line this season, but both failed to make a shot from long distance in the second half.

“We didn’t get to our sets,” said James. ”They sped up the game and we couldn’t keep executing.”

No matter how you twist it, the game was a let down for the Cavaliers. They had the Wizards right where they wanted them, then let up as the game progressed.

After the game, Brown found little to be satisfied with in his team’s play.

“Nothing,” said Brown. ”We were really flat and it resulted in us getting our behinds kicked.”