WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Rookie LeBron James had his best game of the season, which included a highlight-reel dunk. But the Cleveland Cavaliers won't want to see any films of their game against the Washington Wizards.
James scored a season-high 28 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out eight assists in Cleveland's 28th straight road loss, a 106-95 setback to the Wizards.
In the first quarter, James had a reverse tomahawk jam off an alley-oop pass from Darius Miles that was one of his best efforts and gave the Cavaliers an 18-15 lead. The dunk energized the wrong team, however, as the Wizards followed with a 14-0 run and never trailed again.
"We get all our offense off of defense," said James, whose dunk came on a transition play. "We didn't come out in the first quarter playing the defense that we're capable of and that's what happened."
The Cavaliers got as close as 73-70 on Kevin Ollie's runner late in the third quarter, but Etan Thomas scored 10 of his career-high 18 points and grabbed five of his 10 rebounds in the fourth quarter as the Wizards pulled away.
"He's the heart and soul of what we do," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said of Thomas. "We've kind of taken his personality, his grit, determination and second effort. He's our leader right now."
Gilbert Arenas led Washington with 25 points and Larry Hughes added 22. Kwame Brown had a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards.
"We just have to keep them off the boards," said Ollie, who scored a season-high 12 points. "Etan and Kwame were just ferocious out there tonight."
The Wizards outrebounded the Cavaliers, 46-43, pulling down 23 offensive boards. Thomas had seven offensive rebounds.
"They're a young team with a lot of high flyers," Thomas said. "We had to go in there and try to match their intensity."
Ricky Davis scored 10 points in the first quarter but shot 1-of-7 the rest of the way and finished with just 13 as the Cavaliers fell to 0-7 on the road this season.
DeSagana Diop scored only two points and grabbed six rebounds as he started in place of Carlos Boozer, who remained in Cleveland with a sprained ankle.
"It was an uphill battle after (we got down by 14)," Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said. "It is too much to ask, especially when you are missing one of your main guys like Boozer. I thought we made a good accounting of ourselves, but we just couldn't get it done."
