The Wizards are hoping that Andray Blatche, in his fourth season, will finally begin scratching the surface of his talents.

So far this season, while still early, the Wizards like what they are seeing from Blatche, a 6-11 forward with small-man skills.

In the first three games of the season, Blatche has come off the bench like gangbusters. Blatche was averaging 21.0 points per game and grabbing 6.3 boards per game. He's demonstrated all different types of shots on the way to making almost 72 percent of his shots from the floor early on.

"I put in more work than usual this summer, and so far, it's showing," said Blatche. "I started to feel comfortable last season when I was getting more minutes. To me, it was simple. If I put in the work and come back and show it to Coach, the minutes will come. I just want to contribute any way that I can to help the team win."

Blatche's numbers will no doubt go down as the season progresses -- and as soon as Antawn Jamison comes back from injury -- but Wizards coach Flip Saunders likes what he has gotten from Blatche to this point.

"It's not what he's doing at the offensive end. He's making a contribution at the defensive end as well," Saunders said.

CAVALIERS 102, WIZARDS 90: The Cavaliers held the Wizards to just 36 points in the second half in falling to .500 on the season. Caron Butler returned to the lineup after missing a game with a bruised knee to score 22 points, tying him for the team lead with Gilbert Arenas. The Cavaliers held the Wizards to just 12 assists while notching 25 of their own.

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