Monday Thoughts

Further thoughts after the Cavaliers won game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in this series:

• End this thing on Wednesday night. No need to return to Washington for Game 6. No need to give them any hope. Just bury this team now.
• I'm still amazed at LeBron's maturity. He took a blatant shot to the head and shrugged it off when most guys would have snapped. He then scored 10 of the next 16 points in the second quarter to really take over the flow of the game. He also put up with some questionable foul calls, didn't panic when he picked up his fifth, and trusted his teammates down the stretch.
• Delonte West was obviously huge in Game 5. And Boobie Gibson hit two big threes. I'm a little concerned at the number of threes attempted (28), but I think they won't need to be as reliant on that shot at home. And I think it will be a rowdy crowd. I can't wait.
• What has happened to Anderson Varejao lately? He has been out of sorts for long stretches this year. It's to the point that I cringe any time he touches the ball on offense. And he just doesn't look as active on defense either. He needs to get back to his old self in a hurry.
• Is it wrong that I also cringe every time Devin Brown decides to drive into the lane? Or when he jacks up a three? Look, I love his work ethic and his hustle. He is a nice player. But I hate having to rely on anything offensively from him when LeBron is on the bench.
• Finally, one thing that concerns me about Game 5 - if/when the Cavaliers take control of that game and ice the series, I'm not sure what to expect from the Wizards. But I could definitely see one of their guys taking another free shot at LeBron. And I'm not the only one worried about this.
• Oh, and one last Game 5 update from our crazy friend Tom Knott from the Washington Times. Maybe he's not as crazy as I made him out to be, because even he knows it's over:

"The Cavaliers outworked the Wizards at the rim. The Cavaliers brushed off their 36-point whipping in Game 3 and dared the Wizards to be the aggressors.

And the Wizards blinked in front of the home crowd that, in all likelihood, will be waiting on next season after Game 5 on Wednesday night."

And my non-Cavalier thoughts from the weekend:

• I'm very encouraged by the Tribe taking two of three so far from the Yankees. And tonight's game is another big one with Aaron Laffey on the hill. I still believe if we can get out of April at .500 or better, this team is on its way to big things again this season.
• Saturday's walk-off winner was a thing of beauty for me, not just because it was against the Yankees (although that helps). I really liked it because the Tribe has lost a lot of tough ones like this so far this year. And it wasn't looking good when Dellucci dove for that ball and missed it, allowing three runs to score. But Kobayashi came in and did a very nice job, and the offense won it in the bottom of the 9th behind Victor (as usual). Very nice win.
• Yesterday's choice of Beau Bell by the Browns in the 4th round was music to my ears after reading this piece from Sunday's Plain Dealer on his admiration for Lawrence Taylor. Anyone who knows me will understand why I'm digging this guy already.
  

One to remember, one to definitely forget

In the first game tonight - a game the Cavaliers absolutely needed in order to secure home court in the first round - there was a very bizarre ending. They took an 8-point lead going into the 4th quarter and in true 2008 Cavalier fashion, wasted it away in a matter of minutes. So the final quarter ended up being a dog fight, with some guy on Philly named Lou Williams making some incredible shots. He hit one with 5.1 seconds left to give the Sixers a one-point lead.

So after Philly took their final foul to give, the ball was in LeBron's hands with 4.1 seconds left. He drove hard into the lane, seemed to get fouled (of course no whistle), the ball was tipped by Samuel Dalembert and fell right into Devin Brown's hands. Then Dalembert steamrolled into Brown as he put up a shot that missed and the final horn sounded. Confetti dropped from the rafters and the Sixers ran into the locker room. I sat there mystified, wondering how no foul was called. I even ran the play back over and over on my DVR and noticed that the ref under the basket raised his hand to signal a foul, then waved his arms as if to say no shot.

Of course I was pissed that we blew another game and it would come down to the final game at home on Wednesday against the Pistons to secure home court. Definitely not a fun task the way we've been playing down the stretch. As this was going through my head, I noticed the refs were huddling at the scorer's table, looking at the replay monitor. They actually reviewed it, got the call right, and awarded two shots to Devin with .2 seconds on the clock! I must admit that I incorrectly predicted that Brown would miss both shots. Thankfully he actually drained both of them and locked up home court in the first round. So bring on Arenas, Stevenson, Soulja Boy, etc. etc. It will be fun eliminating those guys for a third straight season.

Home court came down to 2 Devin Brown FT's and LBJ knew he'd drain them

Now onto the Tribe game... this ending was a little more painful. Let's just say that Joe Borowski and Manny Ramirez were prominently involved. There were a lot of fair weather Boston fans who live in Cleveland happy after Manny's 9th inning home run actually landed. I will now go shave my tongue will a dull razor to get rid of the taste of this game. Ugh.