Jun
1
Cleveland Is on the Verge of Its First Finals Appearance after a Ridiculous Performance by Lebron James!
Give credit where credit is due. Lebron James had the type of performance tonight that actually justified all of his hype for the last six or seven years. Scoring 29 of his team’s final 30 points, James gave the Cavs a 109-107 lead with 2.2 seconds to go in double overtime when he made a driving layup. Chauncey Billups then missed a shot in the lane that would have tied the game and sent it to triple overtime. Detroit now finds itself in the same predicament as last season’s playoffs, trailing the Cavs 3-2 in a best-of-seven series. Unlike last year when Detroit rallied to take the final two games from Cleveland, the Pistons are done this year as is their championship run with this team. The Cavs should take the series on Saturday night and move on to face the San Antonio Spurs in what should equate to the Spurs fourth title in nine years.
Back to James. He simply would not let the Cavs lose this game as they trailed by seven points with a little more than three minutes to go. Whether it was emphatically dunking on the Pistons, standing up for fallen teammate Anderson Varejao after a hard foul by Antonio McDyess, or hitting contested jumpers with the shot clock winding down, James put the Cavs on his shoulders tonight and now has the franchise on the brink of its first appearance in the NBA Finals. The final James’ stat line: 48 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers.
As I listed to the game on ESPN radio and was writing my piece on the Billy Donovan move to the Orlando Magic, James put on a show that left me wondering why the hell I hadn’t watched this game tonight. For the first time, James impressed me to the point where I was actually calling him unbelievable. And all of this was from me hearing and visualizing what he was doing.
Don’t get me wrong. James is a tremendous player, a freak physically and athletically, but I have always I had a problem with players being heralded as the greatest thing ever before even playing a game in the pros. I remember when Michael Holley once said on Around the Horn that James was already better than Michael Jordan. Granted this was before James had even played a game in the league.
James has a pretty bad Cleveland team on the brink of the Finals, which is a testament to his skill and ability to make his teammates better (are you listening Kobe?). While Mike Tirico called James’ performance the greatest thing he’s ever seen, I wouldn’t go that far. It was only Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Cavs still have some work to do. James needs to dominate Game Six before tonight’s game can be the first crowning playoff achievement on his resume.
It should happen for James this weekend. Detroit has been walking a slippery slope since the end of Game Two against the Chicago Bulls, and it looks like it has finally caught up to them. While the Pistons sounded like they came out with more energy tonight, they also played sporadically and failed to put the Cavs away. They got lucky to get the game to a second overtime as they trailed by four with 33 seconds left. Ultimately, Detroit hasn’t learned that you can’t let a team hang around, especially when they have a player like James who can get to the hole late in the game and draw fouls.
Detroit has been in this position many times before. They were down 3-2 to the Nets in 2004, the year they won the championship. They followed by trailing 3-2 against the Heat in the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals before winning the final two games, including a tight Game Seven in Miami that they pulled out in the last 90 seconds. And last year they jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Cavs before dropping three straight, which is of course how this year’s rematch has played out. Detroit survived in Cleveland in Game Six and then got Game Seven. However, they expended so much energy in that series that they had nothing left against the Miami Heat, who embarrassed them in six games.
If Detroit pulls this off, I’ll be stunned. I just can’t see it happening. As for James, he appears to be headed to his first NBA Finals. He deserves congratulations after the way he played tonight. Just don’t say he’s the greatest player of all time, which someone on ESPN.com is sure to write tomorrow!
Related Posts
- 2007 NBA FINALS: TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK!
- HAVING PROBLEMS SLEEPING?
- On This Day in Basketball History — 1861
- WHAT THE CLEVELAND CAVS MUST DO TO WIN GAME THREE OF THE 2007 NBA FINALS!
- FIRST HALF IMPRESSIONS OF GAME THREE OF THE 2007 NBA FINALS!