The LeBron's

Until tonight, I never believed in the Cavaliers. I thought that they were just the LeBron's and that their playoff performance against the Magic last year justified that belief. I watched in disgust as a team that has (in my humble opinion) the greatest player in the league fell from grace. They tripped, they fell, they tumbled, and nothing LeBron could do would stop the inevitable crash as a team that would have easily lost to a Garnett-lead Celtics team slowly crushed the playoff life out of them.

What bothered me most was the way in which Cleveland lost. The game plan seemed to be give James the ball, and pray for true greatness to occur for 48 minutes on 7 separate occasions. This worked as much as it could, but even LeBron transcendent him was not enough to outlast a clever and effectively coached Stan Van Gundy team as they ground the LeBron's to a stop. And when things got rough, the "coach of the year" disappeared. He would arbitrarily place James on a random Magic player and blow a 7 point half-time lead within 3 minutes of the start of the third quarter. He would deliberately run plays that had LeBron shooting fade-away jump shots. It was madness.

Tonight, I eagerly watched the Hawks and the Cavaliers play in Atlanta. If I were to have told you that LeBron was going to play very poorly offensively, against a hostile crowd and a fired-up Hawks team, you would have told me (erroneously) that the Cavs would certainly add another loss to their record. My statement to you would have been wrong, though, so do not judge yourself too harshly. LeBron did play incredibly poorly offensively. He almost had as many turnovers as he did made shots. He missed time after time when he had a chance to blow the game open. What fascinated me was the lack of the other two premises upon which my statement stood. The crowd was not hostile. The Hawks were not fired-up.

This is partially their fault, but I would like to give credit to the Cavaliers more than take it away from Atlanta. Mike Brown's preparation for this game, right after an emotional victory over the Lakers, was impeccable. It astonished me. He prepared a defensive scheme that made Joe Johnson look much worse than LeBron did in this game. It involved James shutting him down and throwing different double-teams at him every time he touched the ball. His execution silenced an emotional team and emptied a stadium full of fans thirsty for vengeance after an embarrassing sweep from last year. It reminded us what a championship caliber team looks like, and what a team that is not nearly there, regardless of what PER might lead us to believe, truly is. For now, my hat is off to Mr. Brown. He shocked me. The Cavs won with teamwork, and gutsy play from both Mo Williams and Delonte West. They won with fierce defense, certainly worthy of any team in the NBA. Most importantly, they won with LeBron shooting six for twenty (yes that is 30%), missing all five shots from beyond the arc, turning the ball over 4 times, and mere mortal play. Goodbye LeBron's, hello Cleveland.