Game Seven

Turns out the Cavaliers and Celtics are each incapable of winning on the other's home floor. That's been the trend in this round of the 2008 NBA postseason, in which, adding up all four series, the home team is 21-2. (In case anyone's wondering, the home team was 30-13 in the first round.) Of course, the national media is making a big deal about how the Celtics have won all their home games but lost all their road games against the Cavs and, in the first round, the Hawks. And that is a very odd thing. In just one completed series so far in this postseason has the home team gone undefeated, and that was that Celtics-Hawks series. If the Celtics win today, that'll make two. The one Western Conference semifinal that's still going on will also fit that description if the Hornets beat the Spurs on Monday night in New Orleans.

So it all comes down to today's game. The natural favorite, obviously, is the Celtics, and for good reason. They had the NBA's best regular-season record, and as previously mentioned, they're undefeated at home in the playoffs.

But they don't have LeBron. They've got three superstars, and yes, three superstars would seem to be better than one. And LeBron's been pretty mortal in this series, though he's picked it up considerably over the last couple of games; and he played better in the early games of this series than his point totals would seem to suggest. But it's painfully obvious that if the Cavaliers are going to win this game and this series, LeBron James is the guy who's going to win it for them. But we know he can do it, because we have witnessed it. (That's as close as I'm going to come to advertising Nike in this space. Well, besides mentioning it by name just now.)

The game starts at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, on your local ABC affiliate (Channel 5 here in Cleveland). I can hardly wait.