Courting LeBron

A couple of things happened yesterday on the LeBron James front. First, fellow free agent Dwyane Wade (who really should fix the spelling of his first name already) told a Chicago Tribune reporter that he wants to talk to LeBron and Joe Johnson of the Hawks before he decides where to sign. It's highly unlikely that all three could possibly play for the same team next year, but two of them potentially could. If they do, that team is not going to be the Cavaliers, because the Cavs don't have the flexibility under the salary cap to sign a big-name free agent other than LeBron.

Of course, this having run in a Chicago newspaper, the questioning came around to the possibility of those free agents winding up with the Bulls, and Wade said some stuff about the impersonality of the organization, and how Jordan and Pippen are no longer involved in any capacity, blah blah blah. OK, so it sounds like he's not ga-ga for the Bulls. That doesn't mean he and/or LeBron won't sign there.

Second — and be forewarned, this is almost totally irrelevant — a group of L.A. Clippers fans rallied outside the Staples Center yesterday in support of LeBron coming there. This actually made SportsCenter, on a day when the Lakers won game five of their playoff series against the Suns in the same building. Did these poor misguided souls actually think their little rally would have any effect on what LeBron does this off-season? I guess there are people with too much time on their hands anywhere you go.

On a personal note, I'm going camping with my family this weekend and probably won't be posting anything for a few days, so I'd like to wish you all a safe and effective Memorial Day weekend. ... Wait, safe and happy. Sorry, I edit medical-related magazines and see a lot of FDA reports.

Balky balk calls? I don't think so

Somebody needs to get Mark Buehrle a pacifier and a blanket, and gently rock him to sleep.

Before I write more about Buehrle and his balks, I do want to say something brief about the way the game ended. The Indians went into the bottom of the ninth with a 5-1 deficit, and were facing White Sox closer Bobby Jenks in a non-save situation. They quickly put three runs on the board and had the bases loaded with just one out. Jenks managed to strike out Austin Kearns and retire Russell Branyan on a lazy fly ball to left to end the threat. It's disappointing that they lost, but at least they managed to make it interesting.

Now then, back to Mark Buehrle. First, a little background. I've never liked Buehrle, especially since he hit Travis Hafner in the head with a pitch a couple of years ago that caused Hafner to miss a few months, and I think he hit him intentionally. His manager, Ozzie Guillen, is a colorful character, but speaks freely enough to prove that he generally has his head up his rear end. So when I heard Buehrle and Guillen had been ejected for arguing balk calls in yesterday's game against the Indians, I couldn't help but feel a perverse pleasure.

It was a noon game, and I have a job, so I didn't see it until I watched the highlights on SportsCenter this morning. They showed both of the pickoff moves that got Buehrle called for balks, and they were clearly both balks. Buehrle made a move toward the plate, then threw the ball to first. That's deceiving the runner, which is the very definition of a balk. Buehrle told reporters afterward that those moves were no different from the ones he'd made on previous throws to first; those other throws were not shown on SportsCenter, so I can't speak to that, but the balk calls that first base umpire Joe West made were 100% correct.

Guillen got ejected for arguing the first one, and Buehrle got thrown out for tossing his glove to the ground after the second one. He then argued vociferously and tried to advance upon West, while his teammates held him back. Buehrle said after the game he was just trying to get his "money's worth," but I can't imagine what he thought was going to happen when he dropped his glove. Did he think West would apologize and send the runner back to first? If he'd given it just a moment's thought, he'd have known it was an ejectable offense.

But Buehrle isn't much of a thinker, I guess. Neither is Guillen, for that matter, who said after the game that West thinks people pay to watch him umpire. But one of Buehrle's comments really rankles me. Taken from the Associated Press report on yesterday's game:

"I think he's too worried about promoting his CD [West is a country music singer and songwriter with his own website] and I think he likes seeing his name in the papers a little bit too much instead of worrying about the rules."

Does he realize what a serious accusation that is? Does he care? He's suggesting that Joe West called two balks on him, not because he actually balked, but because he wants people to see his name in the paper and buy his CD? What kind of sense does that make? That's not a post-game comment, that's a tantrum thrown by a person who always thinks he should get his way.

Would somebody please change his diaper and fix him a bottle? He's cranky and ready for beddy-bye.

Rookie Talbot outduels former Cy

Mitch Talbot entered 2010 with zero major-league victories. Less than two months into the season, he has six, while pitching for a bad team. What do you know about that!

Talbot went six strong innings (and one shaky one that got him lifted) in the Indians' 7-3 victory over the White Sox last night, giving up two runs on six hits over his seven innings. He walked none, struck out four — three in the first three innings — and kept the ball in the yard. He held the Sox scoreless over the first six innings, then gave up two runs on four doubles in the seventh. Mark Kotsay did him a favor by getting thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple.

In any case, Talbot was lifted after having thrown just 77 pitches, 57 of which were strikes. He stands at 6-3, 3.73. Any team in the bigs would love to have that kind of production, and all he cost us was Kelly Shoppach. It's too soon to truly evaluate that trade, but so far, it looks like quite a fine move by Mark Shapiro. He's been our best starter so far this year, and his six wins tie him for second in the American League (with Boston's Clay Buchholz, behind David Price of the Rays, who has seven). If he keeps this up, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the All-Star Game.

Another young Indian contributed to this win, as Jason Donald opened the scoring with his first major-league home run off 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Peavy's obviously not the pitcher he was a couple of years ago, but that nonetheless had to be a thrill for Donald. Shin-Soo Choo's blast that followed gave the Tribe back-to-backs, and the Indians battered Peavy for six runs on eight hits over six innings.

The Indians and White Sox play the rubber match today at 12:05. Jake Westbrook, who seems to have mostly gotten his stuff back after missing a year and a half, will face off against Mark Buehrle, who's not having a good year at all. I wish I didn't have a job, so I could watch it. (Just kidding. ... Or am I? ... Yes, I am.)

Cleveland Brownout

When I told my 11-year-old stepdaughter this morning that the Cavaliers had fired head coach Mike Brown, she said, "Good! Now I don't have to kill him!" Relax, Mike. She was just joking. (I think.)

The Cavs announced this morning that they had fired Brown, who presided over the most successful period in team history, but couldn't push the right buttons to get the club over the hump. In Brown's five seasons at the helm, the Cavaliers went 272-138, never winning fewer than 45 games. He led them to the team's first-ever Eastern Conference championship in 2007, but they never got back to that point despite winning 66 games in the regular season last year and 61 this year — the two winningest seasons in Cavs history.

He was named NBA Coach of the Year just twelve months ago, but that was before he and his coaching staff couldn't find an answer for Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic; just as they couldn't find an answer for Rajon Rondo and the Boston Celtics this year. (To be fair, Stan Van Gundy and the Magic are coming up with even fewer answers for those Celtics in this year's Eastern Conference Finals.)

Brown is widely regarded as a defensive specialist, and the statistics bear that out. The Cavaliers allowed 95.6 points per game all year, which tied them for fifth in the league in that department. They held opponents to a .442 shooting percentage (fourth) and racked up a .772 defensive rebounding percentage (second). Those numbers all dipped a bit during the postseason, but this was a strong defensive team.

It was on the offensive side that the Cavs suffered this postseason. They struggled a bit on that end of the floor against Chicago in the first round, but then had nothing with which to challenge Boston offensively. LeBron James' elbow was clearly a factor, but that only underscored Brown's offensive lack of creativity. His offensive philosophy all year long (and indeed for all his time in Cleveland) was basically, give the ball to LeBron and let him create. When you've got a superstar like LeBron, that's got to be an easy trap to fall into. But when LeBron's not able to create the way he's used to being able to create, you've got to have some other way of putting points on the board. Brown didn't come up with anything that fit that description, and Doc Rivers and the Celtics ate him for breakfast.

Obviously, the subplot to anything involving the Cavaliers this offseason is whether this improves our chances of signing LeBron. The only person who can give a reasonable answer to that question is LeBron, but an ESPN.com poll is about evenly split: 29% say it makes him more likely to stay, 30% say it makes him more likely to go, and 40% say it will have no effect on his plans. I personally think it makes him slightly more likely to stay, because he may have the chance to practically dictate who the next coach will be, if he so chooses (and if Danny Ferry does what he asks).

It should be interesting. If not altogether pleasant.

Tribe is sliding, and not in a good way

There's a lot going on with the Cleveland Indians these days, and not much of it's good. Consider the following pile of facts:

• After having lost their last four in a row, the Indians are now 16-24, in last place in the American League Central. Their season run differential is -42, which is worse than all but one other AL team (the Orioles). They are on pace to go 65-97.

• The Tribe just suffered a two-game sweep at home against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals have won six of their last eight, responding well after Ned Yost replaced Trey Hillman as their manager. Nonetheless, it's the first time they've swept anybody this year, and only the fifth time they've won two straight all year.

• The Indians are playing without their top two hitters in the batting order, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who is out for eight to 10 weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured left forearm — broken in a collision with third baseman Jhonny Peralta as they both went for the same ball; and center fielder Grady Sizemore, who was having a crappy year anyway, but regardless, is on the DL with a knee.

• In their place are two players who quite recently were plying their trade in Columbus. Manny Acta has Trevor Crowe leading off and Jason Donald hitting second. Donald just made his major-league debut on Tuesday and got two hits, but has oh-fored since. Crowe is at least holding his own with a .333/.385/.458 line in six games, but he was in AAA for a reason.

• Russell Branyan, who a couple of weeks ago hit three home runs in two days, is now in a 1-for-22 slump. That one hit left the yard, naturally, and we've known Branyan was an all-or-nothing kind of hitter for a long time; still, he's now got an ugly .197/.284/.424 line.

• Kerry Wood, who is being paid eight figures to save games, hasn't saved one yet. To be fair, he's only had one opportunity since coming off the DL, but he blew it spectacularly on Wednesday against the Royals. He pitched to seven hitters and only got one out, giving up five runs on four hits and two walks in what turned from a 4-3 lead into an 8-4 loss. His ERA now stands at 18.90. Being fair again, Wood had been good in his last three outings before that, allowing just one hit and one walk in a combined 2 1/3 innings. Still, that was an epic implosion.

• Justin Masterson, installed as the third starter out of spring training, has yet to win a game. He hasn't pitched that badly, but he does have an ERA of 5.65 and a WHIP of 1.81. That's not a good way for a young pitcher to stay in a starting rotation. If only they had other options.

• The Tribe is last in the AL with 23 home runs, 12th in the AL in runs scored, 13th in slugging, and 12th in on-base percentage.

This is a bad Indians team, ladies and gentlemen. We all knew they'd be bad, but I sure hoped they'd be better than this. Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of reason for optimism right now.

The great Joe Tait steps down

Cavaliers announcer Joe Tait announced yesterday that 2010-11 will be his last season as the team's mouthpiece. It's kind of hard to imagine there being Cavaliers radio broadcasts without Joe, who has been announcing Cavs games since the team's inception in 1970-71, but for a couple of years in the early 1980s when Ted Stepien mucked things up for him.

I've always been a baseball fan first, and I'll always remember Tait's tenure at WUAB-43 announcing Indians games with Bruce Drennan in the 1980s. They were an entertaining pair, and they livened up what was usually some terrible baseball in Cleveland. But then the Cavaliers decided to make him an employee, and he stopped moonlighting on baseball.

It's hard to overstate how good Tait has been, broadcasting basketball games for four decades, most of that time without a partner. He has announced some phenomenal basketball teams (albeit none that have quite scaled the summit), and he has had to describe some awful basketball teams. I heard a quote on WTAM yesterday — which I can't find online anywhere, so I have to paraphrase — that he had nothing to do with the great basketball or the terrible basketball, he was just along for the ride. He will be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame's broadcasters wing later this year, and deservedly so.

Joe has been an entertaining, informative voice on the Cleveland sports scene for my entire life, and I'm sure going to miss him.

Tribe takes second straight series

Jake Westbrook came within a single out of pitching a complete-game shutout yesterday against the Orioles, just one start after getting his first major league win since 1988. OK, it was 2008, but the point is, it was a long time. Westbrook gave up nine hits yesterday, but a lot of them were ground balls that happened to find holes. He struck out eight, against a single walk. If he pitches like that on a regular basis, he'll do just fine. He still got the complete game in the Indians' 5-1 victory, on 116 pitches.

Westbrook was aided by home runs from Matt LaPorta and Russell Branyan, the latter of which was Branyan's fourth home run of the year, all coming in the past week. There's no question that the guy can touch 'em all if he makes contact. ... Incidentally, you may remember that "touch 'em all time" was Jack Corrigan's signature home run call when he broadcast Tribe games on WUAB-43. A friend of mine used to think he was saying "touch of old time," which confused him because there were more home runs being hit than ever before. I found that amusing.

In other notes:

• The Celtics beat the Magic in Orlando to steal home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals yesterday. Maybe the Cavaliers weren't so bad in that series; maybe it's just that the Celtics are playing over their heads right now.

• WTAM has started a daily "LeBron watch" or whatever they're calling it at 7:45 every morning. The guy can't do anything until July 1, so what there is to talk about every single day between now and then, I can't fathom. But I'm sure they'll come up with something.

• In a non-sports-related note, heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer yesterday. At various times the lead singer of Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, his own band Dio, and Heaven & Hell, Ronnie had a unique, powerful voice, and while his lyrics could be a bit hokey, he had his own style, and this is a great loss to the music world. Rest in peace, Ronnie. Anyone who wants to hear Ronnie sing on a great song they've probably never heard should check out this youtube link.

An eight-run explosion!

As I try to forget about the Cavaliers ...

Heading into the ninth inning last night, the punchless Indians seemed about ready to putter their way to a 2-0 loss, with both Orioles runs coming off solo home runs by Ty Wigginton off Tribe starter Mitch Talbot. It looked like Talbot, who had given up two runs on five hits in eight innings of work, would be the hard-luck loser.

Enter Baltimore's 28-year-old rookie closer, Alfredo Simon. Entering last night's game, Simon was 5-for-5 in save opportunities and had not given up a run in his 8 1/3 major league innings since getting called up in late April. Simon got the first hitter, Trevor Crowe, on a pop foul to the third-base side. (More on Crowe later.) That was the only out Simon would record in this one. Asdrubal Cabrera singled to right, Mark Grudzielanek drew a walk, and Shin-Soo Choo followed with an RBI single that put the tying run at second. Then Simon made a mistake up in the zone to Austin Kearns, who was previously 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Kearns deposited it in the left field stands, giving the Indians a 4-2 lead.

Tribe manager Manny Acta got closer Kerry Wood warming up to protect the lead in the bottom of the ninth, as Orioles skipper Dave Trembley pulled Simon in favor of Cla Meredith. Meredith was only slightly better than Simon, walking Travis Hafner, giving up a single to Jhonny Peralta, then striking out Russell Branyan for the second out of the inning. Mike Redmond followed with a two-run double, then Crowe swatted a home run to right that gave the Tribe an eight-run inning and a six-run advantage. Cabrera flied out to end the inning.

Crowe, who had JUST been called up from Columbus the same day, would follow his offensive heroics with a sterling defensive play in the bottom of the ninth. Acta had chosen to go with Tony Sipp instead of Wood, saving Wood in case of a closer game today or later in the week, and Nick Markakis opened the inning with a double off Sipp. The next hitter, Miguel Tejada, sent a liner toward shallow center, where Crowe was playing deep. Crowe got a great jump on the ball, took off on a full sprint toward the infield, and made the play with a diving catch that saved a run.

And that, my friends, is why the Orioles are one of baseball's worst teams.

Epitaph on what used to be such a promising season

As last night's game ended, my wife was holding our three-month-old daughter and trying to put her to sleep. We watched LeBron James hug Celtics players one by one, then take off his jersey and walk into the locker room, as the ESPN commentators wondered aloud whether that would be the last time LeBron ever took off a Cavaliers jersey. As the postgame interviews started, leading off with Kevin Garnett, I picked up the remote and asked my wife what she'd like to watch. She said, "Definitely not interviews with Celtics players."

I scrolled through the recordings on our DVR, found last night's installment of Jeopardy!, and we watched that. It's the annual Tournament of Champions, and though it was a runaway for one of the contestants, the Tournament of Champions is always interesting to watch. At no point during the program did I stop thinking about what I'd just seen from Boston, but it was at least a helpful diversion.

After Jeopardy! ended, my wife asked me if I was sad. I don't remember word for word what I said, but it was something to the effect that no, I'm not sad, but I'm very disappointed. It's just a sporting event, it's really not important in the grand scheme of things, etc., etc. But I really wanted to see this Cavaliers team win a championship.

I really wanted to see this Cavaliers team win a championship.

The team that steamrolled through the NBA all season, swept the Lakers, hung tough against all the league's heavy hitters, and looked unstoppable, simply rolled over when it counted the most. LeBron James' elbow obviously is a big part of the reason why, as he clearly was physically off his game for this whole series against Boston, but he seemed mentally off his game too. He grabbed 19 rebounds and had a triple-double last night, but he seemed to play lazy defense too. How many times did he fail to stay in front of his man, for example? And as the seconds ticked off at the end of the game, he and the Cavs completely gave up, conceding when they still might have had some faint glimmer of hope if they fouled to stop the clock.

Now the talk will turn to LeBron's future. Will he stay in Cleveland? Will he go to New York or Chicago or Miami? I have no idea, and right this minute, I barely even care.

Which LeBron James will show up tonight?

Will it be the LeBron who torched the Celtics in game three, or the LeBron who couldn't hit a jump shot to save his life in game five? Will it be the LeBron who scored the Cavs' last 25 points to beat the Pistons in double-overtime in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007, or the LeBron who kept passing up opportunities to drive the lane off pick-and-rolls the other night? Will it be the LeBron who has dominated the NBA all season, or the LeBron who had seven turnovers in game four of this series? Will The King show up, or will he The Serf? Will we witness the kind of dominance we've always known him for, or will he let this Cavaliers season (and possibly his Cavaliers career) end with a faint whimper?

I don't know. By the next time I post on this blog, the Cavaliers season may be over, and LeBron may have played his last game as a Cavalier. I dearly hope neither of those things will be true, but both of them have an uncomfortably high probability of being so.

If that happens, maybe I should stop subjecting myself to the torture that is being a Cleveland sports fan. The Cavs won't be worth much without him, and the Browns and Indians don't seem to be anywhere near contending anytime soon. Maybe I should start watching ballet or take up knitting or something instead.

SOME good news

Nobody's really paying attention to the Indians right now, what with the Cavaliers on the verge of ending what was once such a promising season — but hey, the Tribe's won three straight. OK, the last two of those came against the pitiful Kansas City Royals; and OK, they're still just 13-18, and have zero chance of contending this year. Still:

• Russell Branyan has hit three homers and driven in five runs in his last two games.
• Fausto Carmona, Aaron Laffey, Chris Perez and Tony Sipp combined on a shutout yesterday. Carmona only threw 70 pitches through five innings, and surely would have gone longer if not for the rain delay. He's now 4-1 with a 3.43 ERA. Is he back to his 2007 form? Time will tell.
• Jake Westbrook FINALLY won his first game since 2008 on Tuesday.
• Mitch Talbot, who came into the season with exactly zero major-league victories, is now 4-2 after beating the Tigers on Sunday.
• The Indians are now in third place, one game ahead of the White Sox and 3 1/2 ahead of the Royals.

The Tribe goes for a sweep in a day game today. I hope they get it, because that would at least mean that SOMETHING good happened in Cleveland sports today, in case the Cavaliers get eliminated.

Pathetic

I don't have much to say about that embarrassment at the Q last night. If it was LeBron James' last home game as a Cavalier, he will have gone out with one of the worst performances of his NBA career. He didn't have much help, either from his teammates or from the coaching staff, but LeBron is the back-to-back MVP. He sure didn't play like it. We've seen him take over games like this, but for whatever reason, in this series — with the sole exception of game three — he's been unable or unwilling to do it.

If the Cavaliers lose game six in Boston and LeBron leaves in the coming offseason, he can't say the front office didn't give him enough pieces to win with. The only person LeBron can blame for not winning a title in Cleveland is LeBron.

Don't panic, Cavalier nation

Yes, the Cavaliers lost yesterday in Boston, and it was a game they could have won. They had it down to a two-point game with less than five minutes left, before the Celtics pulled away at the end.

Yes, Rajon Rondo dominated, scoring 29 points with 18 rebounds and 13 assists. How does a 6'1" guy get 18 rebounds in an NBA playoff game? Seriously! We've got to find a way to slow that guy down.

Yes, LeBron James played like he did in game two, failing to take over at any point, perhaps raising more questions about the health of his elbow. He flirted with a triple-double himself, but only scored 22 points and turned the ball over seven times.

But you know what? It's now a 2-2 series, and games five and seven (if necessary) will be in Cleveland. The Cavaliers are clearly the better team, when LeBron is playing like LeBron. Game five is tomorrow night, and I think the Cavs will be ready.

Now THAT is what I'm discussing

Was there some question about one of LeBron James' joints? I vaguely seem to remember something like that ... maybe a shoulder or a wrist?

I'm joking, of course. We all know there has been some doubt about the health of LeBron's elbow, pretty much since the playoffs started against Chicago. And after game two of this Boston series, you read in many places (including Of Fair Hooker) that the elbow was clearly hampering The King. But he came out last night and silenced all that talk. LeBron came out like a man on a mission in that first quarter, pouring in 21 in the game's first 12 minutes and spurring his team to a 19-point lead at the quarter pole.

A lot of times, when a team gets off to a huge early lead, they'll start relaxing and let the other team back into the game. The opposite happened last night. The Cavs never let the foot off the accelerator, and coasted to a hugely impressive 124-95 win. It was the biggest road victory in Cavaliers postseason history, which is impressive; it was the biggest home loss in Celtics postseason history, which is astounding, given how many playoff games the Celtics have played in their storied history.

LeBron was the main catalyst, but this was a total team effort. James dominated that first quarter and put in 38 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists on the night, but really, everybody contributed. Antawn Jamison had 20 points and 12 rebounds; Shaquille O'Neal had 12 points and nine rebounds; Mo Williams had 12 points and seven assists; Anthony Parker scored 11 on four-of-four shooting, including three from downtown; Delonte West scored 14 off the bench; Anderson Varejao had six points and four rebounds in just 17 minutes.

And the Cavaliers regain the upper hand in this series. If they keep playing like this, it's going to be a five-gamer, and the Cavs will clinch it at home on Tuesday. Obviously, the Celtics are capable of beating our boys in one game, but I say it's over two games from now.

Lesson to young infielders: Get your glove dirty!

It can't feel good to be Luis Valbuena right now. The proximate cause of the Indians' 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays yesterday was the fact that a ground ball that should have been the last out of the game went under his glove into left field, allowing the next hitter, Adam Lind, to come up and hit a two-run homer off Chris Perez. ... For that matter, it can't feel very good to be Chris Perez, because even after Valbuena's gaffe, Perez still had a chance to close it out. But home runs will happen; balls that squirt through between infielders' legs are not supposed to, at least not at the major league level.

Valbuena, the Tribe's everyday second baseman, was playing shortstop because Asdrubal Cabrera's leg is bothering him. We can sit here and say Cabrera would have made that play — but let's be honest, if you'd put a third-string high school DH out there, he'd probably have made that play. Valbuena was playing out of position, and the ball does come off the bat a little differently at shortstop than at second base. Still, he obviously should have had it, and he knows that as well as you and I.

This was the club's fourth straight loss, and undoubtedly the loss that stings the most so far in the young season. When the Indians were 10-13 a few days ago, Bob Frantz on WTAM was saying this is not that bad a team. Now, at 10-17, they're on pace to lose more than 100 games, they're in last place in the AL Central, and there seems to be very little reason to hope they're going to be respectable. Sorry, fans, but that's the way it is.

LeBron James' elbow has its own Twitter page

It's true! The team says nobody there has anything to do with it, and nobody seems to know who's writing it, but it's up—and as of this moment, it has 4,432 followers. It appears to have been created April 28. LeBron's elbow's most recent tweet:

Night everyone. I'm trying to read everyone's funny comments but LeBron keeps singing Usher's My Way in his sleep so it's kinda distracting.

In all seriousness, this elbow thing has to be a major concern. LeBron, Mike Brown and the Cavaliers are downplaying it, but he's getting a second MRI on the joint, which leads me to believe it's giving him more trouble than he's letting on. He insists on not using the elbow as an excuse for his tentative play, and while that's an admirable quality in a superstar, it doesn't mean the elbow isn't negatively impacting his game.

The Cavaliers have other issues in this Boston series, but clearly that elbow is #1. If LeBron's not healthy, the Cavs are in trouble. Sure, they've got other fine players, but if we're going to get to the promised land, he's the only one who can lead us there.

Time for concern, Cavaliers faithful

It's a new series with the Boston Celtics, ladies and gentlemen. But now it's a best-of-five, and the Celts have home-court advantage. And the questions about LeBron James' elbow are back. Fortunately, he's got three days to rest it, but that helps the aging Celtics too. Beantown manhandled our boys on the way to a 104-86 victory.

LeBron, on the day he formally received his second straight NBA MVP award, made a lot of mistakes and had little impact on this game until the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach. He scored 24 points, 12 of which came in that fourth period, on 7-of-15 shooting (0-for-4 from downtown). He was able to get the ball inside a few times, and that's where most of his points came from. He wasn't able to hit from the perimeter worth a darn. He turned the ball over five times. He made some defensive contributions, to be sure, but this game was proof that as LeBron goes, so go the Cavs.

The Cavaliers were lacking in defensive intensity in this one. The Celtics had six players in double figures, but the biggest key to their offensive output was point guard Rajon Rondo. His 19 assists tied a Celtics team record for a playoff game — and when you tie a Celtics team playoff record, you know you've done something special. And late in the second quarter, he made one of the prettiest basketball moves I ever saw, dribbling toward the right side of the backboard, then stopping short as he held the ball off to the right, before moving left and laying the ball up. That move faked out not one, but two Cavaliers defenders. Regardless, it's Rondo's ability to create for his teammates that the Cavaliers simply have to find a way to stop.

There is reason for optimism, however. For example, look at the teams' respective outside shooting in this one — the Cavaliers shot just 4-of-21, the Celtics 9-of-19. Neither team is going to keep up that kind of pace. The Cavaliers went 2-2 against the Celtics in the regular season, splitting two games in each team's building. The Cavs' win in Boston was a very convincing 108-88 victory on Feb. 25, in which our guys outscored theirs by 21 in the fourth quarter. And as Tim Legler pointed out on SportsCenter, the Cavs were the best defensive team in the NBA this year. Their lapses in this game were uncharacteristic, and there's no reason to believe they'll continue to play like that. They'll pick it up.

... I hope.

Some quick thoughts

I've been busy, but I want to share just a few thoughts on just a few things:

• I've heard some people call the Cavs' win on Saturday over the Celtics "troubling," or words to that effect. Like them, I didn't enjoy seeing our boys fall behind early, but I sure did enjoy watching them claw their way back into it and pull away at the end. These Celtics may not be quite as talented as they were when they won the title two years ago, but this is still a very good Celtics team. I would be delighted to see three more games against them go exactly the way this one did.

• Our man LeBron James has been named MVP for the second year in a row. Yawn. ... Don't get me wrong, LeBron had an outstanding season and certainly deserves the award. But I find it hard to care who gets the hardware. I'm interested in results on the court. And I'm far more interested in whether LeBron is still in Cleveland when he wins his third MVP.

• Speaking of LeBron, he says his elbow feels about the same as it did at the end of the series against the Bulls. Given that he shot his last free throw in that series left-handed but came back with 35/7/7 in Game 1 against the Celtics, I find that kind of hard to believe. But only LeBron knows what LeBron feels like.

• The Indians pulled out an exciting 11-inning win over the first-place Twins on Saturday, but came back with a lackluster effort yesterday that included the trifecta of poor clutch hitting, poor pitching and poor defense. The Indians gave up 20 hits in that 8-3 loss. Twenty freaking hits! The Twins stranded 16 runners, including at least one in every inning but the fifth. The 2010 Indians are not that bad a team, but they're clearly inferior to those Twins.

• A recent Wall Street Journal study found that the Indians are baseball's most hated team. How can this be? Local fans are obviously not impressed by the current crop of Indians, but they can't be more hated than the Yankees, can they? Well, according to Page 2's Jim Caple, the study was not intended the way it was taken:

But it turns out Cleveland ... [is] not hated ... The Journal simply misinterpreted the analysis. A Nielsen rep told the New York Daily News that its rankings were based merely on positive-and-negative feelings generated by teams from their performances the first three weeks of the season. They were not meant to show whether at team was most-hated or most-liked overall. Which explains why teams off to bad or disappointing starts ranked poorly, as well as the Yankees whose lofty standards require that anything short of a ticker-tape parade by May is considered disappointing by their fans.

Whew!