Nice comeback

The Cavaliers took a nice step toward home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs last night, beating the Nets for the first time all year. And it took a great second-half comeback to do it -- spurred by suffocating defense. Not bad, considering they weren't sure LeBron was going to play until the last minute.

The Cavs were down 14, 67-53, with 6:44 left in the third quarter, after former Cavalier DeSagana Diop hit a shot. Enter Boobie Gibson, who came in for Devin Brown. Boobie didn't immediately start draining shots, but he did help key the defensive effort the rest of the way. By the end of the third quarter, the Cavs were up 76-74, and they were just warming up.

The Nets took the lead back on a Bostjan Nachbar 3-pointer 30 seconds into the fourth quarter. Unbelievably, they didn't hit a field goal the entire rest of the way. The Cavs actually kept the Nets from making a single basket the last 11:30. They hit six foul shots, but nothing else. Final score: 103-84. Our boys outscored their boys 27-9 in the fourth quarter.

I have my doubts about the Cavaliers in the playoffs, but if they can keep up that defensive intensity, they can hang in there with just about anyone.

How about that LeBron?

Our King James nearly got a triple-double in the All-Star Game last night, with 27 points, nine rebounds and eight assists to win his second All-Star MVP award in three years. How many people still do not believe that LeBron is the best player in all the land? Color commentator Doug Collins believed Ray Allen should have won the MVP, and to be sure, Allen was a key to the East's 136-128 victory. But 27-9-8? In an All-Star Game?

LeBron insists that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA; and to be fair to Kobe, he played only three minutes last night due to a finger injury, and he did win last year's All-Star MVP. But our man is better right now. You won't convince me otherwise. And LeBron is still just 23 (Bryant is 29).

It was a good weekend for Cavaliers; as noted before in this space, Boobie Gibson won the rookie game MVP, and he finished second in the 3-point shootout, behind former Cavalier Jason Kapono. And I've always liked Kapono, but I'll take Boobie any time.

Hooray for Boobie!

For those who didn't watch last night's rookie game at the NBA's All-Star weekend, our own Daniel "Boobie" Gibson was phenomenal, scoring 33 points to lead the sophomores past the rookies, 136-109, and setting a new record for three-pointers made in that game, with 11. So he didn't score a single point that didn't come from beyond the arc, which is obviously pretty unlikely.

Boobie went 11-of-20 from beyond the arc; I'm guessing the 20 shots attempted must be a record as well, but being in San Francisco and not having gotten breakfast yet, I'm not going to take the time to research it. I'm sure my loyal readers will forgive me. I can't even seem to find a box score from last night's game. If anyone has found it, I'd appreciate it if you'd send me a link.

Boobie's in the three-point shootout tonight, and if he keeps shooting that way, he'll be hard to beat. If he does win it, it'll be on the birthday of another Cavalier who's won the three-point shootout. Happy 44th birthday, Mark Price, who won the shootout in back-to-back years, 1993 and 1994. That can serve as today's Today in Sports History, since I can't really find much else of any great import, and I'm hungry.

It's raining 3s

It seems our Cavaliers set a new franchise record last night. And not in a good way.

The Phoenix Suns hit 17 three-pointers on their way to a 110-108 squeaker over the Cavs. They took 33 shots from beyond the arc, which works out to 51.5 percent 3-point shooting. Truth is, I didn't see the game; I went out last night and forgot to DVR it. But those numbers tell me our boys didn't get any hands in the Suns' faces. Steve Nash, the only 6-foot white Canadian ever to be named MVP of the NBA, hit seven of nine. That's just crazy.

This was the Cavs' first game since Sasha Pavlovic went down with a sprained foot. Sasha was mostly in the starting lineup for his defense (his offense has been pretty lame all season), so Mike Brown chose to replace him with alleged defensive wizard Ira Newble. Newble is by all accounts a fine human being, and he and I went to the same college, but the box score tells me he didn't do much. Defense can be hard to quantify, and he did get three steals in his 12 minutes, but he also scored zero points, got one rebound, and committed two turnovers and two fouls. You can't start a guy in an NBA game who's not going to give you more than that.

I don't know why Boobie Gibson hasn't been starting all season, frankly. Sasha's got some skills, but Boobie's got more, if you ask me. If Mike Brown calls me today, I'm going to tell him to start Boobie.