Next victim: Boston Celtics

The Cavaliers threatened several times to pull away in last night's series clincher against the Bulls. They never did pull away, but it doesn't matter now. The only thing that matters is that they won, the series is over, and the Cavs move on to play the Celtics in round two.

It's unusual to say this after a series-clinching win, but arguably a bigger story than the outcome of the game is LeBron James' right elbow, which he just admitted has been bothering him for weeks, but he's been able to play through it. It apparently hurt so much, he shot his last free throw left-handed, with just seven seconds left in the game and the Cavaliers up by just four. This wasn't Bo Kimble shooting left-handed to honor Hank Gathers (video here) — Bo had practiced shooting left-handed. LeBron hadn't, and he missed his. James claims it's nothing to worry about, but when you've got your right-handed superstar shooting left-handed because of pain in his right arm ... I'm sorry, LeBron, but I'm going to worry about it, at least a little bit.

LeBron did have an MRI on the elbow on Monday, and it came out clean. He's got three days to rest it before the Cavs open their second-round series against Boston at the Q on Saturday. And to be sure, other than that left-handed free throw, it didn't seem like The King was suffering much. He only scored three points in the first half, but did put in 16 in the second half and was one assist away from his second straight triple-double — and he had one of his patented poster-worthy dunks in the third quarter.

Antawn Jamison was arguably the star of this game, putting in 25 points; and Shaquille O'Neal was an absolute monster on the inside, with 14 points and eight rebounds in just 26 minutes.

I do want to mention the officiating again. After the Cavs' close loss in game three, I complained about a couple of fouls that weren't called. After this one, I'm going to mention a couple that were called, and this time, I'm throwing a bone to the other team. Bulls center Brad Miller got called for two fouls in less than a minute in the fourth quarter while guarding Shaq, and I didn't think either one should have been called. They were Miller's fourth and fifth fouls in the game, and he would go on to foul out in just 10 minutes of game time. After Miller came out following that fifth foul, Joakim Noah got called for a ticky-tack foul on Shaq, and it was his fifth foul too. Give the Cavs credit for getting the ball to Shaq when the officials were calling it so tight, but I'd rather have defeated the Bulls without any help from the referees.

Regardless, it's over with, and the Celtics are waiting to face us on Saturday. I'm going to assume LeBron is healthy enough to dominate, in which case, Boston doesn't stand a chance. Bring 'em on.

Now THAT's the Cavaliers team we all know and love

The under-talented Chicago Bulls raced the thoroughbred Cavaliers neck and neck until there were just a couple of minutes left in the first half yesterday, but the Cavs managed to pull away at the close of the second quarter, and never looked back. LeBron James' jumper at the first-half buzzer gave the Cavs a 10-point lead at the break, and it seemed like that shot took the heart out of the Bulls — all but Joakim Noah, who ended the game with 21 points and 20 rebounds.

It almost seems like LeBron's game yesterday was not particularly noteworthy, just because it was him; but The King put up his fifth career playoff triple-double, with 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. It was his second career playoff game with at least 37 points in a triple-double — the only other player to do that twice was Oscar Robertson. In addition to his first-half buzzer-beater, he hit one from almost half-court at the close of the third quarter with Derrick Rose's hand in his face, which made it a 21-point advantage. This was an enormous effort from LeBron.

The poor Bulls had no chance of closing that gap in the fourth. The Cavs did win by that same 21-point margin, but pushed the lead as high as 29 before letting their foot off the gas in the final minute of the game. And we're one win from moving on to the second round. That win will come Tuesday night in Cleveland.

Where were Cavs hiding it?

It's hard to believe when you look at the final score and remember how the fourth quarter went, but the Cavaliers were at one point losing last night's game by 21 points. Supposedly the NBA's best team, down by 21 to about the 19th- or 20th-best team in the league.

The last quarter and a half, they showed who the better team was, making quite an impressive comeback that fell just short. But it should never have come to that. The Cavs played weak defense most of the evening, and that's just got to get better if they hope to get far in this postseason. Particularly weak was Mo Williams' defense on Derrick Rose, who poured in 31 points. Williams has never been known for his defense anyway, but he's just got to do better.

LeBron James was his usual bad (in a good way) self, leading all scorers with 39 to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists. He did make some key turnovers down the stretch, but he continues to play like the best player on the planet, which he is.

Oh, and of course I must mention the officiating, which was terrible at the end. I hate to be the guy who blames the officials for my team losing — and again, the Cavs have nobody to blame but themselves for digging such a hole to climb out of — but LeBron was the victim of two fouls that weren't called in the closing moments, including one that actually went the other way. LeBron was driving to the hoop, and Luol Deng stepped in his way as he put up a shot that went in. Deng's feet were clearly moving, and should have been called for a foul that would have given LeBron an and-one opportunity that could have cut the lead to 102-99. Instead, LeBron got called for a charge. What that official was watching, I have no idea. And later on, your favorite Bull and mine, Joakim Noah, clotheslined LeBron as he went for a rebound. That one was a little bit less obvious since neither player had the ball, but it should have been called.

Regardless, the Cavs are still up 2-1 in the series, and still figure to close it out early. I originally predicted a sweep; now I'm predicting five games. I still say these Bulls are no match for this Cleveland team.

Surprise! LeBron dominates again

It seems like it's always been this way: When the Cavaliers play the Bulls in the playoffs, #23 takes over and makes sure his team doesn't lose. Of course, that #23 plays for the Cavs now. LeBron James looked every bit the MVP he is in last night's 112-102 win over Chicago, pouring in 40 points to go with eight rebounds and eight assists. Among those 40 points were one of the niftiest dunks you'll ever see, weaving through traffic and fending off contact from James Johnson, reaching back with the ball to get more power, and stuffing it in with tremendous authority. And in the fourth quarter, when the Cavs were slowly building their lead after being tied at 77 to start the period, LeBron kept taking jump shots with one or two seconds left on the 24-second clock — and hitting most of them, including a three-pointer with Joakim Noah in his face. LeBron put up 15 points in that decisive fourth quarter.

One of the subplots of this game was Noah insulting Cleveland, saying there's nothing to do here, nowhere to go out at night. I frankly don't give a rat's petoot what Joakim Noah thinks of Cleveland, but he obviously didn't look very hard. It's about 10 blocks from the Q to the Warehouse District, for example. And there are plenty of places to go that are even closer. ... Meh, whatever. Noah brought the wrath of the Cleveland faithful upon himself, but it sure didn't seem to slow him down. If anything, he seemed to have fed off it. Noah put in 25 points to go along with 13 rebounds, and almost single-handedly kept the Bulls in the game. ... So if the series does come back to Cleveland (which it won't), don't boo him anymore.

LeBron's exploits crowded the rest of the club out of the game story, but he did have some help. I especially want to mention Jamario Moon coming off the bench to hit 4-of-5 shots, all from three-point range. That was killer.

The Cavs are now up 2-0 in this series. Game 3 is Thursday in Chicago, game 4 is Saturday in Chicago, and game 5 won't happen. This is going to be a sweep.

Cavs go about as expected

I probably don't have to tell anyone reading this blog about yesterday's Cavaliers win over the Bulls. The Cavs pretty much dominated that game, as we all expected. LeBron was great, Shaq was good in his first game in over a month, and while the Bulls got within seven in the fourth before succumbing to the Cavs' superior talent, it was really never in doubt.

Sorry I don't have that much more to say. I didn't watch the game very closely, as my wife and I were throwing a birthday party for our five-year-old. Regardless, the Cavs are now 15 wins away from a title.

Another big start from a young Indian

Mitch Talbot entered last night's game with zero major league wins. He has one now. Talbot, the Indians' fifth starter, followed fourth starter David Huff's complete-game victory with one of his own. And Huff rewarded him with a shaving-cream pie all over his face. It was the first time Indians starters have won back-to-back complete games since Charles Nagy and Chad Ogea did it in 1996. That's a long time. For a second-year pitcher and a rookie to do it is pretty remarkable.

Talbot gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks, striking out two. The one earned run scored on Paul Konerko's solo home run in the fourth. The Tribe bats helped him out with six runs on eight hits, including Luis Valbuena's two-run fourth-inning home run off White Sox starter Mark Buehrle.

With the win, the Indians moved ahead of the White Sox in the standings, and are tied with the Royals for third place, at 4-6, 3 1/2 behind the first-place Twins.

The White Sox are staying in the same hotel as the Chicago Bulls, giving me a convenient segue to mention that the Cavs start their march to the title against the Bulls at 3 p.m. today. I predict a Cavaliers sweep. It's possible the Bulls could steal a game, but the Cavs are clearly a far superior team. They almost beat them 10 days or so ago without LeBron James, for criminy's sake.

Opening act has left the stage

The regular season is over for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost their last four games of the campaign, each by more points than the last. But no matter. As you surely know, the Cavs had nothing left to play for except continued health until the real season gets going. They finished with a 61-21 record, the second-best record in club history, after last year's 66-16 mark.

The Cavs will open the playoffs Saturday against the Chicago Bulls, who beat the Bobcats last night to finish 41-41 and hold off Toronto for the eighth and final spot in the East. In a way, the Bulls have the Cavs to thank for getting them into the playoffs. We had the Raptors and Bulls in consecutive games on April 6 and April 8. On April 6, the Cavs were still trying to clinch home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, so they went full-bore after Toronto, and beat them 113-101. But on April 8, they had clinched it, and rested LeBron in a 109-108 loss. Had the two teams faced the Cavs on opposite dates, we'd be looking at the Raptors for our first-round match-up.

Game one starts at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Cavs went 2-2 against the Bulls this year; one of those losses, of course, was that April 8 game in which LeBron didn't take the floor. The other was November 5, which dropped Cleveland to 3-3, as part of the slow start they got while working Shaquille O'Neal and Anthony Parker and such guys into the rotation. The Cavaliers team that will take the floor Saturday is far different from the one that took the floor in either of those losses. I predict a four-game sweep.

Terrible ... just terrible

The Cavaliers led the Bulls by 17 points. And the Bulls won. In Cleveland. Really, does anything else need to be said?

The Cavs led a 30-45 team by 17 points in the third quarter. These are the defending Eastern Conference champions? My petoot! Do they think they're going to win a playoff series? They've got seven games left to get it together, and I don't see it happening. The Cavs will have home court in the first round, but as they showed us tonight, they're perfectly capable of losing to an inferior team at home.

I don't want to be too negative about this team, because there's a lot of talent here. But Danny Ferry's blockbuster trade seems to have discombobulated everything. Maybe this group will come together next year, but I just don't think it'll happen this year. There's just not enough time left.

One other thing: Larry Hughes hit 11 of 17 shots for the Bulls tonight. Where was that shooting touch when he played for us?

Ran out of gas

The Cavaliers were playing the second night of back-to-backs last night against the Bulls, and it showed. The Bulls hit the throttle in the third quarter and never looked back in a 107-96 Cavs loss.

The Cavs were really hurt by not having Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Bulls outscored us 46-24 in the paint. And our guys were maddeningly bad on the glass; we were blocking a lot of shots, but not getting the rebounds. Ben Wallace and Anderson Varejao each had 10 rebounds, but they both had opportunities for more. Varejao, in particular, looked like he had no legs under him, and that's very unusual for him. Of course, he's starting in Z's place right now, and recently came back from an injury himself, so I suppose that's not all that surprising.

LeBron looked like he was on his way to another big game, with 26 points in the first half. He did wind up with 39, but he missed a lot of shots in the second half. And he only had three rebounds and ONE assist.

But hey, it's one game. Cavs are back in action Saturday against the Pacers; let's hope they can rebound, in more ways than one.

Would you rather be president or LeBron?

On Fox 8 news this morning, a clip was shown in which a reporter asks LeBron James what he thinks of a recent statement by Barack Obama that he'd rather be LeBron than president. I can't find any mention of it online, but regardless, it gives you some idea just how big this Cleveland athlete is.

And he showed why he's a leading MVP candidate again yesterday, dominating the fourth quarter in what became a 95-86 win against the Chicago Bulls. Starting with the game tied at 83 and 3:10 to go,
LeBron scored the next six points, including one of his patented spectacular, unbelievable, split-the-defense dunks.

LeBron wound up with 37 points, which is certainly an MVP-caliber performance. Kobe Bryant outdid him yesterday, though, going for 52 in an overtime win. But whatever; LeBron seems to genuinely care more about winning than any individual accolades, and we won, so that's the important thing.