Moral victory?

You know, the Cavaliers were down nine after one period tonight against the Celtics, and they only lost by five. And for a short time, it looked like LeBron might be seriously hurt. But he came back, and he scored his 10,000th career point on a spectacular left-handed dunk. He's now the youngest player in NBA history to score 10,000 points. But the bottom line is, it goes under "L" in the standings.

I usually gush about LeBron on this blog, and I still believe he's the best player in the game today. But it seems like every time he stubs his toe or bumps his elbow, it looks like the worst injury in the world. He writhes on the ground and grimaces in pain. And then he gets up and finishes the game. I don't know if he's a drama queen or what, but it's getting a bit old. That said, I'm still enormously glad he's on my team, and I hope he stays on it.

Delonte West had his best game as a Cavalier so far (out of three, but still), with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. And he had a plus/minus of +6. He's a former Celtic, and had a good game against the Celtics earlier this year, while with the Sonics. Let's hope he can keep it going.

Mike Brown put on quite a show too -- getting thrown out of an NBA game for the first time, late in the third quarter. He didn't like a foul called against LeBron. I honestly wasn't watching the play, so I can't say whether he was right or wrong, but I've never seen him that animated.

I don't have much else to say about this game. When we fell behind in the first quarter, I decided to do some reading and didn't pay very close attention. What can I say? I'm human.

The King reigns

With a little bit more than four minutes left in last night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Cleveland Cavaliers were losing by 11, 81-70. It wasn't looking good for the defending Eastern Conference champions.

But then a heckler in the crowd on the Cavs' offensive end pissed off LeBron James.

LeBron hit a three-pointer with 4:03 to go, cutting the Portland lead to eight. After a defensive stop, Drew Gooden hit a nine-footer to cut it to six. After another defensive stop, LeBron hit another trey, and suddenly, it's 81-78. Zydrunas Ilgauskas came up big on the other end, blocking Steve Blake's five-footer, and Blake fouled Gooden going after the rebound. Playing off a pick set by Drew and Z, LeBron hit another three. And with 2:26 left, the game was tied.

Travis Outlaw responded with a long jumper to make it 83-81, and then Gooden got fouled on the other end, hitting one of two free throws with 1:39 left. Then the teams traded scoreless possessions until the Cavs finally got the ball back with 4.9 seconds left, down 83-82.

LeBron took the ball at the top of the arc, with Blazers star Brandon Roy trying to guard him.

Poor Brandon Roy. He never had a chance.

LeBron went to his right, and blew past Roy like he was standing still. The King made a couple of moves on Portland's big men, then hit a layup from the left side of the bucket. Score: 84-83, Cleveland. Time remaining: three-tenths of a second.

Fittingly, King James himself stole the Blazers' desperation inbounds pass, and the Cavs had won yet another game they had no business winning, simply because they've got the best fourth-quarter player in the NBA. LeBron scored 37 for the night, 17 of which came in the last 12 minutes.

My goodness, am I glad he plays for Cleveland.