Quick thoughts

* The Indians had a bit of a rough stretch there, but they've won two in a row to regain the best record in the majors. A certain Of Fair Hooker reader who has been constantly beating the drum of negativity about the Indians (who goes by the name of Jeff Brown) emailed me the other day to opine that the Tribe will soon go the way of the Royals, who are now 5-13 since starting the season 20-17. First of all, the Indians' record is a lot better than 20-17, and second of all, they're pretty obviously better than the Royals. The Indians are now on pace to win 101 games. I don't think they'll actually win that many, but it probably won't take 90 to win the Central. I will be surprised if Detroit overtakes us, and shocked if Chicago does. Kansas City and Minnesota are all but eliminated right now.

* Jim Tressel has left the Ohio State football program in disgrace after committing the unpardonable sin of allowing his players to participate in capitalism. ... Don't get me wrong, Tressel should have known better, and signs are starting to point to the fact that this has been going on for years right under his nose, and he has been running a pretty corrupt program (at least in terms of the NCAA rules). But at least he won a national title. That's better than cheating and NOT winning a national title.

* Shaquille O'Neal, who spent the 2009-10 season in Cleveland, has announced his retirement. Shaq was at one time the NBA's most dominant player, and has to go down in history as one of the five best centers ever. And he's one heck of a character. Here's what he said about coming to Cleveland: "I came here with the perfect chemist's perception. The formula they had was perfect and any added ingredient could make it go bad or worse." ... Well, obviously the added ingredient that made it go bad wasn't Shaq, it was LeBron James losing his desire to win in Cleveland. Odd that he seems to have found it again in Miami. But that's a separate issue.

* I really don't want the Heat to win the championship. That's a given. If you're reading this, you probably don't either. But you know what? If Miami sweeps the Mavericks and hoists the trophy the evening of June 7, the sun will still rise on June 8. Not only that, the Cavaliers will still exist, and will still have the first and fourth picks in the upcoming NBA draft. They'll be one of 29 teams trying to knock off the champion. Whether that's the Mavericks or the Heat is not especially material.

LeBron shows he still has no character

I've written here several times that I'm tired of talking about LeBron James ... but I just can't seem to help myself. He's on the cover of the next issue of GQ, which sent a writer to hang around him for several weeks, leading up to his infamous auto-fellating announcement special on ESPN. Here's a direct quote from LeBron himself:

"If there was an opportunity for me to return (to the Cavaliers), and those fans welcome me back, that would be a great story."

Some people might be tempted to look at that quote and dream about LeBron coming back here in a few years. I am not one of those people. First of all, if he plays out his contract in Miami and comes back to Cleveland, he'll be 31. Not an old man, by any means, but probably past his career peak. Second of all, it would have been a great story if he'd stayed in Cleveland in the first place — a much better story than him leaving — and he certainly should have known that.

Third of all, and most importantly, LeBron shows more than he realizes about his character, or lack thereof, in that quote. He just became a member of the Miami Heat, and he's already talking about what team he's going to play for next. I obviously don't give a rat's petoot about the Miami Heat — in fact, I want them to go down in flames, no pun intended — but if I owned the Heat, I'd want the players I've got under contract to be committed to winning in Miami for as long as they can imagine. I sure as shootin' wouldn't want my star max-contract signee talking about going somewhere else.

Whatever regrets LeBron might have about turning his back on Northeast Ohio, he's under contract to the Heat now. His job is to try to win basketball games for them, not to worry about going anywhere else afterward — whether it's the same place he came from or not. That's the same character he showed in mailing it in against Boston in the playoffs last year, knowing he wanted to get out of Cleveland, not caring that he was still, at that time, getting paid an obscene amount of money to help the Cavaliers win basketball games.

Here's an excerpt from an interview with the author of the GQ piece, J.R. Moehringer:

Q: Now that we've all had a chance to digest the decision, what's the biggest story going into the season?

A: I think it's LeBron being booed wherever he goes. This is not just a Cleveland problem. This is a guy who had a Tiger Woods-esque fall from grace, even though he didn't really commit any sins—cardinal or venal or otherwise. His sin was that he made a marketing gaffe. He presented himself in an unflattering light. That's not much of a sin on the scale of public sins. And yet he's become a villain. I don't think we've had anything like this in sports history. We haven't had a beloved sports icon become a villain for something so aesthetic. He's despised, absolutely despised, because of a TV special. He didn't cheat on his wife, he didn't drive drunk, he didn't take drugs, he didn't test positive for PEDs, and almost overnight he went from being a loved guy to being hated. That day-in-day-out condemnation is the story.

All of that is true. And I don't know about anybody else, but I will probably never forgive him.

Browns' rookies report — yay, football!

Today's post will be a roundup, because that's my favorite brand of weed killer:

• With the Indians season basically a lost cause and the Cavaliers in the throes of their most disappointing off-season in team history, it's with some degree of excitement that we welcome the start of Browns' training camp. Rookies reported today, and that includes presumed future starting quarterback Colt McCoy, who signed a four-year contract yesterday. McCoy will be third on the depth chart this year, behind Trent Dilfer and Jeff Garcia — sorry — behind Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, but the winningest quarterback in NCAA history will get his shot, and probably soon. I predict he's the starter in 2011.

• The Tribe was hot out of the gates in the second half, and though they were never in Wednesday afternoon's 6-0 loss to the Twins, they're still 6-1 since the break. No, they won't contend this year, but if some of these youngsters start reaching their potential, a division title in 2011 wouldn't be that far-fetched.

• Shin-Soo Choo will reportedly be in uniform tonight for the series opener against the Rays. With Asdrubal Cabrera having been activated earlier this week, the Tribe is pretty darned close to full strength. The only key player still out is Grady Sizemore, who will miss the rest of the season. Maybe these guys can keep it going. Who knows. I do know this—the Indians have a surprising 17-game winning streak over the Rays at Progressive Field, even though the Rays have clearly been a better team than the Indians for the past three years.

• I've been invited to watch tomorrow night's game from the Tribe Social Deck, apparently because of my extreme blogging power. And I'm taking my most faithful reader — my lovely wife, Lisa — with me. Sorry if you were hoping I'd give you that other ticket. A lot has been written in other places about the Tribe Social Deck, so I won't bore you with any pregame details, but I'm sure I'll be moved to write a few words about it post-.

• The Cavaliers continue to be spurned by players who'd rather play for superior teams for less money. Matt Barnes, who played for the Magic last year, turned down an opportunity to replace a certain departing All-Star in the starting lineup, choosing instead to sign with the defending champion Lakers. He'd have made $7 million in two years here, but will pull in "just" $4 million in the same time frame in L.A. The Cavs can't seem to catch a break.

• Speaking of that departing All-Star, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson were among the former superstars who spoke out against what he did in leaving Cleveland for Miami. I heard a rumor on WKNR, quoting an unnamed blogger, that while LeBron doesn't give two turds what you and I think, Magic and Michael's comments made him reflect upon turning his back on Northeast Ohio, and now he regrets it. It's just a rumor, and anyway, no matter what LeBron thinks now, he's under contract to the Heat for the next six years. But regardless, I hope it's true. I hope he does regret it, I hope he never stops regretting it, and I hope he someday dies a bitter old man because of that regret. If that's hateful of me, then I guess I'm hateful.

Stern weighs in

NBA Commissioner David Stern says LeBron James' prime-time "The Decision" special was "ill-advised," and that he should have let the Cavaliers know he was leaving before he announced it on national TV. Gee, thanks, Dave. He added that the way James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh met to discuss their futures together didn't violate league rules and won't be investigated. Whatever. What good would an investigation have done anyway? What would we want out of it, for him to force LeBron to come back to Cleveland? Would we want a player who doesn't want to be here?

Stern also fined Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert $100,000 for his open letter to fans after James' announcement. Big deal. Dan Gilbert has $100,000 in his change jar. I'm pretty sure it was worth $100,000 for him to blow off that steam. Stern also rebuked Jesse Jackson, who said Gilbert's comments indicate he thinks of James as "a runaway slave." This is a sports blog, and I'm not going to get into issues involving the racial climate in this country, except to say I'm pretty confident Gilbert would reacted the same way if James were white.

This whole situation is just ugly, sad and unfortunate. Did Gilbert overreact? Sure, he did. But he was angry and hurt. How many of us can honestly say we'd have handled it better?

Regardless, there will be a Cavaliers season that starts in October. The Cavs won't be the marquee team they've been for the past seven years, but they'll win a few games. How many, I have no idea. They'll probably take a while to recover from this, but they've got a good management team in place, and given a few years, they'll be competitive again. I'm tired of thinking about who they don't have anymore. I hope my next Cavaliers-related post will be about who they do have.

LeBron is still gone

• Obviously, the number-one sports story on everyone's mind in Cleveland is still LeBron James, even though it's been four days now since he made his ridiculous little announcement in a national TV special. And who am I kidding? It's still going to be the top Cleveland sports story for a little while yet. I don't want to wallow in this situation, but I can't deny the wound is still raw. My wife asked me last night if I hate LeBron James. I try not to be the kind of person who hates people in general, and especially not athletes, but I can't deny there's a little bit of hatred there. I've had fantasies about him accidentally getting one of his legs torn off, for example. That certainly doesn't come from a place of love and forgiveness. I'm not proud of those feelings, but like most Clevelanders, I feel betrayed.

• With that in mind, I understand why Dan Gilbert felt the need to spout off about LeBron after his announcement last week. If you're reading this blog, I'm sure you've read at least part of that letter, so I won't go into the details of it right now. But Gilbert was angry and frustrated, and let the world know about it. Not only did LeBron not tell Gilbert he was leaving before he told a national TV audience, he reportedly refused to return any of his voice mails or text messages at any point after the Cavaliers' playoff run ended. No wonder he was so fired up. Still ... as a team owner, he should have shown some restraint. As loyal Of Fair Hooker reader Jeff Brown pointed out in a reply to my last post, that kind of thing has the potential to scare off any other free agents that might have considered coming here.

• I didn't think the Cavaliers would do anything to help LeBron make more money, which would have involved a sign-and-trade deal. I'm happy to see I was wrong. Certainly not because LeBron will make more money, but because at least we got something out of this debacle. They got two first-round and two second-round draft picks. Given that the Heat will likely go deep into the playoffs, those picks will be low in those rounds, so we're obviously not going to get another LeBron out of any of them, but we should be able to get some decent talent out of that. The Cavs made the best of a bad situation.

• That's enough of that, at least for today. Maybe tomorrow or the next day, I'll post a list of companies that have LeBron as a spokesman, so we can all boycott them.

• The Indians go into the All-Star break with a dreadful 34-54 record, which is hardly surprising given the fact that they traded away most of their top veterans last year, and most of the rest of their top veterans have gotten hurt in the first half of the season. This team does have a lot of young talent stockpiled, but they're at least a couple of years away from contending. Thank goodness we're in the mediocre AL Central.

• The Tribe's lone All-Star is Fausto Carmona, and I'd say it's fairly doubtful that he'll get into the game. Fausto has had a fine first half (8-7, 3.64), but I think it's obvious that if it weren't for the rule that every team has to be represented, coupled with the fact that Shin-Soo Choo got hurt, he wouldn't be on the AL team. Still, he should be proud of what he's accomplished in coming back from some terrible, injury-filled years in 2008 and 2009.

He's gone

This one hurts.

Northeast Ohio native LeBron James has turned his back on us. Arguably the greatest pro athlete ever to call Cleveland home has decided he'd rather play in Miami. He's chosen to leave the team that plays an hour from his hometown in order to play in a city to which he has absolutely no personal connection whatsoever. Not to mention, he left $30 million on the table to do it.

Over the 11 hours or so since LeBron made his announcement last night, I've had about a million different things go through my head that I thought about addressing in this space this morning, and if I had all day to write this post, I probably still wouldn't get to them all. But I think the thing that hurts the most about this is the knowledge that LeBron will probably win multiple NBA championships, but not for Cleveland.

It's hard to make sense of what LeBron just did. I can't help but think he doesn't really understand it himself. A celebrity of LeBron's stature lives his life in a bubble, and while he certainly knows he'll be leaving behind some hurt feelings back here, I don't think he realizes the full ramifications of this. If he'd stayed in Cleveland, he'd have been the city's greatest athletic hero of all time. After he retired, they'd have built a statue of him outside the Q (or whatever it'll be called then). He'd be universally loved in his hometown of Akron and the entire region. Now, he'll be forever despised here. This is not like Manny Ramirez or Jim Thome leaving for more money somewhere else. This is someone who was from here and could have made more money to stay, but chose to leave anyway. The fact that he's his sport's best player makes it hurt just that much more.

LeBron's stated reason for going to Miami is that he feels that's his best chance to win a title. I must admit, you can look at the Heat roster as it stands now and defend that sentiment. They've got Dwyane Wade and now Chris Bosh to go along with LeBron. I do believe LeBron is genuine when he says that's his reason for leaving. But here's the thing about that — he could have won a title in Cleveland THIS YEAR, if he himself had played up to his own standards in the playoffs. He wasn't the only Cavalier who didn't play well in the Boston series, but we've seen him play a whole lot better than he did then. Yes, with players like Wade and Bosh on his side, he won't shoulder so much of a burden, but if he'd stayed in Cleveland, the Cavs could have gotten him somebody like that. Bosh balked at playing with LeBron in Cleveland, but if LeBron had made the decision to stay here, I'll bet Bosh would have reconsidered.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's angry letter to fans guarantees that the Cavaliers will win a title before LeBron does. I wish I could believe that. Without a marquee player like LeBron, this team will be lucky just to reach the playoffs next year.

We Cleveland sports fans have been through a lot in our lives, and every time we see an event such as The Drive or The Shot or Jose Mesa's meltdown, it's another dagger in our hearts. As I've matured over my 39 years on this planet, I've learned to try to keep myself from getting too wrapped up in the outcomes of sporting events. Ever since the world learned what LeBron James has chosen to do with the next five years of his life, I've tried very hard to remind myself that it's just sports, that it's not really anything important. But so far, I haven't really been able to convince myself that this doesn't hurt.

It does. It hurts like hell.

LeBron's ready to choose ... right?

Reportedly, LeBron James is going to announce at 9 p.m. Thursday on ESPN what he's going to do with the next five years of his life. ... Well, OK, we know he's going to play basketball, but we don't know for whom. We don't know where he's going to make his announcement, other than the fact that it's going to be shown on ESPN. So there's still not much that we know; only that we'll know more in a little over 36 hours.

According to reports, James tried to convince the Raptors' Chris Bosh to come to Cleveland from Toronto in a sign-and-trade deal that would have sent Anderson Varejao to the Raptors. That would seem to be a good sign for the Cavaliers, that LeBron is trying to recruit other big names to come here. But although Bosh wants to play with LeBron, he doesn't want to do it in Cleveland. That could be a huge blow to the Cavs. Bosh is reportedly close to signing with Miami to play with Dwyane Wade, but the Raptors aren't going to do a sign-and-trade with the Heat, as Miami doesn't have the players to make it worth their while. So if Bosh does sign in Miami, he'll be leaving $30 million on the table, under the NBA's salary cap rules; not to mention (possibly) the chance to play with LeBron. It is possible that LeBron could join Wade and Bosh in Miami, but if he does, he'll also be leaving $30 million on the table.

I could start going into what the Cavaliers' options are if they don't sign LeBron — or, for that matter, if they DO sign him — but I'm just going to wait and see what he does before I start in on that crap.

We'll find out tomorrow night. And whatever he decides, you and I will survive.

LeBron-a-thon continues

I've been away from the computer for a few days, but I will attempt to round up my thoughts on what we've missed over the long weekend. Starting ... wait for it ... now!

• LeBron James is still keeping his mouth shut about his plans for signing anywhere, if he has any. He's currently running his three-day basketball camp in Akron, and is reportedly behaving as if he's got nothing else on his mind. That's a good thing for those young men who are attending his camp; maybe not so good for media outlets that are trying to get a read on what he's going to do. It's been reported that he's likely to announce something as soon as his camp is over. Maybe so. I guess we'll just have to wait.

• Amar'e Stoudemire announced yesterday that he's agreed to a nine-figure contract with the Knicks, and has been recruiting LeBron to join him there. How much difference will that make to LeBron? Only one man knows. And that's assuming he even knows, which he may not.

• The Indians are 3-2 so far in the month of July, but continue to get hit with injuries. Shin-Soo Choo, who's been their best player all year, is out with a thumb injury that he sustained while diving to catch a fly ball on Friday, and we don't know yet whether he needs surgery or not. He's likely to be out a couple of months, but we'll see. Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera are both out too; Sizemore for the season, Cabrera until late July or early August. Those are the Tribe's three best position players. It's tough for any team to overcome that, much less a young, cheap team like the Indians.

• Matt LaPorta continues to sizzle, but took an elbow to the head while covering first base on a ground ball in yesterday's 9-3 win over Texas. LaPorta's two-run homer gave him five on the season — four of which have come since June 29 — and he's hitting .333 with a .412 OBP and .767 slugging average since taking over first base when Russell Branyan was traded June 27. But he was dazed and nauseous after Elvis Andrus clocked him with his elbow while LaPorta was trying to field a throw that bounced in the dirt. Let's hope this doesn't throw him off his game, because he's doing some fine things right now.

• The Netherlands, which I'm on record as rooting for in the World Cup, has its match with Uruguay at 2:30 this afternoon to see who plays the Germany-Spain winner for the championship. Uruguay, you may be surprised to learn, won the first-ever World Cup in 1930, and also won the title in 1950. The Dutch have reached the final twice, most recently in 1978, but never won it. The nation then known as West Germany won three titles out of its six trips to the final, and the unified German team lost the final in 2002. Spain, much to my surprise, has never gotten to the final. I tend to root for teams that have never tasted the glory, so I'll be rooting for the Dutch and the Spanish to reach the title game. It should be interesting.

Indians win third straight

No time for anything but quick hits:

• The Indians have followed up their seven-game losing streak with a three-game winning streak. Yes, seven is a much bigger number than three, but still, it's nice to see them put a few W's together. Fausto Carmona pitched well, Kerry Wood slammed the door for the save, and Matt LaPorta homered in the 6-5 win over Toronto.

• Here it is, the last day of June, one month from baseball's non-waiver trade deadline. The Indians have a few pieces that could be attractive. In case you missed it, the trading has already started, as Russell Branyan got shipped off to Seattle over the weekend for a couple of OK prospects. Outfielder Ezequiel Carrera hasn't done much in AAA this year and is in fact currently on the disabled list, but won the Class AA Southern League batting title last year, hitting .336. He's only 22, so let's hope he develops. Shortstop Juan Diaz is hitting .295 with seven homers in high A-ball, at age 21. I'm looking forward to seeing what he's doing in a couple of years.

• Other players that could bring attractive prospects include Wood, Austin Kearns, Jhonny Peralta and Jake Westbrook, all of whom are in the last year of their current contract. (In Kearns' case, it's the only year of his contract.) None of those guys figure to be hugely expensive next year, but this team's not going anywhere right now anyway, and might as well try to get some players who could help build something for 2012 or '13.

• The Cavaliers have said they will have a coach in place by the time LeBron James becomes a free agent. That happens less than 12 hours from now, so we'll see. It's looking like it'll be either Brian Shaw, who has no NBA head coaching experience; or Byron Scott, who took the Nets to the NBA Finals a few years ago but has a sub-.500 record in 10 years as a head coach. And the reports are overwhelmingly that Shaw is the guy. In fact, though the most recent news story I can find says the Cavs haven't made an offer to Shaw, his Wikipedia page has been edited to say he's the current head coach of the Cavaliers. Take that with a grain of salt, because any idiot can make a Wikipedia page say anything, but still.

• I have no idea what to make of Shaw at this point, but he's been an assistant of Phil Jackson with the Lakers since 2004-05. Jackson, who has now won 11 titles as a head coach, would be any organization's first choice for head coach. But he's not available, so maybe his top assistant really is the best guy out there. It's hard to say what kind of head coach he'll be, but oddly enough, that's almost beside the point right now. The only thing that really matters is what coach will entice LeBron to stay in Cleveland. So the question isn't whether he'll really be a good coach, but whether LeBron thinks he'll be a good coach. It seems ridiculous to look at it that way, but the fact is, a player like James matters a lot more to the team's prospects than any coach ever could.

• Reports on where LeBron will end up have been flying like mosquitoes at dusk. I've read that he's leaning toward Chicago, that he's giving strong consideration to Miami, and that Cleveland still has the inside track—all in the same day. It's obviously not possible that he could go all three places. So who the hell knows.

• With the U.S. out of the World Cup, eliminated by Ghana for the second World Cup in a row, I initially decided to root for Mexico. Our neighbors to the south were eliminated the very next day. Out of the eight teams remaining, I think I'll pull for the Netherlands. I'm not sure why. Maybe because Dutch people wear wooden shoes and smoke pot in public and have names like Stijn Schaars and Demy de Zeeuw (both names of players on their squad). Either way, they're up against Brazil on Friday, after which I'll probably have to pick a new team to root for.

LeBron James to Larry King: Cleveland has the edge

In an interview that will air Friday on CNN's Larry King Live, LeBron James had this to say when the eponymous star of that show asked him whether the Cavaliers have the edge to keep him:

"Absolutely. Because, you know, this city, these fans, I mean, have given me a lot in these seven years. And, you know, for me, it's comfortable. So I've got a lot of memories here. And — and so it does have an edge."

LeBron also told Larry that his main goal is winning championships "and not just because of LeBron James," which strikes me as a bit arrogant for someone who could probably have propelled the Cavs past the Celtics if he'd played the way we've seen him play in the playoffs before.

He also said he won't try to dictate who his next coach will be, that he would love to play with either Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh, and that he's humbled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's push for him to sign with the Knicks and President Obama's call for him to go to the Bulls. (The latter seems like an unbelievably stupid thing to say, politically. Ohio's a very important swing state that Obama probably doesn't want to take any chances with in 2012.)

All of this is very preliminary. LeBron can't do anything until July 1, and will certainly take longer than that. I hope he stays in Cleveland, and I'm inclined to think he will, but there's a long way to go before we find that out.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.