Game 5 & Game 6 In Perspective...All In One Rant.
1) I'm going to put LeBron's performance Tuesday night into perspective and explain WHY as much as he has been pounded into the ground...he seriously deserves a break. Which leads me to...
2) I'm going to explain why win or lose tonight and in general the next 7 days or so, him leaving Cleveland is PARAMOUNT to any hopes he has of being successful.
3) I'm going to explain to any and every Boston fan why regardless of what happens tonight, the Celtics will win this series.
Fun, right? Okay...
While I was driving down the Garden State Parkway earlier today in a van for work, I was thinking. I thought back over the years I've been legitimately following basketball and I asked myself something...
"How bad was LeBron's performance last night in comparison to some of the stinkers I've seen and if this leads to Cleveland's demise (which I believe firmly it will), how does this impact him going into July?"
Now for some inexplicable reason I can't quite explain, he's going to get a pass that Joe Johnson will not. Even though both teams basically went quietly into the Spring with their heads lopped off, LeBron has 2 MVP trophies that Joe does not. LeBron also has one Finals appearance that Joe Johnson can't even dream of right now. Wait...I did mention that one Finals appearance didn't I? Three years ago, I sat down and wrote that the Cavs had no real business being in the Finals back then. In retrospect, I think I underscored and underestimated how important keeping that team together would be in the overall grand scheme of things. As it turns out, Danny Ferry and Dan Gilbert did the same exact thing, blowing up the young nucleus and replacing the parts with old and decrepit pieces. So let's go ahead and throw Jordan into this for a bit, shall we?
Michael Jordan for years, couldn't get past Detroit in the playoffs. They bullied him, they were a better overall team and Jordan couldn't figure out how to get around himself in order to get past the Bad Boys. Then, in Year 7, it finally clicked. He figured out how to withstand the poundings and to keep pushing. When the bullies figured out their tactics no longer had the desired effect, they were stumped. There was no Plan B and they walked off the floor with 7 seconds left in their series ending game. (Ironically, they weren't seen from on that stage again.) Jordan got his first crack at Finals glory and didn't miss, taking out a decrepit Lakers team that had seen its better years go by them. Michael Jordan basically played vile, sinister janitor in his heyday. He cleaned out and mopped up the weak, pitiful and pathetic. Portland, Phoenix, Seattle, Utah and Los Angeles all fell by the wayside thanks to this guy.
Malone, Stockton, Barkley, Ewing, Miller & Kemp all have Jordan to thank for why they went the bulk of their careers without ever seeing a title. Ewing closed in on one in 1994, when MJ was hacking it up in minor league baseball, but ran into an even hungrier Olajuwon who just iced it. For two years in a row. Hell, if not for Stockton, I'm willing to make the argument that the Rockets could've won three titles in a five year stretch. But I think the one thing that most forget about Jordan was that he took pride in the misery of others. He enjoyed being the proverbial nightmare that killed his fellow contemporaries.
When I look at LeBron, I don't see that. In 2007, I think it was a bi-product of Detroit flipping the switch off too soon and not being able to turn it back on. That and of course, LeBron going out of his mind and simply DRAGGING his supporting cast through that series. Thing about that though is, after a while of doing it consistently, it wears on you. Ever since the end of the 2007 season, Cleveland has been plagued by the SAME ISSUE while LeBron as a player has continued to get better and better. No viable second option on offense to help alleviate pressure on LeBron. So in times like Tuesday night, when LeBron isn't hitting, enter #2 to pick up the slack. But on this team, who is it? Last night Shaq did it, leading the team in scoring but at his age...is that really something you can count on night in and night out en route to the city's first pro title since 1964? N-O.
The absolute worst thing to happen to Cleveland in this series, was Boston deciding to give a shit and actually PLAY up to its preseason billing. Understand something, in spite of all that you've read and heard to this point. Boston, as old and decrepit as they are, simply are better than the Cavaliers. Folks are starting to acknowledge this as truth and still, I'm laughing at the notion that it's in everyone's best interest if he stays in Cleveland. Stays there and does what? Underachieve for the rest of his career the way KG did in Minnesota until he was FINALLY dealt to Boston a few years too late? Help a city's economy that doesn't have a leg to stand on, while his contemporaries continue to rake in championships?
Tonight, no matter what you may hear, it's a defining point in LeBron's career. His legacy, if he loses, will take a fairly substantial hit in the media. However, in my book, it's a hiccup he can overcome IF and only IF he leaves this summer. Jordan's career wasn't defined by his early losses to the Pistons and the Celts to become the game's most preeminent killer. What Freddy Krueger was to Elm Street, Michael Jordan was to the NBA. Nobody slept. Period. As for tonight...
Side story, I sat down the other night and watched The Hangover. Crazy funny movie, but there was one part that stuck out to me. About midway through, our threesome of Bradley Cooper and two other guys I couldn't pick out of a lineup return to their hotel room to find Mike Tyson waiting for them. He's listening to "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins. Mike is into it, even gets the guys to sing the chorus before knocking out the mentally slow one with a right hand that made me quasi-giddy...but I digress. Tonight, I think Phil should be our first ever Theme For A Crucial Playoff Game honoree. Because there's a LOT "In The Air Tonight"...
For Cleveland, it's the first of a two round slugfest. One that could've been avoided had they won Tuesday, but I guess they decided since Boston mailed in Game 3 on their home floor and rebounded...they could too. Unfortunately, theirs came at the worst possible time. 1-1 is a whole lot different than 3-2. Cleveland in this series, has been most effective when the Celts have for lack of a better term...not given two shits. Game 1, they made their comeback when Boston pretty much threw their hands up. Game 3, I think Boston's spines didn't make it to the stadium. Thankfully for Jade and the rest of the Celtic faithful, it showed up in spades for Games 4 & 5.
Still, I'm having a hard time finding a scenario that plays out where Boston loses two straight for the second year in a row. Last year, was different because their emotional leader was in a suit and tie. This year, he's rocking his #5 and ready to roll. He's looking for his second title in three years and consider this...
When healthy, the Boston Three Party have one title run under their belts. They've beaten Cleveland and would love nothing more than to kayo the pretenders to the throne, for quite possibly the final time. One can't imagine how LeBron would take two second round TKOs in a three year span, especially being three years removed from his first and only trip to the Finals. If you're LeBron, you're going 1 on...how many seats does the New Boston Garden hold? Add that on top of The G-4 Club and their bench...well, it's not looking great. Three years ago, LeBron looked possible elimination in the eye and shrugged it, along with the Pistons away. He hasn't been able to do it since, as his supporting cast has gotten older and talent depleted since. (Not to worry, I shall have a letter to LeBron should the death blow come either now or four days from now.) I have no worry about jinxes or anything like that, not in this instance.
Boston will win tonight, because I truly believe, as healthy as they are...they NEED to end this series expeditiously. Having a two day excursion back to Cleveland for a Game 7 and then just 48 hours before their Game 1 rematch with Orlando whose resting most comfortably...not the formula for reclaiming their Eastern Conference throne.
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