LeBron leaping beyond BAMF status Hans Deryk/Rueters
There are many staples in sports when it comes to watching a team and its fans get its heart completely ripped. Some of the more infamous symptoms include the utter silence of the home crowd, the gratuitous shots of television cameras showcasing the women crying in the stands and, of course, the superstar showing absolutely no mercy in going for the opposing team's throat on his way to victory. Yet, in all this magic on Thursday night something was quite different. Cleveland wasn't the victim for a change. What?!?!I know the Cavaliers still have one more victory before they finish off the Pistons, but in my lifetime this used to be the game the [insert your favorite Cleveland team here] would typically find a way to lose. Of course, when you have LeBron James as your x-factor, the odds of winning these contests were more than due to shift in Cleveland's favor...eventually. Thursday night against the Pistons The Chosen One simply wouldn't allow this one to slip away.Oh come all ye faithfull, our Chosen One has risen!
In a game in which fellow teammates like Drew Gooden, Anderson Varejao, and Sasha Pavlovic seemed to make bone-head move after bone-head move toward the end of the game, James wisely finally said "screw it" and threw the entire Cleveland curse on his back for a ride of the ages throughout the games fourth quarter as well as both overtimes. Featuring an array of 3-pointers, fade-away jumpers, and tomahawk dunks in the paint, James finished with 48 points while scoring the team's final 25 points in the contest. It was a performance that even Michael Jordan would envy. In fact, only Magic Johnson has had such a big game this late in the playoffs at such a young age. What about the infamous Detroit defense? Did they even have an answer for King James? Here's LeBron's post game take on handling the Pistons defensive "attack" as well as to whether he was even surprised by their plan : “Why should I be surprised? I was making a lot of great moves,” James said. “They are definitely a great defensive team, but I was determined to attack.”“I’m banged up. I’m winded. I’m fatigued,” he said. “I’ve got all day tomorrow. It’s going to be tough to get some rest when you got a crazy, 2-year-old running around the house. So hopefully, I can take him to one of his grandma’s house.”LeBron, I'll even volunteer to watch Jr. Shit, I'll even take off my dawg mask to make further accommodations. Hell, I'll even volunteer my girlfriend to be a future guest dealer in your home's new casino if it helps. No, really...my treat.Back to his description of the Pistons "D"...in other words, they are an old, overrated, obnoxious team that has had a very loose grip on the Eastern Conference for part of the last 3 or so years. Its as if LeBron said "try and stop me bitch!" Seriously, since Detroit's shocking upset of the Lakers in the Finals a few years ago, what have they done besides whine and complain their way to a couple deep playoff runs in a very weak Eastern Conference? (By the way...how many Cavaliers fans are giddy thinking about the fact that the Cavs swept the Spurs during the regular season?) With LeBron on the absolute verge of grabbing the NBA by the balls for the unmentioned future I'd say that its almost safe to say the Detroit's 15 minutes are just about up right about now. OK...how's Saturday night for an accurate ending sound? For Cleveland fans now matter how you slice it up the fact remains that the Tribe is in first place, the Browns finally got a great draft together in the new era, and the Cavs are one win away from making their first ever leap to the NBA Finals. Throw in the fact that ol' Nessie may have been finally "spotted" again in Scotland and I can't help but wonder what the hell this could all mean as far as the fate of all mankind is concerned.Could this really be the end? Is the infamous Rapture really coming? After all, this would be fitting for us downtrodden Cleveland sports fans to finally get the biggest punch in the gut when things are finally going our way. Has my Catholic education, along with my traumatic Cleveland sports upbringing finally warped my mind for good? My advice is to just say screw it. There's no use in hiding behind superstitions and fear of jinxes anymore. Play it safe, buy 2 cases of Miller Lite, watch game 6 this weekend safely in the friendly confines of your home bunker (just in case) and hope for the best. The Cavs have learned from their mistakes in this exact same situation last year with Detroit. Cleveland is waaay overdue for its date with destiny. We deserve this shit after all.
Read the complete post at http://kidcleveland.blogspot.com/2007/06/simply-unbelievable.html