Halftime Hype

Throughout the season, many NBA experts, regardless of their legitimacy, had declared the Cleveland Cavaliers would definitely make it out of the Eastern Conference Finals, possibly en route to an NBA championship. Just like the Lakers, this team had its own elements of success. Their tallest player was a bald, Eastern European draining mid-range, and at times, three point, shots at 7'3". Their point guard was a guy who could make a 67-footer at the halftime buzzer of Conference Finals game, only to miss a potentially game-winning field goal at the final horn. For Pete's sake, their power forward looked like a chia pet. Yes, these were the players many believed would make an NBA Finals appearance. This ball club had the league praying for a Lakers-Cavs match-up.

Deep down, everyone wanted the entertainment of a Kobe vs. Lebron finals series. The sportswriters would have finally had an answer to the "who's best" debate. The league would have generated seven figure sums. Fans would have had historically brilliant amusement. Unfortunately, though, the Orlando Magic ended up as the best of the East. The series, in a sense, was almost as disappointing as the Spurs sweep of the Cavs only a few years ago. Only more reason for the Cavaliers to be ashamed that they didn't make it to the main stage. The hype had been on their side for so long, and they failed to capitalize. Even people who don't know what the initials of the NBA stand for, let's call them the "uninformed witnesses", were confident that the two greatest players of the association would meet in the highest stage of play.

Of course, the main embarrassment of this postseason was Lebron James. Despite stellar scoring performances, you can only outscore an entire 12 man team so many times. People may say that Lebron now has help, but I don't know if I can agree. Regardless, this was a chance for Lebron to prove himself as a leader and prove that he's more than a one man scoring (and rebounding) machine. Whatever the cause, whether it was pressure or lack of assistance, 23 was not able to guide his team to the promised land. My primary criticism of Lebron is that he hasn't yet learned how to "measure" games like Kobe. He hasn't developed the ability to sense when he needs to pass to his teammates, the most suitable play to run under circumstances, and when he must take over, which he seems to be doing too often. I always see clips of Kobe voicing his opinions in the huddles and resembling a coach, but I rarely see footage of Lebron giving feedback to his teammates during timeouts.



Danny Ferry has to do a better job of satisfying Lebron and his own Cleveland constituents. Right now, not to sound biased, but it's clear that the Los Angeles Lakers will be contenders for the next 2-3 years, and will likely be victorious unless somebody stops them. Boston and Cleveland may very well be the only teams that could put a speedbump on the Lakers' success. Until now, we haven't seen anybody capable of giving LB a breather. Everytime he steps out of the game, the flow of the game rapidly deteriorates. Mo Williams? Sasha Pavlovic? Big Z? Ben Wallace? Are these players able to carry on their team in Lebron's absence. Boston did a rather exceptional job of proceeding with the postseason without Kevin Garnett. And I'm sure a squad with Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, and Derek Fisher would perform phenomenally better than a Lebron-less Cavs team.

The bigger issue for Ferry, more urgent than adding talent, is keeping his superstar. If Lebron were to depart and head for the East Coast, a very likely possibility, Ferry could be blamed for demoralizing the franchise. If Lebron were to leave, Danny Ferry would be to the Cavs as Jimmy Carter was to Iran - he would create an era of isolation and a never-ending chain of bad news. The team would probably function as poorly as the Lakers team the first few years after the Shaq trade. As for the players stuck on that team - they will be praying for free agency. I don't want to get into the intracies of a mediocre team - the lottery picks, screw-ups, trial and error, etc.

Although, there is a glimmer of hope for this otherwise haughty bunch. In the build-up to the trade deadline earlier this season, the Cavs were believed to have traded for the Big Cactus - after the deadline of 12 ET, though. A James-O'Neal powerhouse would be O'Neal's most fitting pairing and would have elevated the Cavaliers to a throne of dominance. Not many people in the league have the physical stamina to contain that type of a dynamic duo for 48 minutes. If Lebron beats you to the rack, your center would have to step up, in which case he could either draw contact or dish it out to Shaq. And if Shaq gains posession, he could draw a double team, back you down as far as he wants to create a SportsCenter highlight reel or, if he's feeling generous, kick it out to a three-point shooter or somebody slashing to the rim - basically what Orlando should have been doing the entire series.

Commemorates the Spurs-Cavs finals. Just to clarify, I did not make this graphic. Found a link to it on Twitter.

All in all, the key point here is that Lebron must be happy. A dismayed puppet will result in a dispirited James, which is a very bad thing for the Cavaliers. On the other hand, a Knicks-Lakers finals would be fun to watch.