With the incredible growth of sports journalism thanks to ESPN and Al Gore, we’re able to hear more insight and opinion than ever before. While that can have a positive impact, it also leads to some excessively sensational claims. Following the Spurs’ win last night over the Cavs, which secured their 4th championship since 1999, people are throwing around that “D” word. Dynasty. And I don’t think it applies.

Dynastic rule suggests “continued dominance,” which the Spurs haven’t had. Magic and Larry accounted for 80% of the 1980s titles, Jordan’s Bulls rattled off six championships in eight seasons, and Kobe and Shaq won three in a row. The Spurs have four titles to their name but they’ve never repeated as champs. How can you be a dynasty when you’ve never ruled the league in consecutive years? Playing with a target on your back is what separates dynasties from champions. Don’t forget that the 1999 title came in a lockout-shortened season where the league played just 50 games. If this “dynasty” is spanning nine seasons, why have the Spurs won less than 50% of the titles? Their run is impressive but it’s not representative of a dynasty.

Michael’s Bulls, Magic’s Lakers, and Larry’s Celtics played in arguably the most competitive era in the history of the NBA. How many great teams were denied rings during their reign? Malone, Stockton, Ewing, Miller, Payton, Barkley, and Wilkins all came up empty in that era. Hell, it took Jordan’s two year hiatus from the sport to give Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler their shot at glory. Simply put, Duncan’s Spurs haven’t had to go through the same talent those dynasties did. They’ve defeated three lousy teams in the NBA Finals: The 8th seeded Knicks in ‘99, a brutal Nets team in ‘03, and the Cavs this season.

Make no mistake, the Spurs have had a remarkable run. But with a league starving for great teams and lacking big-time rivalries, giving them that “Dynasty” tag is a slap in the face to past greatness. Hell, the Spurs don’t even have a rival that’s comparable to Lakers-Kings, let alone Bulls-Knicks or Celtics-Pistons. Dynasties create incredible memories that sports fans never forget. The Spurs simply haven’t given me those memories.

There was a glimmer of hope left in the NBA Finals. Many people, myself included, were holding out hope that the Cavs might just steal game three and make this a series. Many people, myself included, were sufficiently disappointed last night when Cleveland rolled over and died in their 75-72 loss to the Spurs at home.

My suggestion for the Cavs…quit. Winners never quit and the Cavs aren’t winning, so quit. In the great words of Jim Rome, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and the smart ones quit.? When nothing is going right, quit.”??Cleveland is?playing like a team that hasn’t been there before because, well, they haven’t been there before. Here’s a team that is so blatantly over matched by this San Antonio Spurs dynasty that Cleveland simply doesn’t know what to do. They are playing like a team with their heads up their asses and it’s not working out. This NBA Finals as a whole for Cleveland just hasn’t worked out. It’s not Mike Brown’s fault, it’s not LeBron’s fault, it’s nobody’s fault.

San Antonio wanted to hand Cleveland that game last night. Ginobili played like garbage, Duncan didn’t have a great game for his standards, and I don’t want to hear this nonsense about it being the referees fault because Cleveland had plenty of opportunities in that game to end it and they didn’t. San Antonio is the class of this league. How exposed is the East right now? If Cleveland is in the West, they’re barely sniffing a four or five seed. You want to talk about bad? The East is as bad right now as it’s been all year because, as a whole, they’re being exposed and beaten down by a much more dominant Western Conference.

Make no mistake, Cleveland is going to play game four like it’s game seven. That team has too much pride to be swept out of it’s own building. Let’s also make no mistake that there will be almost nobody watching that game. David Stern blames poor ratings on a changing of media attention, but I blame it on a flat out boring and nauseating series. Hey Stern, how about the fact that the final score of the game was freaking 75-72.? That’s punishment on the eyes.? I watched Phoenix hang 109 in three quarters earlier this year, and you’re telling me that the bad ratings have nothing to do with downright boring basketball.? You’re telling me that the reason that people aren’t watching is because of other choices on television like the Sopranos.? Stern, that’s the worst reasoning I’ve ever heard and you can go to hell for all im concerned.? This series, like we thought it would be, has sucked ass(though I was wrong about Detroit advancing). San Antonio isn’t fun to watch. They’re a great team, but they’re about as fun as a heart attack. Cleveland isn’t much better. So let’s all just do everyone a favor and, god bless you Cleveland for trying, but let’s not make this go five games. Please?

With the Spurs out to a commanding 2-0 series lead against the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, the conclusion to this series seems to be inevitable. With that in mind, I have a few thoughts on the series that I’d like to burn on instead of giving you a recap that you probably already know about.

• LeBron James is alone on the floor. I don’t think Michael Jordan could do more with that supporting cast than James has. There’s no reason for the Spurs to exhaust defensive energy on anyone other than James because nobody else on that Cavs team wants to make a shot.
• Watching the Cavaliers might be one of the most frustrating things on the planet. I don’t think I’ve seen a team so bipolar in my life. They can play like the best team in the league and transition to tanking like the worst team in the league literally within minutes. It’s truly remarkable.
• Tony Parker is out of his mind right now. He’s reminding me a lot of Allen Iverson when the 76ers went to the Finals in 2001. His knock against him was his ability to make shots, but you can go ahead and throw that out the window. Dude is about as automatic as it gets driving to the hole and shooting the J.
• LeBron might be the third or fourth best player on the floor right now. I already mentioned Parker, and you can go ahead and start talking about Tim Duncan as probably the best power forward to ever play the game. Big Fundamental has been bastardized by many, including myself, for being boring. Boring or not, he’s as undeniable as it gets on the low post both offensively and defensively. And even though I’d like to take a blunt object to his head, Manu Ginobili has been absolutely lights out off the bench. That three pointer with the foul he had last night essentially sealed the deal for the Spurs. When he’s your sixth man, you know you’re in good shape.
• How about the play of Robert Horry, especially down the stretch here. Horry has been playing defense I don’t think even he knew he could play down low. Three blocks in the first half last night, are you serious? His game is more than just Big Shot Bob, it’s turning into Complete Package Bob.
• Note to Mike Brown: Don’t sub out LeBron. Brown pulls LeBron after just four minutes in the first quarter and sits him the entire quarter because of foul trouble. With a player like LeBron and a lack of surrounding talent like the Cavs have, you have to leave him in. Trust that your star player will be smart enough not to pick up his third foul. James needs to play all 48 minutes next game regardless of foul trouble. The Cavs are a completely different team without him.
• Someone notify Drew Gooden that he belongs in the low post. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen that douchebag step out and shoot the mid range. Granted he hits one every now and then, but come on. Don’t run your offense through a power forward trying to knock down 12 footers. And on the topic of Gooden, that inbound play in the first quarter where the Cavs picked up a shot clock violation was pathetic. The best thing you can come up with is a Drew Gooden inbound for a three pointer? I don’t believe that for a second.

Well, that’s about all I have for now. I’m not sure when game three is, but what I do know is that it’s not taking place in the near future. The NBA’s scheduling is flat out ignorant. I don’t have anything else to say about it so I’ll just leave you with that.

Hosts: Kevin and Sonny. This episode discussed a number of topics. The matchup between the Cavs and Spurs was discussed, as was the Billy Donovan situation in Orlando. We also talked about the latest in NFL criminal news, including incidents involving both Tank Johnson and Odell Thurman.

You can find Episode 22 here.

With last night’s triumphant 98-82 win over the Detroit Pistons, the Cavaliers asserted themselves as the best team in the East and LeBron James asserted himself as a superstar who has taken his game to the next level. Earlier in this series, LeBron caught a lot of flak from the media about not being the guy who took the pivotal shot or someone who wasn’t taking the game into his own hands. Over these last two games, however, we’ve seen just how dominant LeBron can be.

Last night, LeBron was being double teamed by Detroit Pistons essentially from the start. Every time he touched the ball, it seemed like he would get tag teamed by two defenders like he stole something. In my opinion this is where the true superstar emerged. We saw his super human effort in game five that resulted in him scoring 29 of the last 30 Cavalier points and stealing game five in Detroit. Detroit’s answer to that was to swarm LeBron and not let him get good looks, and that’s exactly what they did. Read the rest of this entry »

On June 26, 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted the hometown kid that they felt would become their savior. Less than four years later, the Cavs are moving on to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. LeBron James’ childhood dream became reality last night with a 98-82 victory over the Pistons. King James and Co. will play for the NBA Championship. What a difference four years makes.

“This is like a dream,” James said, shaking his head. “This is probably the best feeling that I’ve ever had in my life.”

Following James’ historic performance in game five, it was pretty obvious that the Pistons would do anything to avoid a similar performance. The Pistons’ sole intention of stopping LeBron became their downfall. Sure, LBJ shot just 3-11. But he got the entire team involved, nobody more than rookie Daniel Gibson, who went 5-5 from downtown and scored 31 points. On this night, the Cavs weren’t a one man show. The only thing scarier than LeBron is LeBron and a sidekick, which is what Gibson has become.

So relax, NBA fans. The dreaded Spurs-Pistons series we all saw coming turned out to be a hoax. On Thursday night, the player that was hyped as the next You-Know-Who will make his first appearance in the NBA Finals. The city of Cleveland hasn’t won a professional sports championship in 43 years. Thanks to the heroics of LeBron James and Co., they might be able to end their decades of tragedy.