There’s no denying the fact that Lebron James carried a mediocre Cavaliers team all the way to the NBA Finals last year. When the offseason came and went without any sort of acquisition, the message was clear: This is Lebron’s team and with him, the sky is the limit. But the last week has proved that without King James, the Cavs are a mess. A complete, total mess.

With James on the mend because of a sprained finger, the Cavs have had to make do without their star for the last three games. The result? Three straight losses with a scoring average of about 75 points. Is there another team in the league that reliant on a single player? Hell, I’d take my chances with the Lakers minus Kobe Bryant over the Lebron’less Cavs.

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, who rarely jumps on his team publicly, expressed disgust with its performance.

“I want to see them fight,” Brown said. “I didn’t see any tough or any grit as a team out there.”

Without Lebron, this team is hopeless. And to add to the Cavs’ misery, free-agent bust Larry Hughes is also out for the next few weeks. Is it ironic that LeBron’s MVP hopes are growing more because of injury than his stellar on-court play? Without his gaudy numbers, the Cavs are proving each and every night that they’re one of the worst teams in the NBA without #23 on the court.

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.

Hosts: Ryan and Sonny: This episode focused on several aspects of the sports world. We discussed LeBron James’ miraculous performance in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals, various controversies surrounding Alex Rodriguez, and qualifying matches for Euro 2008.

You can find Episode 21 here.

I don’t usually throw around lofty claims of “historical” performances. But last night, LeBron James delivered one of the best performances in NBA history. Last night, all the hype you heard about him when he was a 16 year old kid in high school all began to make sense. In the biggest game of the year, LeBron James really did look like Michael Jordan.

“Somebody told me that in the locker room that he scored 29 of our last 30 points and I could not believe it,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “Everybody keeps asking for more, and he keeps giving more.

Despite three of his teammates fouling out and despite playing on the road, James didn’t seem to give a damn. He was going to will the Cavs to a win. LeBron made a good defensive team look horrid last night. When they got in his face, he drove by them. When they gave him space, he hit three pointers in their eye. It was something out of a video game.

Within minutes of the final buzzer, I had placed an order with Amazon.com: one LeBron James jersey. I’ve always liked to watch the guy play but last night was more than a game. It was a show, a performance. The Cavs are just a win away from the NBA Finals and now head home to try and clinch the series. Game six is Saturday and trust me, you do not want to miss it.

In anticipation of tonight’s pivotal game five, here’s a video of LeBron doing what he does best. The Pistons need to come out firing tonight to set the tone early and they must not allow LeBron to take over the game in the fourth quarter like he did in games three and four. For the Cavs the recipe is simple, feed the King the ball.