I’ve seen LeBron James do some remarkable things in his five year NBA career. Last season, he led an awful Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals and this season, LBJ won his first scoring title and brought the Cavs within a game of the Eastern Conference Finals. If you missed James’ miraculous 45 point effort yesterday, you missed what we’ve known all along. LeBron James has historic ability and arguably the most pathetic supporting cast in the NBA. To aid the Cavs in building a championship team around #23, I offer a few offseason pointers for general manager Danny Ferry.

Look Into Replacing Mike Brown: Ideally, the Cavs could have crashed out in the 1st round, allowing them to enter into discussions with Mike D’Antoni. Brown’s IQ is right up there with the backboard at Quicken Loans Arena. After James’ dominating 1st half, Brown began the first half by calling several consecutive plays for gumpy center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Imagine James in an up-tempo system with a true point guard. He’s one of the strongest finishers we’ve ever seen, but he’s probably playing at about 75% of his true ability because of Brown’s awful system.

Take out the trash: This is made difficult because of the contracts some of these guys have. Hacks like Ben Wallace (signed through 2010), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (2010) Wally Szcerbiak (2009) have large, inflexible contracts that are nearly impossible to move. A friend of mine made an incredible point during yesterday’s game. The Cavs have over $20 million tied up in defensive “specialists” Wallace and Anderson Varejao…but simply cannot have them on the court at the same time.

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The Lakers and the Celtics will both have golden opportunities to oust their opponents and advance to the conference finals tonight in their respective game six’s. Given that the the home team has now run a record of 20-1 in this round of the playoffs, however, we should probably just be praying that the C’s or the Lakers don’t get shanked by double digits.

It’s entirely possible that the Celtics could run the table and win the NBA title sans a road victory in the playoffs. Doesn’t that bother you? I’m not suggesting a rule change or anything because trying to think of something like that would make my head explode, but don’t you expect a little more from a champion? Lets face it, there’s been a handful of games in this round of the playoffs that have been close while most of the games have turned out like the 99-80 smack down that the Spurs laid on the Hornets last night.

Predictability is the name of the game in this round of the playoffs. Give me an attempt at a road victory. That’s all I ask. Quicken Loans isn’t like Cameron Indoor, the Cavs (not LeBron) are beatable there. The Jazz have created a fortress at Energy Solutions Arena, I get that. The Lakers, however, are one of four teams that have beat the Jazz at home. Lets see it happen again tonight. Someone step up and prove that they’re worthy of being called a true champion.

For much of his career, Kobe Bryant has received criticism for being a “me” player, a guy who had little leadership abilities and even less of an interest in passing the ball. Fast forward a few years and Bryant is now the toast of the NBA. Sure, the haters will be there for as long as he plays. But lets face it. After another dominating display by his Lakers last night, many Kobe pundits are being forced to eat crow.

In a show of solidarity and unity we never thought possible in LA, Bryant’s teammates surrounded him to applaud as he gave his MVP acceptance speech last night. Yep, the same “uncoachable” superstar that wanted out of Los Angeles just a few months ago has finally ascended into the role of “team leader.” Sure, Kobe still scored 34 points last night. But it wasn’t one of his 35-shot specials from a few years back. Bryant’s efficiency (18 shots), 8 rebounds and 6 assists are why the Lakers are looking so tough to beat in the postseason.

The Lakers remain undefeated in this postseason with a 6-0 record, but should be ready for a hostile environment this weekend in Utah. Look for Bryant to get booed every time he touches the ball, not like that’s surprising. Kobe seemingly saves his best performances for Salt Lake City. The Jazz will probably snatch a win in Utah, but even with all their physicality inside, it doesn’t look like they’re capable of matching Los Angeles’ torrid outside shooting and depth.

Note: Yes, we’re still alive…barely. Final exams are currently owning the Sportable Staff. Please bear with us. With Rich’s graduation coming up and the rest of us busy with class, we’ve been struggling to find the time to devote to the site. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If someone were to ask me to give LeBron James criticism, I’d be hard pressed to create a substantial argument.  Tuesday’s game one debacle, however, revealed that the King is a mere mortal just like you and I.  Going 2 for 18 from the floor is just something that LeBron isn’t familiar with.  And something even more unlikely than LeBron’s game one disaster is a repeat performance of equal or greater disappointment.

Some nights, you just don’t have it.  How many lay-ups rattled in and out of the rim that night?  He’s a better player than that and he’s out to prove it.  Kobe Bryant was awarded the MVP hardware on Wednesday but, if you ask me, the King of Cleveland should have been the one hoisting the hardware.  No player does more for their team than LeBron does for the Cavaliers.  Before you scroll down and start cussing me out in the comment box, hear this.  There must be a distinction between the best player in the league and the most valuable.  Kobe Bryant is hands down the best player in the world.  Does he do a myriad of things that make the Lakers appear to be unstoppable?  Absolutely.  I contest LeBron does more.

Delonte West; an unproven commodity who has played for three teams in two years and isn’t a reliable scoring option but is capable of running the point despite looking like a 12 year old who stumbled into Quicken Loans Arena hoping to see Mickey Mouse on Ice.  Wally Szczerbiak; a wily veteran who makes a living on the three point line…but just barely.  Ben Wallace; a once cherished beast in the paint whose age has caught up with him while the days of 21 rebounds, 8 blocked shots, and 1 point are long gone.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas; soft Russian who spends way too much time taking shots from the elbow and not enough time swinging his communist elbows around in the paint.  This is what LeBron James has.  There aren’t any All-Stars on this roster.  There aren’t even any players on this roster who require the opposing team to game plan against.  Then theres the King, a guy who goes for 30, 9, and 8 a night and, if he doesn’t, the Cavs don’t win.  It’s that simple.  The Cleveland Cavaliers are a 15 win team sans LeBron.  With him, they’re the reigning Eastern Conference Champs and a team capable of either laying an egg and losing by 20 or blowing a team out of the water with a superhuman performance on any given night.  This is the essence of why LeBron James is the most valuable player in the league, more so than the best player in the league in Kobe Bryant.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve focused much of our NBA attention on the three blockbuster trades that went down within a couple weeks of each other. We spoke highly of the Lakers’ trade theft of Pau Gasol, and expressed some doubts about the moves for Jason Kidd and Shaquille O’Neal. Well, it turns out those concerns were justified. Pau’s Lakers? Moving on. J-Kidd and the Big Cactus? Gone fishin’.

Remember when there were whispers about the Mavericks breaking the Chicago Bulls’ record for most wins in a season last year? All was well in Dallas; they had the MVP, a rising star in Josh Howard and the bitter taste of defeat from their loss in the 2006 NBA Finals. But after falling to the upstart Golden State Warriors, the Mavs’ earth has seemingly rotated off their axis.

A more experienced team like the Mavs should not have been ousted in five games by the Hornets. As good as New Orleans has been all year, you would expect Dallas to show up in the postseason because of what happened last year. Didn’t happen. And that trade for Kidd turned out to be a nightmare, as the future Hall of Famer was abused by Chris Paul in five straight games. After such a great 2006 season, the Mavs’ entire franchise now appears to be snake bitten. Where do they go from here? They have a guy in Dirk Nowitzki who still refuses to show up in big games. And now they’re without their future point guard in Devin Harris, now playing for the Nets. Mark Cuban has done some great things over the years, but he screwed the pooch this time.

The Suns knew that something had to change. They had found out that defense wins championships after getting shellacked by the Spurs in two of the last three postseasons. But even with two giants inside, the Suns had no answer for the Spurs, who still managed to fly under the radar before the series started. All of the focus was on Shaq’s Suns, but how about those Spurs? We know how good they are, we just always seem to forget it. With two aging players in Steve Nash and Shaq, the Suns’ window of opportunity appears to be closing. Hell, it already has for their head coach.

So much for that. The Mavs and Suns made these blockbuster deals looking towards glory in April, May and June. But all of that now appears to be thrown out the window. But hey, at least Pau worked out.

Anyone who needed any more proof that Kobe Bryant is the best player on the best team in the NBA should have watched the Lakers second straight beat down of the Denver Nuggets. The Black Mamba went for 49 last night and, despite an off night from both Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, the Lakers cruised to a 15 point win over Denver at Staples.

Memo to J.R. Smith; don’t run your mouth to Kobe. Smith and Bryant got into it late in the game last night after Kobe had already done him for 46 and the Lakers were shifting to cruise control. The best part about the situation was the bomb that Bryant dropped on Smith during the game after Smith had already gotten a few shots out on Kobe. “Better learn not to talk to me. You shake a tree, a leopard is gonna fall out.” No joke, Kobe. Not only is it a leopard, but the cat is wearing a 24 jersey. Even DeShawn Stephenson is embarrassed for J.R. Smith right now.

Up 2-0 in the series, the Lakers look like the best team in the league and look like they’ve got this one wrapped up. The Nuggets are picking up stupid technical fouls late in games and look more like they should have Thuggets written across their powder blue threads. I thought AI and Melo were gonna give me something better than this mess. I figured two all-star starters could make a series out of the Lakers. Instead, the Lakers are beating Denver at their own offensive game and showing the Nugs a thing or two on how to play defense.