Cavs Win: Next Stop, the Motor City

What a playoff series! That was one of the most stressful and exciting things I’ve seen in a while. It was a great win for the Cavs considering the fact that the Wizards would not go away. A ‘500 foot’ 3 pointer from Gilbert Arenas kept the Cavs from closing Game 6 at the end of regulation. But it was the heroics of “The Handsome One”, Damon Jones, in overtime that put the Wiz away for good. Nice job by a guy who barely saw any time in this series to come out and hit a big shot like that off the bench. Kudos also go out to both teams in this series. That was an instant classic. For those of you who saw my predictions, I will say I’m glad I picked against the Cavs, because if I picked them to win, I probably would have jinxed them. Therefore, I would like to take some credit for all this!

For a team looking to grow and become true championship contenders, the Cavs desperately needed to get past round 1. Why? Not only did they need to get a playoff series win under their belt, they need to face the Pistons now, and gauge how far they’ve come, and how much more they need to go to beat this team in the playoffs. In the immortal words of wrestling legend “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair: “TO BE THE MAN…YOU GOTTA BEAT THE MAN”. Is it possible to beat this powerhouse? Sure. Is it likely? No. But we won’t truly get an idea of what it’s like in the playoffs until we face one of the very best in Detroit. They owned us towards the end of the year thanks to Rasheed Wallace busting Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ head open, and us not stepping up to his aid right away. Then Anderson Varajao tried to retaliate long after the fact, and it helped take us out of that game too. We wilted under these guys and their physical presence. We can’t do that now.

This series starts up rather quickly tomorrow at 3:30 PM. I look forward to this. The Cavs will have to change their game plan a bit now. This won’t be an offensive shootout that they got accustomed to with the Wizards. They’re going to need more out of guys like Z and Drew Gooden, and they’re going to have to keep the Pistons offense at bay. This team can’t get down big like they did against Washington. They won’t have a good shot to mount a comeback run against this defense. They need to keep the games close and nut up on defense. Otherwise this could be a short series for the Cavs.

And while the Wizards’ fans whine into eternity like we did many years ago because of Michael Jordan, it feels good to be on the other end of it for a change. I remember it clearly as a young punk watching the loveable Cavaliers’ teams that seemed so close to gaining a championship if they could only get by Jordan and the Bulls. I remember thinking how unfair it was that Jordan got every call. Now it’s LeBron James who has gained Superstar status and has received the benefit of some calls. I admit he gets some calls. But that’s the landscape in the NBA. That’s how it’s been for years. If you’re a big name, you get a little bit of that. Just ask Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and all the other big timers. I won’t deny it. But I don’t think it robbed the Wizards of the series. You won’t get too many people saying Michael Jordan didn’t deserve his playoff wins, and it shouldn’t be that way with LeBron and the Cavs. Regardless, I know how you feel Wizard fans. I’ve been there before. It’s frustrating.