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30.7%. That was the Cleveland Cavaliers’ shooting percentage in Game #1 @ Boston. This should be the recipe for a blowout, but the Cavs had a chance at the end only to fall to Boston 76-72, giving the Celtics a 1-0 series lead. While Cleveland Cavs merchandise has been a hot seller due to their 4-2 series win in the 1st round over Washington, but the Cavaliers will need to improve on their poor shooting if they want to defeat the Celtics, especially in Boston. LeBron James will have to lead that improvement after having possibly the worst offensive game of his career in shooting 2-19 from the floor and 0-6 from the 3-point line with 10 turnovers. LeBron did play well defensively, holding Paul Pierce in check and in grabbing 9 rebounds and 9 assists, but it was not a typical game for “King James.” Even Kevin Garnett, a player not know as being “clutch,” added two big baskets in the 4th quarter as he scored 28 points in leading the Celtics to the win.

Game #2 will be played on Thursday night @ 7 pm ET in Boston as Cleveland will look to even the series.

LeBron James gets the headlines, but as the Cleveland Cavaliers closed out the Washington Wizards tonight, we can’t just give LeBron the credit. While James scored a triple-double with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists, it was the outside shooting of Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson that helped LeBron reach the triple-double and helped lead the Cavs to a 105-88 win in Game #6. Szczerbiak and Gibson combined to shoot 18-32 from the field, 10-19 from beyond the arc, and score a combined 48 points for Cleveland as Wally nailed 6 3-pointers and Gibson hit 4. Only Zydrunas Ilgauskas joined James, Gibson and Szczerbiak in double figured as “Z” added 12 points in 32 minutes.

LeBron played a game that even Skip Bayless would have a hard time criticizing as he shot 8-17 overall, 1-2 from 3-point range, 10-10 from the free throw line and had a playoff career-high with the 13 assists. The triple-double marked the 20th of LeBron’s career and 3rd career playoff triple-double.

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With the win, Cleveland advances to the Eastern Conference Semifinals where they will face the winner of #1 Boston and #8 Atlanta who will meet in Boston on Sunday in Game #7 of their series. Should the favored Celtics win on Sunday, Cleveland will likely play Game #1 on Tuesday night in Boston. Should the underdog Atlanta Hawks win in Boston on Sunday, Cleveland would host Atlanta on Tuesday night in Game #1 of the semifinals.

With 6 players having been traded away a day before and LeBron’s 4 new teammates sitting insuites as paperwork and physicals are completed, the Cleveland Cavaliers found a way to win in beating Washington 90-89. LeBron, coming off back-to-back triple-doubles, was true to form with 33 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists including two free throws to put Cleveland ahead at the end. The Cavs then held on with a strong defensive stand to preserve a home victory. With the win, the Cavs are now 31-24 and 16-10 at home. Cleveland’s next game will be Sunday against the 14-41 Memphis Grizzlies at 6 pm in Cleveland as the Cavs expect to have Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Ben Wallace and Delonte West all in uniform.

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For those that have ever watched ESPN First Take, it’s no secret that well-known columnist Skip Bayless is not the biggest fan of LeBron James. Bayless likes to refer to savior of the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise as “Prince James” to mock his “King James” nickname. Consistently questioning LeBron’s ability to hit clutch shots and free throws, Bayless never seems to give James credit. Recently, he questioned if LeBron had ever hit a clutch game-winning shot, the crew was quick to bring up Cleveland’s win @ Charlotte last season, but even that did not impress Bayless as he criticized the talent of the Bobcats. It seems there is no pleasing Mr. Bayless when it comes to LeBron’s impressive achievements.

After leading the Cavaliers to a 98-95 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, will Bayless change his tune? LeBron hit a clutch 2-point jump shot to extend a 1-point Cavaliers lead to 3 points in the final 20 seconds, then hit two free throws with less than 10 seconds remaining. LeBron then added to the great defense by the Cavaliers to prevent Kobe and the Lakers from getting a last-second shot off to potentially tie the game and send it to overtime. Thanks to LeBron’s 14-point 4th Quarter (he scored 41 for the game), clutch performance and strong defense, the Cavs are 12-3 in their last 15 games and have improved to 24-19 on the season.

They said he wasn’t clutch. Then he lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2006-2007 after almost single-handedly beating the Detroit Pistons Eastern Conference Finals. ESPN’s Skip Bayless still will not get off his back, nor will the cops after his recent speeding ticket, but LeBron James takes it all in stride. Do these things motivate LeBron? We know pretty ladies that heckle from the stands do, and I am certain that winning motivates the player that may be the game’s best. LeBron James made sure the Cleveland Cavaliers would pick up a road win on Tuesday night as he scored 25 points in the 4th Quarter to force overtime and finished with 51 points in a 132-124 OT victory @ Memphis. In typical LeBron fashion, he also added 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals to his 51-point tally as the Cavs are now 20-18. Not too shabby after a 12-16 record just about a month ago. Since Christmas, the Cavs have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games and with 5 of their remaining 7 games in January on the road, a win tonight over a 10-28 Memphis team was a must.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were not blessed with an easy schedule to begin the season, in fact, they were handed one of the toughest schedule in all of the NBA. Beginning the season with a West Coast trip including 5 tough road games in their first 7 games, the Cavs are now 3-2 on the road trip as they finish the trip tonight @ Denver. With injuries throughout their roster and Anderson Varejao remaining unsigned, the Cavs have played short-handed all season. As a result, Cedric Simmons, Damon Jones, Devin Brown and Ira Newble have all seen significant minutes spelling LeBron and the gang. Speaking of LeBron James, the early-season stats are your typical LeBron MVP-style stats. LeBron is averaging 26.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 7.6 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.7 blocked shots per game.

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After a trip to the NBA Finals in 2006-2007, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not a team that has been picked by many to contend for the Eastern Conference Championship in 2007-2008. Detroit, Chicago and Boston seem to be the favorites, and a healthy Miami is also a definite contender. But the Cleveland Cavaliers do not seem to get much attention from the national media and personally, I like it that way. After a opening game blowout vs. the Dallas Mavericks it seemed to increase the negativity towards Cleveland basketball. But with 2 wins in their past 3 games the Cavs have drawn even at 2-2 on the season as they look to pickup another road victory tonight @ Utah.

It’s not every day that a Cleveland team has a chance to win a championship in it’s respective sport, so I decided to blog tonight during the first ever NBA Finals game in Cleveland, OH.

It would obviously be a lot more fun if I was at the Q, but I’m going to take a page out of The Sports Guy’s book and blog while I watch the game on the tube. Expect a post at the end of each quarter. Maybe it’ll even be entertaining. If you’re interested to read my take, check out the Sports-Shop blog during the game.

Mike Brown may be forced to play the best true point guard on the Cavs roster tonight, and there’s no better fit for the headline of this story than Jim Carey’s classic line from the aptly titled hit movie “Dumb and Dumber”.

Yes, Larry Hughes plantar fascia is acting up and there are hints that Hughes may not be able to play in Game 3 of the NBA Finals tonight in Cleveland. This is fantastic news for Cavs fans who have been clamoring for Daniel “Boobie” Gibson to get more playing time since torching the Pistons in the deciding game of the Eastern Conference Finals, and keeping his shooting touch through the first 2 games versus the Spurs.

Now if Brown could only realize that a small lineup of Gibson, Damon Jones, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, and Donyell Marshall has been giving the Spurs fits, maybe we’ll be somewhere. While we’re at it, maybe Brown gives up his steadfast demand to keep an ineffective Zydrunas Illgauskas and Drew Gooden, who’ve been finding themselves out of position on defense and outworked on the glass, in the game for long stretches.

Down 2-0 it’s time to get serious. If Z and Gooden can’t handle their assignments with Duncan ruling the post, it’s time to go with Varejeo and Marshall with the bulk of the minutes (much like last year’s playoffs when Z and Gooden were constantly relegated to the bench versus Washington and Detroit).

And why not give Scot Pollard a chance? Wasn’t handling big fellas like Shaq and Tim Duncan the entire reason he was brought into the fold this offseason? I know Mike Brown is notoriously slow to change things up, but if the Cavs don’t win tonight he’s not going to need to worry about making adjustments, because the Cavs for all intents and purposes are going to be done.

Daniel Gibson, not LeBron James, was the hero for the Cleveland Cavaliers as Cleveland advanced to the NBA Finals for the 1st time in franchise history with a 98-82 win over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. Gibson scored 31 points in the game, including 19 in the 4th quarter, to lead the Cavs in scoring as LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were the only other Cavs to score in double-figures. LeBron finished the game with 20 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals.

Game one of the NBA Finals will be held on Thursday night in San Antonio as the Spurs will host games one & two before returning to Cleveland for games three & four.

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