Le Basketbawl

66 regular season wins, the leagues coach of the year, the leagues MVP. In the end, none of it mattered. If awards and honors paved the way for you to reach the NBA Finals, then yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers were the best team in the NBA in the 2008-2009 season. Problem is – it doesn’t, and the Cavs season will go down as a failure.

That will be the talk of the town as the Cavs season came to a stunning end on Saturday night in Orlando, as the Magic didn’t waste any time in making sure the Cavs didn’t have a chance, never going down by less than 11 in the second half in a 103-90 win that puts them in the NBA Finals starting on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the end, the Cavs losing three of the first four games was simply too much to overcome. Saturday night they failed to come out as the agressor, and paid for it as Orlando fed off the crowd and did what they usually do against the Cavs, kill them with threes as well as the inside play of Dwight Howard.

The Magic “Superman” had by far his best game of the series, putting in a whopping 40 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 4 assists. The tone of the series was Howard and the Magic long range bombers, as they had a field day vs the Cavs hitting big shots every time Cleveland appeared to be getting close to getting back into the game.

Orlando dominated the second quarter, which in the end was the Cavs undoing. They led by five at the end of one, but after they got within four early in the quarter, Orlando went on a big run to make sure there would be no dreams of a 7th game back in Cleveland Monday night.

A Rashard Lewis layup gave Orlando an 11-point lead with 7:35 left in the half, and then the lead just kept growing, as Howard ade a hook shot to make it a 12-point deficit for the Cavs, a Lewis three put Orlando up 13, a Howard slam made it 15, and then a Lewis jump shot with 10 seconds left in the half put the Cavs down 18. In other words – game.

The Cavs continued to try to get back into the game in the second half, and right away came out and made it an 11-point game after a Mo Williams three, a Delonte West layup, and a LeBron James three. But after a timeout by the Magic, they came right back and put things back in order with a Courtney Lee jumper, and then a Howard free throw and a Rafer Alston running jump shot to make it 64-48.

The third quarter would end 86-70, and the fourth quarter saw the Cavs never get any closer than 11 points. The final basket of the Cavs season was a James slam dunk after a steal, but that was almost laughable as it only made it a 13-point game with :33 seconds left. The Magic were able to run out the clock after a pair of turnovers to take home the win and advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in their history.

It will be a long flight home for the Cavs, who got 25 from James, and 22 from West. Overall they shot 44 percent, but were just 11-for-22 from the free throw line, and the Magic again were huge from three-point land, hitting 12-of-29. Needless to say, for a team that climbed so far during the season and the first two rounds of the playoffs going 8-0, the fall in Orlando is one that is tough to swallow and the toughest pill ever in the teams history.

Rafer Alston:According to the Orlando Sentinel, Rafer Alston (who has subbed in for Jameer Nelson since February) that he wants to stay with the Magic, who are leading 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Alston was traded from the Rockets and has been a big help off the trade. But Alston does know he will be backing up Nelson next year, and might be making $5.5M if he gets re-signed. All the luck to Alston and his Magic, who look to make the NBA Finals.

Amare Stoudemire:

Stoudemire has been crazy right now, well, that’s what I think. On ESPN New York Radio, he has confirmed he wants to play for Mike D’Antoni in 2010 and says he is better than number four: Chris Bosh.

Here is New York and Washington Post’s take on this:

“When asked Stoudemire if he’s better than Bosh, the Suns forward said, “Oooh man, are you kidding me? Ask Chris Bosh that question.”

So that’s a yes?

“No doubt about it, I’m better than Chris Bosh”

“How serious will you consider the New York Knicks in 2010″?

“I will be totally serious about that, I spent a lot of my childhood there, I have a connection with the state, and I also love the entire coaching staff.

” I think Coach D’Antoni’s doing a phenomenal job with the Knicks, NY’s a great city, I follow them closely.”

“Um, I love D.C., quote, end quote,” Stoudemire said, eliciting oohs and ahhs and a follow-up question about how he sounded interested by this prospect. His answer?

“I love D.C, quote, end quote,” he repeated.

“I’m going into my eighth year in the NBA, and it’s time for a

championship,” he said moments later. Joking aside, he was asked how far away the Wiz were from contending for one of them trophy things. “You might just be a No. 1 jersey away,” he said.” Hhmm.

Jannero Pargo:

Pargo, a free agent, has confirmed that he and his agent are talking to the Hornets about Pargo making a possible return to them.

Here are some quotes from The Times Picayune:

“Jeff (Bower, Hornets general manager) and I spoke (Tuesday) about a bunch of things and Jannero was something we discussed and we’ll take it a step at a time and see where it goes,” Mark Bartelstein said. “There’s nothing new to talk about now, but we’ll look at it and see what happens. “I think you could say there’s mutual interest. That’s fair to say.” “I think there’s a lot of people interested,” Bartelstein said. “He’s healthy now; had the surgery about 10 days ago. He feels great and is now 100 percent healthy. We’re just going to take a deep breath and digest everything and figure out what’s best. “Olympiacos has also expressed interest that they’d want him back. We’ve talked about that. There are a lot of things for him to consider.”

Indiana Pacers:

The Indiana Pacers have been very interested in point guards for the NBA Draft, as Indy holds the 13th pick, a pretty good spot to stand at.

Right now, the word is coming that the Pacers are interested in these five prospects: Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Eric Maynor, Stephen Curry, and recently, Tyreke Evans.

Indiana has said they are interested in Evans the most. But after looking deep into the Indy Star, they have dug up some stuff from Maynor and Lawson, who may be the real guys for Indy.

“They talked to my agent and they said they need a point guard to come in,” Lawson said. “They’ve got T.J. Ford and Jarrett Jack, but I don’t know if they’re happy with them. They said they need one to come in.”

“I’ve already got a workout set up with Indiana,” Maynor said. “They are looking at taking a point guard. I haven’t really had much contact with them, but my agent talked to them.”

Stephen Curry:

The Oklahoma City Thunder has announced that they are very interested in Davidson point guard, Stephen Curry, the New York Post says.

The Thunder, who hold the third pick in the Draft, are eying three players now for the 2009 NBA Draft: Hasheem Thabeet, Ricky Rubio, and, of course, our very own Stephen Curry, of who we just mentioned right now in this little tidbit.

“Like they had season tickets,” Curry said.

Like they do.

Steve Blake:

According to The Oregonian, Blazers guard Steve Blake will undergo arthroscopic shoulder surgery on Friday.

He is expected to come back and practice with Portland in between six to eight weeks.

That’ll be before training camp, of course.

Let’s see how he does.

Hasheem Thabeet:

Well, this is the moment you guys have literally have been waiting for. You have passed over 860 words just to get here. What an accomplishment for you, good job (not). Thabeet, to me, has made the biggest news flash here on Big Sports News.

The Knicks have said they are the most interested in big man, Hasheem Thabeet, from UConn. The Knicks, although they do have Eddy Curry, they need a guy who won’t get injured and only play three games like Curry did last year, but only due to injury.

People have also been saying that they might trade Curry or someone else for a higher draft pick to steal Thabeet. The Knicks are also scared that he might fall to Memphis or Oklahoma City. Maybe even L.A. at number one!

With Al Harrington and Eddy Curry, Thabeet be a guy to help them out, and quick.

Thank you for reading Big NBA News! Will the Pacers draft Eric Maynor? Who will get Stephen Curry? Will the Knicks get a shot for Thabeet? Find out and it may be in the next edition of Big NBA News!

Not yet. Not at home.

The Cavaliers, playing as desperate as a team could, came out with energy and focus on Thursday, taking it to the Orlando Magic early, and in the end pulling out a must-win – 112-102 to keep their season alive. The win came mostly from the once again MVP play of LeBron James, who put in 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists.

The game was in the hands of James, who was huge in the fourth quarter which saw Cleveland trail by one at its start. He put in 17 points in the quarter, and every time it seemed like the Magic were on the verge of hitting a big shot or taking a lead that the Cavs would not overcome, James was right there to shut them up.

The league’s MVP did finally get some support, as Mo Williams finally stepped in with a big game, his best of the postseason. He hit for 24 points, and was 6-for-9 in three-point shots. He was aggressive all night as well as James, and tied a career high in points in the playoffs.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas played his best game of the series with 16 points, and Delonte West added 13. It was that team effort in the first quarter that saw the Cavs jump out to a 35-18 lead after one, and overall the team led by as many as 22 before Orlando finally started to play.

The Magic comeback saw them cut the Cavs lead from 17 to 10 in just about three minutes of the second quarter. They got the deficit to 8 with 7:51 remaining in the half, and in the final seconds of the first half got a driving layup from Rashard Lewis to cut it to four, then a three from Lewis with :0.8 left in the half to make it 56-55 at halftime.

Orlando took their first lead with 11:24 to play in the third quarter, and built their biggest lead of the night – an 8-point advantage before the Cavs answered with some big shots by Williams and James. Another player that finally stepped up in the contest was Daniel Gibson, who scored 11 points, 8 in the fourth quarter when he played all 12 minutes.

So now the series will shift back to Orlando, where the Magic have beaten the Cavs four times already this season between the regular season and the playoffs. It will once again be up to James to keep the season alive. If he and the club can find a way, game seven would be at the Q on Monday night at 8:30pm.

Turn out the lights Cleveland – the party is just about over.

In yet another epic Cleveland sports collapse, the Cavaliers find themselves now just one game away from having what was a magical (no pun attended) season totally wiped away by an Orlando Magic team that simply is a bad match-up, and a team that simply seems to want it just a bit more.

Tuesday night in Orlando, the Cavs did play their hearts out, but in the end in overtime, “Superman” Dwight Howard was just too much, as he slammed in 10 points of the Magic’s 16, as they beat the Cavs yet again -116-114.

The loss for the Cavs now means they have to beat Orlando three straight times, and while two of the three games would be in Cleveland, it’s hard to actually think that the Cavs at this point are going to be able to extend the series even to a sixth game in Orlando on Saturday. If it were not for LeBron James’ miracle three at the buzzer Friday, the Cavs very well may already be making their summer vacation plans.

For now, they do have some life left in them, but you can bet it’s going to take one heck of a miracle to pull it off. Tuesday the team played their best game of the series, but even that was not enough to stop Orlando. The Cavs led 25-21 after the first 12 minutes, then got a big three in the final second of the second quarter from Daniel Gibson to lead 58-50 at the half.

Once again though, Mike Brown and the team fell apart in the third quarter, as the Magic started getting their legs under them, and started hitting threes. And more threes, and more threes, and more threes. They pulled within one at the end of three, and then held a lead midway through the fourth quarter till the Cavs rallied.

A James free throw with 1:05 to play gave the Cavs a 98-97 lead. After a Magic missed three, James missed a jumper with21.9 seconds left to give Orlando one last shot. With 4.1 seconds left, RashardLewis nailed a three to give Orlando a 100-98 lead. Mo Williams inbounded the ball to James, and he drove the lane and got fouled with :0.5 seconds left.

The first free throw was nothing but net, but the second one hung on for a second before finally falling in to tie the game at 100. To overtime we went. The Cavs came out aggressive, as after an Orlando turnover, Gibson got to the line to hit a pair of free throws to make it 102-100. Then it was time for the Dwight Howard show.

While the Cavsand James were turning the ball over and making bad decisions, the Magic just kept going to Howard, who made three dunks to make it 106-105 Magic with2:47 to go. An Orlando three made it 109-105 with2:11 left, and then a Howard tip-in made it 111-105 with 1:12 to go.

The teams went back and forth, but the Cavs playing desperate could never get it back to even, as James made a layup, two free throws, and a wild three with:04.1 left to make it 115-114. Lewis made a free throw to make it 116-114 with :03.2 left, and a James half court shot at the buzzer was not really close.

So now the team comes home, complete with two losses, and void of any confidence, no matter what Williams or James may say at this point. They have little to no shot to make the Finals, and the sting of this playoff collapse is almost complete

It’s one tough series. Just ask Delonte West! Cleveland.com

The Magic and Cavaliers series is going nasty, but great. The Magic are so far leading, 2-1, but they should have been leading, 3-0. I say Magic all the way. Why? Here are some of the strengths the Magic have that Cleveland is no where near matching. Here are some points that will help the Magic roll to victory.

Supporting Cast

This is the biggest part of the whole series. It is mainly Dwight Howard vs. LeBron James. But which one of these superstars has a better supporting cast? No doubt, it is Superman. Why?

Consider: According to ESPN.com, LeBron James is the leader in each of the categories. He leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, and blocks. LBJ’s only trusted companion is Mo Williams, who averages close to 18 points per game.

Now to Dwight Howard.

Consider: Howard only leads in points, rebounds, and blocks. But it isn’t all Howard with the Magic like it is all King James with the Cavs. Hedo Turkoglu leads in assists. Besides Howard, six players on the team average close to or more than ten points per game. Now compare that to Cleveland: four.

The supporting cast plays a big part. The Magic also have a lot of consistent outside shooters while Cleveland fails to be able to hit from outside, as we have observed so far  in this series.

Offense

The Magic are probably better in this category, acording to the stats by ESPN. The Magic average 101 points per game compared to Cleveland’s 100.3. Just a small difference, but huge affect. The Magic average ten rebounds per game compared toward Cleveland’s close to eleven per game.

Cleveland won that one, but again, it’s pretty much all LeBron and he can’t always get it. Then there is Cleveland’s 20 assists per game compared towards Orlando’s 19.4. You might think Cleveland is better on offense, but again, it’s all LBJ.

LBJ, Mo, and Wally Szczerbiak are probably the only consistent three-point shooters. The Magic have probably  about four-to-six as far I have seen throughout the whole NBA season. The Magic are also much more consistent with their shooting.

In the playoffs, when one of the Magic players are wide open from behind-the-arc, they will make it. Cleveland can’t. For example: In Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals, Rashard Lewis hit a three with 14.7 seconds left that made it look like an easy win. Then with game almost over, LeBron passed it to Mo and he passed it to a wide-open Delonte West. He missed it.

Get it now?

Defense

The Magic can win on defense as well. The Magic beat Cleveland on defensive rebounds. Cleveland has 31.4 defensive rebounds per game compared towards Orlando’s 33.3. Cleveland beats Orlando on steals by a ratio of 7.20-to-6.95. The Magic barely beat Cleveland in blocks by Orlando averaging 5.35 to Cleveland’s 5.30.

So you can see, the Magic beat Cleveland in two out of three categories mentioned, the same number of games that the Magic have won against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals so far.

Miscellaneous

I already mentioned some but there are only three categories left. The Magic make more mistakes as they make 13 turnovers per game compared toward Cleveland’s twelve. Cleveland and Orlando are both tied for personal fouls called with 20.3 per game. Then here is a pretty important one: technical fouls.

Magic make .9 per game compared towards Cleveland’s .8. So Cleveland wins this category out of how many I have mentioned? Five. Cleveland is one-out-of-four in the categories which supports my case. The Magic are good all around.

The biggest take is the supporting cast. The superstars can’t do everything, and that is why Cleveland got swept by San Antonio two years ago. The Magic don’t  look like the underdogs in this series, Cleveland does. The Magic have been taking over all around.

Cleveland just got lucky in Game Two. The Magic always kept leading at the end. Remember in Game One when the Cavaliers were taking a 15-point lead at the half and failed at the end? That is exactly what I am talking about: inconsistency.

I stand my case and that is why the Magic will win.

Born for greatness? There’s no question that Friday night at the Q, home grown LeBron James took another step towards greatness, saving the  Cleveland Cavaliers season as he sank a three-point hoop at the buzzer as the Cavaliers beat Orlando 96-95 to tie their best of seven Eastern Conference Finals series at one game apiece.

The Q was so quiet when the shot went up, you could almost hear a pin drop. Then once he went through, you couldn’t hear anything. In the span of one second, Cleveland went from a funeral to Mardi Gras. It was that much of a momentum shift for a team that had not had their backs against the wall much at all in 2009.

“I don’t know what to say, but he was born to do that,” Sasha Pavlovic said after the game. “That’s amazing, I don’t kiow what to say – it’s unbelievable.”

The play was meant to be an alley opp, as Mo Williams was supposed to lob it up to James. But Hedo Turkoglu took away the option, and James took it back outside, instead going for the win. It paid off.

“You couldn’t hear anything but a roar,” James said. “Those fans deserved it. That was the biggest shot I’ve made in my career. A second is a long time for me, for others it’s very short. As a kid you practice those moments.”

It was a moment that the Cavs and their fans will relive for a long time to come, and if the team continues their run in the playoffs, it will go down as a saving moment that the team needed in the worse way possible.