Because He's LeBron James, and You Most Definitely Are Not...

It's almost 2 in the afternoon, and I think I'm just now coming down from last nights Cavaliers game.

If you don't follow basketball, or better if you live under a rock, you might not have noticed that the heavily un-favored Cavaliers just went up 3-2 in the best of seven.

When I say heavily, I mean Rosie O'Donnell after 5 days on a cruise ship heavy. The Pistons, they of two straight losses to the Cavs in Cleveland, went into the game as 11 point favorites.

Basically, the Pistons are a two time defending Eastern Conference champion. They have their bling, courtesy of an aging and decombusting Laker team in the 2003-2004 Finals. The Cavs have precisely one guy on the roster who's even been to an NBA finals: Eric Snow. Most of this roster hadn't seen significant playoff minutes.

Small problem: Apparently with all the fervor surrounding the playoffs, their win over the Wizards, and the unfortunate drama around Larry Hughes family, someone forgot to tell the Cavaliers that they didn't have any business winning even a game in this series.

The Cavaliers have won these games in a manor in which a team with limited experience, a young superstar, and a rookie coach aren't supposed to understand. They've played defense, limited possessions, maintained poise, and occassionally smacked Detroit in the mouth when necessary.

And sadly, most of the media is still just waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the Cavs to feel the pressure, Detroit to regain it's composure, and for LeBron and company to fold like a Walmart tent in a stiff breeze.

It still hasn't happened. It was supposed to go down last night. It didn't. The LeBronaires made their plays when they had to. Detroit looked scared, lost, and rattled.

And yet, the failures of the Pistons are still being attributed to the Pistons. They're beating themselves, making mistakes, not coming through. Here's my thought on that: By the time you get to this level, you've won a title, etc, you don't solely beat yourself. Someone has to make you do it.

By finally discovering that there ARE two ends of the floor in an NBA game, the Cavaliers are giving Detroit a taste of it's own heavy medicine. Ten blocked shots last night? Forcing Chauncey Billups to foul out? That's not just Detroit short-comings, that's the Wine and Gold exerting their will as an extention of that one man: LeBron.

Even if they don't win this series, which, being that it's a Cleveland team, I'm not going to rule out something bad happening. However, if nothing else, this has served as a notice: They're not just happy to be there to learn.

Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com said "Not only will the Pistons' 4-0 or 4-1 series win make LeBron face linear defeat for the first time in his career, the beatdown the Pistons will hand out will make him make sure he'll never go through anything like it again"

But, what if they win, what about the fact that they've taken 3 games from the "best team in the East". Isn't it possible that it didn't take a whole series of beatdowns, only a game and a half, for this young man to realize what needed to be done? LeBron's always taken to things ahead of schedule. Why should this be any different?

To top it all off, LeBron's been keenly reserved in his comments. Even after last nights game he said "This is just basketball, this isn't life or death"

It probably feels like it in Detroit.

They won't tell you that though. It's hard to say it when you've got your hands wrapped around your own collective necks.