This is when the NBA shines, if you ask me. Get past the regular season, send the lower 50% of the teams home with a pat on the butt and a "better luck next year" and get it moving. In fact, let's just shrug off the first round pretenders and get to the good stuff.

We're getting closer to the Tootsie Roll center of the NBA Tootsie Pop that is the Playoffs, and things keep getting more and more interesting.

HEY RASHEED, HOW DOES THAT SNEAKER TASTE?

All guarantees and pot-shots (including my own) aside, the Cavaliers showed that they're not just an also-ran in these playoffs and might give Detroit something to be concerned about. I only caught the last 2 minutes of that game, but I'll say this: Cleveland didn't win it, Detroit lost it.

LeBron had an off night and couldn't get anything going from the free-throw line. Yet Detroit only mustered 72 points in a game against a team that's not exactly a defensive stalwart. Moreover, they gave up a 15-2 run down the stretch that brought Clevelend back to life.

Worse, the last 2 minutes were a show of bad defense on LeBron (Rip Hamilton guarding him? Really?), a charging foul on Chauncey Billups and a several missed layups in crunch time. Not what you'd expect from a defending Eastern Conference champ.

As TNT analyst CB shrewdly pointed out, Rasheed's absence in that game is what allowed Varejao to be in position down low to draw that charge off Billups. Rasheed might need two wraps on that sore ankle of his. One for the sprain, one for the extra damage inflicted from trying to stuff his foot in his mouth all day. He even took a shot at the Cavs after LOSING. That's weak.

HE WHO OWNS THE LANE, OWNS THE GAME

I caught the whole San Antonio v. Dallas game, however. It's really a shame this is a conference semifinal match-up, as this might easily end up being the best series of these playoffs.

Early on, though, it looked like San Antonio was going to run Dallas right out of their own arena. Popovich's smaller starting 5 spread Dallas out, allowing Tony Parker to slice his way into the paint for easy layups and free throw opportunities. Were it not for the Spurs' inability to count 2 steps per dribble, they might have gained an even larger advantage, and they sure could have used it. They ended up with 5 traveling calls in the first half alone, and I know they had one or two more later in the game.

A killer example came with less than 10 seconds left in the third quarter, as Tony Parker committed another traveling turnover which killed their posession and essentially led to a Jason Terry layup on the other end. That pushed Dallas' lead to 4 entering the 4th quarter. Again, not what you would expect from a defending champ.

All in all, the mental lapses are what killed San Antonio in this game.

Case in point:

While the referees were rather shaky late in the game, San Antonio made the egregious error of letting it get to them, losing composure when a blocking/charging call under the 4 minute mark went against them. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili both ran to the other end of the court in frustration, Ginobili with the ball. This resulted in adding a delay of game technical that killed any momentum they had when Dirk made the technical foul free throw shot and buried the two free throws for the personal foul. San Antonio's lead fell to only two.

A later turnover on an inbound play lead to what would be just one of many clutch Jason Terry shots, this one to take the lead late in the 4th quarter.

The mental lapses even continued into overtime as Bruce Bowen didn't take a foul in the final seconds ostensibly because he didn't want to foul out of the game. Fact is, if you don't take a foul, you don't get an extra posession and you lose the game anyway. It doesn't matter who you foul, at least give your team a chance! I would expect more out of such an experienced ballclub.

But give Dallas credit. They attacked the rim in the second quarter to tie the game up going into the half and contunied using this offensive attack throughout the game. Their speedsters tore San Antonio's perimeter defenders up in several key situations as the game progressed, particularly making Nick Van Exel look OLD in the opening moments of the 4th quarter. SA was wise to get him out of the game once he picked up his 4th foul. 

The other key to Dallas' game was Nowitzki's 28 point performance. He had a really good night (until the 4th quarter, when it was Jason Terry time) despite his ankle problems, needing only 12 shots from the floor and 15 free throw attempts to lead the team in scoring. Dirk is proving to the world that you can make a great living in the NBA at the free throw line.  LeBron might want to take notice.

But I am going to take one parting shot at the victors in this game. Avery Johnson might want to consider limiting DeSagana "Drop"'s minutes in this series, as he seems to only be effective at smacking the ball around. I don't think he caught a pass sent his way, nor did he seem to be able to corral a single rebound the whole game. It was like watching a pinball game under the basket, and his 3 fouls in the 1st quarter were a blessing in disguise, as they had to take him out of the game.

Hey, at least his contract's cheaper than Shaun Bradley's was.

The Miami Heat are finally looking like the championship contenders they were expected to be at the beginning of the season. Perhaps it's best that they didn't start the season with Pat Riley as coach, for they might have peaked too soon.

When Riley left coaching to move into the front office of the Miami Heat, it was said the players had grown tired of his shtick. The over-hyped, over-intense style of coaching had worn thin on the players, and the team was no longer winning. The 2002-2003 Season ended with a dismal 25-57 record, another year on the outside looking on at the playoffs, and the end of Riley's tenure on the sidelines.

Much was made of the team they pieced together in his absence, from the drafting of Dwyane Wade to the trade to acquire Shaquille O'Neal, the Heat became eastern conference finalists on just two years. More has been made of the major overhaul of the team in the offseason after Miami finished one game short of making the NBA finals, including Riley replacing Stan Van Gundy as Coach.

This season has had serious ups-and-downs. The team struggled throughout the season, particularly against the other top-contending teams around the NBA. But now they seem to have found a groove coming off a rocky series against the Baby Bulls and a Game 1 loss to New Jersey in the second round that made this team look slower and more discombobulated than at almost any point throughout the season.

Big names in role-playing situations usually don't do well, or at best they take time. You might get players too far past their prime (I'm looking at you, Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel) to be truly effective, or you might get guys who are jealous of the younger players who are now getting the spotlight (Gary Payton, anyone?). The ability of this team to squash those issues when they arose and straighten themselves out in time to get by the Bulls and overcome the defeat in Game 1 proves one thing: they get it.

 What happened in game 4 today at New Jersey is the prime example of what pat Riley had in mind all along, particularly on the offensive end. And it's about time they got it right.

This team was not completely retooled in order to maximize their defensive execution, nor do I think that's what anyone thought. Regardless, it's important to point out that you don't acquire Jason Williams, Antione Walker and Gary Payton to stop people. And don't tell me Gary's "The Glove", because he hasn't been more than a passable perimeter defensive presence in 3 or 4 years. These players were acquired for outside shooting and ball handling, and little else. And that's just what is winning them games against the Nets.

There is no "d" in the name Vince Carter, and it shows. Whomever Carter was "guarding" was able to drive into the paint at will and kick out to wide open perimeter shooters with ease at any time during the Heat's offensive sets. The inability of Jason Collins to be able to guard Shaquille O'Neal without picking up fouls - or drawing a litany of offensive fouls - on the Diesel forced the defense to sag even further inside, even if Shaq wasn't scoring in bunches. This allowed Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem wide open for perimeter jumpers and Walker's threes, which in the end were the dagger in the heart for the NJ Nets.

The final nail in the coffin summed the game up nicely: Dwyane Wade makes a spectacular move to penetrate the defense and get into the paint area then kicks out to a wide open Payton along the sideline, where he nails his only bucket of the game and the Heat increase the lead to essentially seal the deal. This was what Riley was going for all along: Wade and Shaq do their thing and draw all kinds of attention, while the big names now in role playing situations stick the perimeter shots.

Funny, that's not too different from last year's model. This team just has more glitz.

Miami still has issues: their 100 Million Dollar center had an unremarkable 16 pt., 8 rebound effort in this ballgame and was essentially outplayed by Nenad Kristic (who?). Big time late game shot aside, Gary Payton is not much of a factor when out on the counrt, yet Riley continues to play Payton in crunch time instead of allowing Jason Williams to cement his status as a much more under control floor leader late in games.

If the Heat can duplicate this kind of performance and close this series out against New Jersey at home in game 5, they should be able to ride this performance into a showdown against Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals that might rival that of their meeting a year ago. Even though the names have changed and the talent level has (supposedly) been upgraded, the formula remains the same. And it should make for one heck of a East finals matchup.

And yes, I said Detroit will meet them. While Cleveland may have won a game on the strength of a t-dub from LeBron, let's be real about this: it's only one game. LeBron's in the middle of his own Mission:Impossible, and he's pulling his best Philip Seymour Hoffman impression out for this series, because as far as the Cavs are concerned, LeBron's the only guy out there worth watching.

That's right, I just called the rest of the Cavs Tom Cruise.

Totally off-subject, but did you see Britney Spears on Letterman last night announcing to the world that she's expecting another Mini-Fed?

This gets under my skin. Look, here's the problem:

1. How lame is it that she made this announcement on Letterman? Only thing worse would have been to do it on Leno.
2. How lame is it that she's ON LETTERMAN?? What, was Drew Barrymore unavailable? Couldn't get Nick Lachey to come on and whine some more about how Jessica tossed him to the curb? What has Britney Spears done in the last 3 years? Nothing. That's what. Nothing...well, other than serve as a baby factory.

Note to David Letterman's producers: washed up pop princesses DO NOT make for good television. Time to update the contact list on your Crackberries, boys and girls.

In the end, this proves the old adage, "you can take the girl out of the trailer, but you can't take the trailer out of the girl."

At this pace, she's on track for 6 husbands, 12 kids and maybe still one or two Playboy spreads. That's it. I'm just waiting for the next time she makes the news for going Tonya Harding on Federline and bounces a hubcap off his melon. Only difference? This hubcap will be gold-plated.

Of course, after lambasting the Twins in my previous post, they trounce Texas 15-5. Still they're only 5-5 in their last 10 and 9.5 games out in the division, but I digress...

The Bonds Watch

I haven't taken a lot of time to think about the Barry Bonds situation. Frankly, I couldn't care less about the guy. I didn't care when he hit 73 homers in a season, and I find it hard to care about him hitting his 714th homer, which almost happened last night. I wasn't watching. I found Food TV and the NBA playoffs more enjoyable. I think around the time Barry narrowly missed tying history, I was watching a show all about beets.

That's how much I care.

But in looking at everything this morning, the coverage on the 4-letter network, the stories on this vaunted website, one question came to mind, one I think I would ask many a professional athlete who was considered one of the greats:

Is it worth it?

Has it all been worth it? The pain, the blood, the sweat, the tears, the media, the controversy, the stress? I think the answers would be enlightening, given you were told the whole truth. I have no doubt Michael Jordan, Isaiah Thomas, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Andretti, would say yes. Probably without hesitation. But they'd had it easy.

Would Muhammad Ali? If he knew back then what he knows now, what would he have changed? His present condition has a lot to do with Parkinson's, I am sure, but I bet all those knocks to the head, particularly late in his career, didn't help.

If you could ask Dale Earnhardt if it was worth it to die on the race track, would he really say yes? I am sure he'd say yes because that's what he knows you'd want to hear. But in his heart of hearts, would it be the truth?

You are always told as a child that you have to to reach for the stars. It's always best to go for the gusto, to be the best of the best.  But, what of Ryan Leaf? Would he say it was all worth it? He didn't seem to be able to handle the pressure, the spotlight, and yet he went for it. Was it really the right decision? Is it best to become a footnote, a punchline, arguably one of the biggest busts of all time?

This is the irony of Barry Bonds. The man who has largely shunned the media and treated the fans like dirt is now assailing one of the most hallowed records in his sport, maybe in all of American sports, and is in the middle of a spectacle much larger than he and the record he is about to set. It may be second place, but it's still a record, a benchmark, something people will look at and debate from now til the end of Baseball and, by extension, America as we know it.

By all accounts, Bonds began his "alleged" steroid abuse after seeing the adulation showered upon McGwire and Sosa as they dueled for the HR record for a single season, the mythical mark of 61set by Roger Maris. Seeing that love and admiration from coast to coast, Bonds began the amazing bulk-up that now marks his legacy, like it or not. A man who was already widely considered a hall-of-famer, a multiple NL MVP award winner, still didn't have enough. The guy who supposedly didn't care about the media sure went through a lot to catch its eye.

Maybe he knew he had little chance of ever winning a World Series ring in San Francisco, and upon realizing that the only thing the media and fandom like as much as a champion is a record-setter, he started sticking needles in his ass. He didn't care about his hall-of-fame credentials, he cared about becoming an immortal and thus, the apple of the Baseball eye.

But now, with all the accusations, the syringe-tossings, the country wide hatred, or, at best, malaise regarding this moment, would he say it's worth it? If you'd seen "Bonds on Bonds" and witnessed the bizarre moment in which Barry cried and held his head in his hands, you'd wonder. No matter whether you believe his tears or believe them to be as leathery as all 713 spheres he's sent into the sky and over the wall in his career, you have to wonder, if this is what it's come to...if this is what it takes to feel the adoration he longed to feel, no matter how much he may protest...

Was it worth it?

I was at Walgreen's last night looking at their choice of disposable razors, comparing the cheapest brand to another brand...one with only one blade vs. one with 3 blades. The price difference was substantial - almost $2.00 in difference for packages with the same amount of razors. As I reached for the cheaper, generic brand, I was stopped by my girlfriend. 

 "Are you sure you want those?" she asked.

I said I did, as they were cheaper.

"But are they a false economy?" she inquired again.

I thought about it. Frankly, every time I go for the cheap-ass razors, they always tear my neck to shreds, no matter what shaving cream I use. Yet, I kept buying them as my "travel razors" for years purely because they were the cheapest brand. But, thanks to further thought, I bought the more expensive brand, and my skin thanks me every time I have to shave at my girlfriend's place in the morning.

After shaving my face this morning, I turned the TV on to watch highlights of the Minnesota Twins winning their second game over the Detroit Tigers, the surprisingly competitive team looking to contend in the American League Central; a division that not only features the defending World Series champs, but a Cleveland Indians team that was one late-season collapse away from making the postseason in 2005.

The major headlines regarding this team in the Twin Cities area spoke of hope, and perhaps a light at the end of the tunnel. But what got this team where it is now? Maybe more importantly, where are they realistically headed? 

The major moves the Twins made in the offseason were dubious ones at best: Tony Bautista at 3rd base, Rondell White in the outfield, and Ruben Sierra as DH. But maybe more telling are the moves they did not make, mainly not signing either Frank Thomas nor trading for Jim Thome, a move widely speculated upon as the offseason progressed.

Granted, the Twins front office wasn't selling the fan base on a World Series run. They were selling the public on the prospect of scoring more runs and becoming more competitive throughout the course of the season.

The early results don't even match those carefully managed expectations. A 13-18 start does not translate to "competitive", particularly when lowlighted by the second worst road record in the league.  If, at any point in the season, you have to take solace in knowing you're still not dead last in the division (in other words, "at least we're not the Kansas City Royals"), some questions have to arise.

But the biggest question is, have the Twins ingested too much of their own Kool-Aid? Has this organization lulled itself to sleep with too many of the tired old cliches like, "taking it one game at a time" and "swinging the bat better"? Has the slow and steady approach, buoyed by continued reminders to the increasingly wary fans that this is a "small market club", pulled the wool over the eyes of the powers that be within the Twins organization?

Have they reached a few too many times for the $1.65 package of razors when it's clearly time to go for the higher quality razors that cost just $2.00 more? 

Overpaying for mediocre players has its own consequences. Minnesota sports fans need only look at the situation in the Target Center to see the consequences of such a front-office strategy. But so long as you convince yourself that you don't need to pay for top-shelf talent to mix in with your developing prospects, you will never rise above mediocrity. You'll be also-rans at best. At worst, well, you'd be the Kansas City Royals.

It's possible they had no shot at Jim Thome. It's also possible Frank Thomas wanted too much money. But it's funny that the Chicago White Sox, a team never known for being all that spendy, and the Oakland A's and Billy Beane (he of the Beane-Ball approach to small-market team management) acquired these two high-profile designated hitters in the same offseason and both are having better years than Rondell White, who is hitting a pathetic .155 on the year. You can argue that Ruben Sierra is having a year similar to that of Thomas, but the greater risk acquisition might actually be better appreciated by the fan base in the midst of this rocky start. At least they'd know you tried.

Few teams boast a highly talented ace such as Johan Santana, or a prospect with as much upside as Joe Mauer or a center fielder of the defensive talent of Torii Hunter or a closer who has shown flashes of dominance like Joe Nathan. Even players such as Michael Cuddyer and Lew Ford would find a spot on many clubs throughout the Majors.

But if the ultimate goal is to win games, make the postseason and compete for a championship, the ultimate question has to be raised: if not now, when? When do you surround this core of great, good and even solid players with guys who are actually capable of making a serious impact?

The current approach clearly didn't work last year and hasn't borne fruit too much beyond some nice showings in the postseason and an annual "wait until next year" mantra.

But this isn't limited to the Minnesota major league team, this goes for every team in every sport trying to win on the cheap. Just as it goes for every face mauled by the use of cheap plastic disposable razors.

It's a false economy. One you always pay too much for in the end. And in this day and age when curses are being reversed and parity rules in almost every major sport in the country, you cannot waste time selling false hope.