First off congratulations to the city of Cleveland and the Cavs. It must be very nice to finally experience the other side of this instead of being on the receiving end.

Usually this space is reserved for LeBron James praising after a Cavs victory but not after last night's performance by Daniel Gibson. Turned in another great performance off the bench by not only dropping 31 points on the Pistons but had Marv Albert and Steve Kerr dueling over how many different ways they could describe how hot he was. Speaking of Steve Kerr Gibby's performance was classic Kerr. Picking the Pistons apart with wide open 3 after wide open 3 and more importantly he did a great job of getting to the line. Just a classic game by Daniel Gibson.


Better nickname Daniel Gibson's "Bobbie" or Lebron James new moniker from the TNT crew "The Raging Inferno"?

I loved the game Lebron James played last night. His main goal was to play team oriented ball and through most of the first half it was not working but he stuck with it and still had faith in his teammates. That is the one thing a lot of superstars do not have in their teammates and that is faith. The other thing Lebron did very well was to keep attacking the rim and when he did that he took three or four Pistons with him to give guys like Gibson and Marshall wide open jumpers.

If you are Joe Dumars you have to wonder were do you go from here? He has put some great teams together but they just can not get over that hunt. This upcoming off-season has many looming questions for Detroit with Chauncey Billups entering free agency and if they should deal Rasheed Wallace. If it was up to me I would keep Billups, Sheed and do the more unconventional thing and deal Rip Hamilton. Hamilton's contract is still very reasonable but out of him, Billups and Sheed he is the more expendable one and his value is still very high in the league to net a good frontcourt player in return. I would also not have a notion of moving Sheed at all. Wallace may not be able to control himself on the court but he is everything the Pistons are about. He brings an unreplacable swagger and energy to the Pistons. The Pistons would greatly regret it if he is dealt.

Why was Flip Murray and Lindsey Hunter playing the 4th quarter? I think that pretty much sealed the firing of Flip Saunders.

Anybody else going to miss the TNT crew? Don't think there is a more entertaining pre or post game show on television.

The only thing that I am happy about with the TNT coverage ending is all those promos for Tyler Perry's new show or "Heartland". I understand you want to promote your new shows but I don't need it shoved down my throat after every commercial break.

Not many thoughts going into the Spurs-Cavs series. Pretty much think the Spurs are going to take the series but they do have to worry about a Cavs team that just took 4 straight from a very good Pistons team and a very confident Cavaliers team.

It is very late and there are a lot of things that have happened in the association the last 48 hours lets get to it. 

- Lebron James. What can I say? One of the greatest games I have ever watched. He just took over scoring the final 25 points for the Cavs and 29 of its final 30. Insane and it wasn't just jump shots either, it was thunderous dunks, step back threes and a drive, that any NFL running back would be proud of, right to the heart of Pistons front-court for the game winning lay-up. Amazing.

- Keeping with the theme of Lebron James it is funny how many questions everybody had of him coming in. Can he hit the big shot? Can he win on the road? Passing to Donyell Marshall, okay not really a question more like a what the!?!? Well now you can take all those questions and throw them out the window. I am saying it now Lebron James is the best player in basketball and it is not even close. Now that he is draining these big shots it makes him, stating the obovious, straight up deadly. It isn't just that he can now make the big shots but that he has absolutely no fear to make the extra pass to a teammate in crunch time. That to me makes him more valuable than Kobe, Wade or whoever else you want to list. I mean he has Donyell Marshall and he is not afraid to put the game in his hands. With that ability it puts teams in such bad spots during crunch time, we saw that game 4 were Sheed bite on the Lebron pump pass and gave him the room to drain a very open shot to put the game away.

- Finishing up on the Lebron lovefest was there not a more prettier shot then Bron's step back 3 with two defenders on him after the C-Webb and-1 in the second overtime to tie the game? That was one of the biggest "gut check" moments I have ever seen.

- Moving onto the Pistons what has happen to you guys? Where is the swagger and confidence that I remember of this team? Where is the Sheed who guarantees victories, where has Chris Webber been for every game but Game 5 and most importantly where is 2004 Finals MVP Chauncey Billups? This team left a part of themselves in Chicago and they have got to find a way to get it back.

- To the other side of these playoffs congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs. They are not my cup of tea with their style of play but I have a lot of respect for the organization and how well they are coached by Greg Popovich. They put on a clinic against the Jazz and put themselves in the driver seat for another title.

- I agree with Bill Simmons, is there a more consistent player than Tim Duncan?

- On the opposite end Deron Williams and Derek Fisher what are you thinking for calling out your teammates on what you call "early vacation." I realize you guys are frustrated for the way the series went but you should not air dirty laundry to the media. If you have a problem with these guys mailing it in take it up with the players and management. You guys are more classier than that and you both have the respect of that locker room to say something. If you did this I think those players would have responded.

- Finally D-Fish don't really like you much for the way you played in GS but I thoughts and prayers for your daughter going into the off-season.

- In other NBA items woke up to the news that Kobe has flipped flop again and wants out of LA now. What a joke this is becoming and a bigger joke is the report that he would prefer to go to the Knicks. Come on Kobe you are insulted by what the Lakers are doing but yet you want to go to a bigger mess in New York. That is like a passenger on the Hindenburg exchanging their ticket for a seat on the Titanic. Look Kobe if you want out come up to Northern California and play for the Warriors. We will treat you right, don't ask Chris Webber, and you will get as many shots as you please in Nellie's offense. Just do it Kobe, force your way to Golden State.

- Other Lakers news New York Post reporter Peter Vescey is claiming that the Lakers and Pacers have "Layed groundwork" for a Jermaine O'Neal trade. This would be the perfect trade for the Lakers, O'Neal is still very young, would finally give Kobe a real frontcourt player and that he is very close to Kobe. My only question is who do you trade for O'Neal; Andrew Bynum or Lamar Odom? On paper O'Neal, Odom and Bryant look like an amazing trio but I hate giving up on bigs as talented as Bynum very early. Laker fans your thoughts? My thoughts are you got to go for it. I would rather move Odom but if they want to give Bynum up you have to do. I have no problem trading bigs for bigs and Jermaine O'Neal is already a proven all-star. If you want to keep Kobe you got to get this Jerry We.....Mitch Kupchak.

- New coaches on the NBA landscape. First the Memphis Grizzlies hired Marc Iavaroni, who last season was an assistant head coach for the Phoenix Suns. I love this hire by the Grizzlies. If you read my last blog, cheap plug, I felt that the Grizzlies lacked an identity on the offensive side of the ball and with this hire it finally gives them one. Iavaroni has the perfect blend of players to fit his poorman's version of the Phoenix Suns fastbreak with a great wing player in Rudy ####, a big who can run the floor in Hakim Warrick and a do everything big with Pau Gasol. Also with the 4th overall pick in the draft it will give him the chance to add anothter player like Jeff Green, Corey Brewer or Julian Wright to fit with his offense. Great hire by the Grizz and the future looks more brighter.

- Another coaching move that made a huge splash was the Orlando Magic hiring of Billy Donovan. The Magic gave Donovan a whooping five-year, $27.5 million contract. I really don't know what to think of this hire. First thoughts were that I loved it. Bringing in a guy from the area will help out the fan base and a coach coming off back to back national championships is definitely what this team needs after such a poor performance in the first round of the playoffs against the Pistons. But the more I think about it the more I question it. I would be very uneasy to give that much guaranteed money to a guy that does not have any experience at the pro level. Past examples have shown that the transition from college to pros without that is experience has been costly for teams, ask the Atlanta Hawks. Also having the ability to recruit your own players really helps your ability to coach at that level, it will be very interesting to see how much control he is given in Orlando.

- The other coaching hire of the day was by the Indiana Pacers who named Jim O'Brien. A safe choice for the Pacers and their fanbase. But O'Brien sure jumps into a mess with Jermaine O'Neal most likely on the block and a mess of a roster. I like the hire but it must be a headache to look at this roster and than see that they traded this year's first round pick to the Hawks for a player that is not even on the roster, Al Harrington, and not have a lot options in free agency with the salary situation they put themselves into with Dunleavy and Murphy's deals. Not a good start for O'Brien.

- I will end this with a baseball thought. The San Francisco Giants finally traded Armando Benitez to the Florida Marlins for Randy Messenger. I said in the post above how bad of a mess the Pacers roster is but that does not compare to the Armando Benitez experience here in SF. I have no problem with closers blowing saves, it happens, but it was the way he handled himself after the game that drew my ire. With fantastic post game quotes of "I did my job" and blowing up at the play by play announcer Jon Miller, who by the way is paid by the team Armando, was just sickening. It seemed he could never put the blame on himself and do the next best thing by sticking a teammate under the bus. Funny thing was I loved it when they signed Benitez. He was coming off a big year in Florida, he had great stuff and even with the meltdowns I never thought he had a problem of being a bad teammate. But boy was I wrong and what a joke this has turned out to be. Even worse was that he couldn't handle the Bay Area media and yet he somehow made it through the New York media for four seasons. Even though the Giants are still having trouble scoring runs and have are playing at .500 ball getting rid of Benitez needed to be done. Good job by Brian Sabean to realize this and shallow a good chunk of his salary, Good riddance Armando.