Sunday, May 31, 2009
Cleveland had the NBA’s best regular season record, but its season ends in a six-game loss to the Magic
By BRIAN WINDHORST
THE Plain Dealer
ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s time to put the puppets away. There will be no LeBron James-Kobe Bryant NBA Finals.
The reason is frank and cold, especially for Cavaliers fans. The Orlando Magic are the better team and they are also the Eastern Conference champions, a trophy they earned Saturday night by displaying all their impressive attributes in a final gigantic smack to the Cavs, 103-90 at Amway Arena.
In retrospect, the worst day of what looked for months like a charmed season was back on May 13, a day they didn’t even play. That was when the Magic, about as bad of a mismatch from personnel to philosophy that the Cavs could have nightmared about, beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 to face the Cavs in the conference finals.
How the Cavs would have done against the Celtics or the Lakers in the Finals will never be known. What is clear is that they cannot beat the Magic and it will be a shroud that will probably mar the memory of what was the greatest regular season in team history. They only lost 20 times in 96 games, but six were to Orlando and five came in Amway Arena.
The latest was perhaps appropriate in its own symbolic way. It was as lopsided as the season series and featured all of the Magic’s advantages.
Dwight Howard, unstoppable on the interior against so many teams — not just the wine and gold — had one of the best playoff games of his career. He finished with 40 points and 14 rebounds and listened to the crowd give him his own “M-V-P” chants. In the future perhaps; in this series, probably so.
In addition, the Magic’s supporting inside-out attack was in high gear. A fine-tuned offense moved the ball until it found the weak spot created by the attention Howard demands. And on and on and on.
There was never a chance for the Cavs’ ace in the hole, LeBron James, to be played. He had the lowest scoring game of the series, ending what, even in defeat, was his best individual performance in a playoff series. If there is a tiny bright side, James will not be blemished with becoming just the second player in history to lose a series and average 40 points.
James’ legs looked worn out in Game 6 and he wasn’t able to get the basket or to the foul line as frequently. Without him playing at rock star level and the Magic at full thrust, the game just wasn’t competitive. He finished just 8-of-20 shooting with seven rebounds and seven assists. He was able to score just four points in the fourth quarter.
It left his mark on history at 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.2 assists in the series.
But the game did not hinge on James’ performance, but in another example of just how unnerved the team had been made by the Magic. It was total failure of their defense, the group that had been the best in the playoffs the last three years and what is the other cornerstone in the Mike Brown era.
It was all because of Howard. He came in determined to get deep post position and demand the ball and complemented that with a great shooting night and a great free-throw shooting night.