He must have read my blog earlier, decided he wanted to flush my face down the toilet middle school-style, and came out with the most impressive offensive performance of his career. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, no less. He made all kinds of bank shots, hooks, baby hooks, runners, dunks, layups, and nifty up and unders, though most of his impressive moves were against Ilgauskas, who I did predict was going to be less than effective.
I'm thoroughly impressed with the Magic's victory, and astonished that they could have done it in a game in which they were trailing by 15 at halftime. The Cavs threw the gauntlet down in the first half, and first quarter especially, but as opposed to the what I imagine the Celtics (whom I was excited to see in this series just for the possibility of a 45-point Cavs Game 1 victory) would have done, the Magic showed resiliency. They got better. Cleveland, also, got worse. But that's besides the point. Having seen Lebron palm the ball and stand isolated with a defender for 8-10 seconds the whole game, Van Gundy decided with 14 seconds left and a 1 point lead to throw caution to the wind, and it paid off. He ran Gortat straight towards Lebron, straight towards a guard standing 5 feet beyond the 3-point line, just begging James to zip it underneath. Of course, he didn't, and by some sheer force of luck or momentary genius, the Magic prevented James from attempting a shot in the last 14 seconds of a 1-point game.
Don't think that will happen often, Stan. But pat yourself on the back for it and move on to Game 2. Lebron played his ass off, and while he deserves credit for being the entire Cavaliers team in this game, his stall-ball offense in the second half might have contributed to the shakiness of his teammates down the stretch.
Now, I fully expect the Cavaliers to come out in Game 2 and mop the floor with Orlando. This series will probably go 6 games now, instead of the 5 I was imagining earlier, but there is one kind of sickening question that lingers in the back of my head after Game 1:
If Lebron puts up 49, 6, and 8 on 20/30 shooting and the Cavs still lose... how in the hell are they going to survive this series?
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