The Cavs' Collapse

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a 3-2 series lead on the top-seeded Detroit Pistons with an opportunity to put the series away with a home victory in Game 6. They fell a couple points short due to some exceptional offensive rebounding by the Pistons in the final couple minutes of the game. Cleveland played right with Detroit in the first half of Game 7, but fell apart in the second half, as they broke the new record for fewest points scored by a team in a Game 7 of a playoff series. That's not a record a team wants to break.

I heard debate today on if LeBron lived up to the hype and who was to blame for the Game 7 embarrassment. LeBron lead Cleveland to a 1st-round win over Washington and the Cavs took Detroit to a Game 7. Most "experts" picked the Pistons to win four or five games. They even had a 2-0 series lead, until the Cavs won three straight. So, in his first playoff experience, LeBron exceeded expectations.

Who was to blame yesterday? The whole team. LeBron was tremendous in the first half and they only trailed by two going into halftime. But, he settled too much on jumpers in the second half. His teammates weren't making shots. It was an all-around dreadful second half performance by the team. Some may want to fault James solely. Others want to fault his teammates. It was a team effort. The Cavs scoring 61 points directly reflects that effort. The Cavs succeeded expectations in their playoff run, but didn't even bother showing up for the final 24 minutes of Game 7. That's where the youth of the club painfully made their presence known.