Cavs in Crisis Mode

Well, this wasn't really what I had expected going into this series.  The Cleveland Cavaliers spent the entire year taking pictures of themselves with fake cameras, and murdering opponents on a nightly basis, en route to a 66-16 record, 39-2 at home.  Now, somehow, someway, that same happy-go-lucky band of brothers is down three games to one to the inferior Orlando Magic.

Now, don't get the wrong idea here.  Most casual fans know by now that the Magic actually took the season series from Cleveland this year, with the Cavs struggling mightily in road matchups against the league's other elite squads.  Still, after LeBron James & Co. handled the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks so well, it did seem a bit like a foregone conclusion that they would be playing in the Finals.  Hell, even those goofy puppet commercials said so.  So why, with all of that in mind, are the Cavs now standing with their backs against the wall, needing a miracle of impressive proportions, to come back and win a series we had all handed them in five games?

To be honest, I'm not so sure.  But maybe I'll give it a shot.

Could Cleveland actually have been too loose going in?

Maybe.  The chuckling, fun-loving gang of the first two rounds had tons of time off between rounds two and three.  Enough time to sit around trying crazy half court shots for the cameras.  In the first game they were taken by surprise.  In the second, they needed a LeBron miracle to pull off the win.  In these past two games, they've looked fairly shell-shocked, to be honest, save King James, who is playing out of his mind right now.

Everyone besides LeBron's MIA

Seriously, where is everybody?  Every time I tune in, it looks like LeBron's scoring again.  I don't see anyone else with the ball, except to toss it over to #23.  However, whenever Orlando's on the offensive, I see different guys with the ball each time.  Hedo Turkoglu, Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis have all hit big shots throughout the series, and role players like Rafer Alston and Mickael Pietrus have also come up huge.  I can't really think of anything Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao and Zyndrus Ilgauskas have done, beside inbound the ball and take up space.  This needs to be corrected.  

Piggypacking on my last point, stop relying on LeBron so much!

This has been viciously apparent the entire series, but no more so than the final seconds of the loss tonight in Game Four.  Down by four, LeBron, who is not that good of a three-point shooter, but knows how to hit them in the clutch, sinks an amazing three in double coverage off the inbounds pass.  Soon after, the Cavs are inbounding it now for their final possession, down two with 3.2 seconds left on the clock.  Everyone's at mid-court, and LeBron's doubled again.  I watched in horror as LeBron insisted on chucking up an off-balance 35-footer with four hands in his face while his teammates are open in other parts of the court.  I was stunned.  Baffled.  Why would he do that?  Did Coach Mike Brown call his number only?  If you only need a two to tie, wouldn't it make sense to try and pass it inside to get the more high-percentage shot, and maybe even draw a contact foul (not likely that late, I admit though)?  Just poor game management at the end.  

So now what?

Everybody's got to buckle down and play some more D if they want to win this series.  It was their strong point all year, and now suddenly it's a weak link that's causing some serious issues and allowing for some really wide open opportunities.  Other people not named "James" need to step up if they expect to win this series, because the Magic are far too young and talented to get beaten by one guy (in hindsight, this was the worst matchup for the Cavs, since they really needed a team which they could trash using LeBron alone.  The Pistons were old enough, so were the Boston Celtics, but not Orlando.  This could be the difference maker for the whole series).  Now, Cleveland needs to ride their crowd to a Game Five win, and hope they can luck out in Orlando.  Orlando doesn't want to go back to The Q for a Game Seven, and I would bet on Cleveland winning if that were the case.  Lastly, it's imperative that the Cavs believe they can do this.  No more talking about getting things done, and instead, just do them.  One win could swing morale, and the series, the right way.  They always start strong, now they just need to finish the game off on the right foot.  I expect a different Cavs team on the floor in Game Five, however, I thought the same thing before this one, so who knows.