Not so fast Pistons, the Cavs don’t fear the Guaran-Sheed
After an 86-77 Cleveland Cavaliers win in which his game remained relatively quiet - Detroit Pistons’ bombastic forward opened his mouth fully. “Oh, we going to bust their ass,” Wallace said about Monday’s Game 4 at The Q, after the Cavs cut their deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. "I’ll tell you that now. That’s a given."
Bust LeBron James’ ass? You must be kidding us Rasheed…
The energy could have been sucked out of Quicken Loans Arena. The Pistons were doing it again to the Cavs in the Eastern Conference semifinals. But King James refused to lose. The Cavs were able to crawl back in the game late in the third quarter. In the fourth, James hit 6-of-8 field goals, including a huge 3-pointer with 1:10 left en route to his second postseason triple-double.
Then the Cavs unleashed Anderson Varejao in the fourth quarter. The “Wild Thing” played like it, and he and James developed an unusual chemistry. Watching it work was like putting monster truck tires on a Mercedes. Hey, Cleveland found something to counter the best defensive team in the NBA.
It was team basketball in the playoffs. Kobe Bryant, were you watching? Great playoff teams don’t rely on one man’s shoulders. They rely on his leadership. Cleveland has heard for a week now about how it can’t beat Detroit, how it can’t win this series. The Cavs likely won’t win this series. Another victory in Game 4 will make things interesting, though.
If LeBron and Varejao continue to connect like they did in the fourth quarter, and Jones hits an occasional trey and Murray score 10-12 points and Z Ilgauskas scores attention-getters, Cleveland will have made more progress in May than anyone thought possible.
For a change, the team grew together, not under LeBron. eight months from now, the Cavs can point to this night as a turning point.
The second round begins and the action on the hardwood figures to be intense. Get all your NBA odds in the Bodog Sportsbook.
NBA Playoffs Prediction: Cavs to win Game 4 and even the series.
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