They Got History

People who’ve never been to a Cavaliers game and are watching on TV must wonder why The Q’s crowd boos SO loudly when an opponent attempts a free throw.

Part of it is because Quicken Loans Arena has some of the loudest, rowdiest fans in the league and they don’t like opponents scoring in their gym. And part of it is because The Q’s Video Team – or self-proclaimed “Vidiots” – project the logos of the Pittsburgh Steelers or Michigan Wolverines or New York Yankees on the Q-Vision scoreboard, working the crowd into a complete lather.

Yeah, there’s a lot of teams Clevelanders just don’t like.

So when the Detroit Pistons roll into town for Game 1 this Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m., the Vidiots won’t have to put up a thing. Cavalier fans will know who they don’t like just by opening their eyes.

There’s bad blood between the Cavaliers and Pistons. And there’s really no way around it.

Unfortunately, it’s been the Wine and Gold taking a fair share of the lumps over the years.

Believe it or not, the rough-and-tumble rivalry goes back before Antonio McDyess clothes-lined Anderson Varejao the 2007 East Finals or Rasheed Wallace’s errant elbow that opened up Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ head one season earlier.

You can trace the Pistons’ tough guy tactics back to the Cavaliers’ previous gold standard season – 1988-89: the season they finished with 57 wins. On the last day of February at the old Richfield Coliseum, the Pistons and Cavs met with the two best records in the league. Mark Price was fighting past a pick near the three-point line when notorious Bad Boy, Rick Mahorn, unloaded an elbow to Price’s head.

Price hit the deck, got back up, and stayed in the game for a short while before heading to the bench. As it turned out, the Cavaliers point guard had suffered a concussion that would sideline him for two games, including a rematch between the Cavs and Pistons. (Cleveland won the game Price left, 115-99; the Pistons won the second, 96-90.)

Mark Price never quite recovered from Mahorn’s shot that season. And neither did the Cavaliers. After a 43-12 start, they went 14-13 over their last 27 games and were eliminated by Michael Jordan’s Bulls in the first round of the Playoffs.

For some current Cavalier fans, the Richfield Coliseum is as relevant as the Roman Coliseum, and 1989 might as well be 1889.

The last time the new breed of Cavaliers faced off against the Pistons in the postseason, Detroit was getting a face-full of Boobie Gibson, who dropped 31 points on them in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals – sending the Cavaliers to their first Finals appearance in team history.

One game earlier, LeBron James put on one of the greatest Playoff performances in NBA history – scoring 29 of the Cavaliers’ final 30 points in Cleveland’s epic 109-107 Game 5 double-overtime win at the Palace.

LeBron finished the night with 48 points – putting on a one-man show for the ages and effectively breaking the Pistons' backs in the Series. Detroit tried to stave off elimination in Game 6 at The Q, but a rabid Cleveland crowd watched Gibson score 19 points in the fourth quarter as Rasheed Wallace imploded midway through the final period, with his Pistons right behind.

The Cavaliers became just the third team in Conference Finals history to advance after falling behind 0-2.

That was a much happier ending than the Cavaliers’ collapse in the 2006 Eastern Conference Semifinals, LeBron’s first foray into the postseason.

That year, it was the Cavaliers who had to live with losing a series lead. After being blown out in Game 1 in Auburn Hills, the Cavaliers got within six in the second game in Motown. The Wine and Gold returned to Cleveland and defied Rasheed Wallace’s guarantee, taking the next two.

Drew Gooden’s late layup gave the Cavaliers the Game 5 victory in Detroit and sent the series back to Cleveland with the Cavaliers up, 3-2, and firmly in the driver’s seat. But the Pistons clung to a two-point lead in Game 6, disappointing the amped-up Quicken Loans Arena crowd.

The Cavaliers found themselves in the same situation Detroit did one year later, wilting under the pressure of Motown’s momentum and dropping Game 7 by 27 points.

The Pistons would go on to lose to that year’s eventual NBA Champs – the Miami Heat – in six games.

As the 2009 postseason tips off this weekend, those Cavaliers and Pistons teams seem as removed as Rick Mahorn and Mark Price. Detroit’s longtime quarterback, Chauncey Billups, now directs the Nuggets. And the Wine and Gold have undergone a complete facelift from the squad that squared off with the Pistons in back-to-back seasons. They've even got Big Ben Wallace on their side now.

This season, the Cavaliers have taken three of four from Detroit – including the last three. The Pistons snapped Cleveland’s eight-game win streak on November 19, but it’s been all Wine and Gold after that. The Cavaliers won at the Palace on Super Bowl Sunday, blew them out by 21 in February and took a six-point win in a low-scoring affair just over two weeks ago.

The Cavaliers lead the all-time Playoff series 7-6, while Cleveland has won five of its six home games against Detroit in the postseason. Entering the series, Cleveland has won four straight Playoff games against the Pistons.

Of course, the Cavaliers aren’t looking to provide any “bulletin board material” for Detroit heading into the series.

LeBron James asserts that there’s bad blood brewing during any seven-game set, not particularly with the Pistons.

“You’re playing the same team over and over again, and you start to hate that person,” said No. 23. “You’re tired of seeing him every single day. And you have no reason to not like them, but seeing that person every day – mentally you have to be really focused on being dialed in on the Playoffs.”

Asked if that was the case last year with the Wizards, LeBron joked: “Yeah, but we really hated them. It was easy to get dialed in for them,” continuing, “It’s not that personal with Detroit. We’ve really had no big confrontation with Detroit. But it’s a good rivalry. We like taking the challenge and they do, too.”

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who’s already gotten physical with the Pistons, knows it’s going to be a series of possible knock-down-drag-out affairs.

“We’ve been a physical team all year,” said Z. “We’ve been No. 1 or 2 on defense all year and you don’t get those numbers by letting a team score easily on you. So, in the Playoffs there’s going to be a lot of hard fouls, a lot of pushing people around. That’s just part of it. So we’ll have to keep our composure and let the refs handle it.”

The roles have been reversed for these two longtime rivals, but that shouldn’t matter when the ball goes up on Saturday afternoon. These clubs have always had a contentious, competitive relationship and that should continue in the coming days.

And that’s exactly what will make Round 3 of their renewed rivalry so much fun.

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