Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | June 4, 2007
Somewhere along the way, the Eastern Conference Finals stopped being about the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons and became, simply, the LeBron James story. When James passed in Game 1 and the Cavaliers fell, he was the story. When James got no call on his late foray into the paint in Game 2, he was the story. When James made the fourth quarter and overtimes of Game 5 his own personal highlight reel ... well, it was pretty inevitable that he would be the story that night.
It took six games, but finally James saw the spotlight shift slightly as the Cavaliers won the series 4-2 last Saturday behind 31 points from rookie second-round pick Daniel Gibson. Still, as Cleveland prepares to face San Antonio in the first NBA Finals in franchise history, the series is seen as largely about James. Will this be the first step towards his legacy or champion or another learning lesson along that path?
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"This series is seen as largely about James. Will this be the first step towards his legacy or champion or another learning lesson along that path?"
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty
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As important as James has been, Cleveland would not be Eastern Conference champs without a defense that has, in the postseason, been the NBA's best. That defense, as much as James, is why the Cavaliers have to be given a legitimate chance of upsetting the Spurs despite being outclassed in terms of regular-season performance and postseason experience.
Cleveland Head Coach Mike Brown has taken plenty of heat throughout this postseason for apparent strategic gaffes, but Brown - who, as you'll be reminded countless times through the completion of this series, studied at the knee of Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich and has long-time San Antonio Assistant Hank Egan alongside him on the bench - knows defense. Without a single player who received a vote for the NBA's All-Defensive Teams, the Cavaliers posted the league's fourth-best Defensive Rating.
Brown's charges have turned it up in the postseason, particularly in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers held a Detroit team with the league's sixth-best offense to a microscopic 99.9 points per 100 possessions - fewer than any team in the NBA allowed over the course of the season.
San Antonio's defense has been very good in the postseason, holding Denver, Phoenix and Utah an average of 6.6 points below their regular-season Offensive Ratings, but Cleveland has shaved an impressive 11.0 points off the regular-season performance of New Jersey and Detroit (That doesn't include the Washington series because the Wizards were so decimated by injury.)
Both the Spurs and Pistons get a high percentage of their offense from their backcourts, and Cleveland did an excellent job defending Chauncey Billups in particular in the Eastern Conference Finals. Quicksilver Tony Parker presents a very different challenge, but Gibson and Larry Hughes should be up to the task. Tayshaun Prince's absence didn't draw quite as much attention, but Prince shot just 24.2% from the field and made only two three-pointers in the series.
Where San Antonio will test the Cavaliers is with Tim Duncan in the post, a threat Cleveland hasn't really faced in this postseason, the best post scorer they have vanquished being ... Antawn Jamison? Duncan is having another brilliant playoffs, averaging 23.9 points on 53.9% shooting. Duncan got to the free-throw line at least 10 times in five of the 11 Spurs games against Phoenix and Utah - all five San Antonio wins. Foul trouble for Drew Gooden and Anderson Varejao is another problem presented by Duncan.
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If Duncan's presence makes it unthinkable that the Cavaliers will defend as well in these Finals as they did against Detroit, the difference will have to be made up with additional scoring. For that, Cleveland will inevitably first look to James. With Bruce Bowen's one-on-one defense, the Spurs will ensure that James works for everything he gets. It is San Antonio's peerless team defense and rotations, however, that will really be the difference in slowing James. Don't expect James to have the kind of path to the basket that materialized late in his unconscious Game 5.
James has reached the point, however, where it is a matter of slowing him, not stopping him. He did go for 35 points in the first of Cleveland's two regular-season victories over the Spurs. James was held to 7-for-17 shooting in the second matchup, but reached the free-throw line 11 times in both games.
Despite the criticism he took for passing off to Donyell Marshall in Game 1 instead of trying to tie the score himself on Cleveland's final real possession, James' performance against the Pistons showed his growth into a player skilled at taking what the defense offers. His willingness to pass off instead of single-mindedly attacking the basket paid off when Detroit's help defenders stayed at home on the wings late in Game 5, a big reason James was able to score 29 of his team's final 30 points. James' ability to control a game without scoring hit its apex in Game 6, when he had only three field goals but eight assists as the Cavaliers put up 98 points and won going away.
The scoring star for Cleveland in Game 6 was Gibson, the brash rookie nicknamed "Boobie" who picked a perfect time for the best performance of his young career. Gibson, who had never scored 20 points in an NBA game before the Eastern Conference Finals, put up 21 in Game 4 and then 31 in Game 6, shooting 7-for-9 from the field and 5-for-5 from three-point range.
STAT GEEK SMACKDOWN |
My San Antonio pick is not just idle talk. I was graciously invited to participate in the 2007 Playoffs  TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown, organized by the NBA's best blogger, Henry Abbott, for his new home on ESPN.com.
There's a little gamesmanship at work here. I'm two points behind Justin Kubatko of Basketball-Reference.com entering the Finals. To tie, I need the Spurs to win but in the number of games I predicted and not the number Justin predicted. I think he's going to pick San Antonio in five or six, so while I do definitely expect a close series, that influenced my thinking as well.
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Gibson's threes have been manna from heaven for a Cavaliers team that has been short on shooting all season long. His 21 playoff three-pointers lead the team despite limited playing time in the first two rounds. With Larry Hughes hobbled by a partially torn plantar fascia in his left foot and Sasha Pavlovic's decision-making shaky at best, Cleveland could certainly use Gibson continuing his hot shooting in the Finals.
No matter what happens in these Finals, these Spurs will not go down amongst the game's all-time greats, even amongst the franchise's three championship teams of the last eight years. Even before Robert Horry's inexcusable flagrant foul against Steve Nash, the Spurs uncharacteristically melted down in the fourth quarter of Game 4 against Phoenix, leaving that series very much in doubt. San Antonio has lacked depth in this postseason, and any time Parker is off the floor is dicey because the Spurs play 4-on-5 on offense with Jacque Vaughn in the game.
That all said, San Antonio has gone 12-4 against opposition that, while not as challenging as the potential of back-to-back series with Phoenix and Dallas, has still been tougher than what the Cavaliers have faced in the Eastern Conference. James' brilliance and Cleveland's defense are enough that this series should be very competitive, but I see the Spurs prevailing.
San Antonio in 7.
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