Look! Up in the Sky! It’s Falling!

Dwight Howard may be Superman, but that’s not what basketball fans and the media are seeing up in the sky these days. They see it – the whole sky – falling squarely on the heads of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

A little early, don’t you think? Yes, we can conclude that the Cavs aren’t perfect, after Rashard Lewis's late three-pointer (left) helped Orlando beat them in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, 107-106.

But before the hand-wringing gets out of hand (is that possible?) – and believe me, I’m tempted to wring them digits right along with you – let’s think this through.

1.) Orlando is a very, very good basketball team.

2.) They’ve been playing and in sync. The Cavs had another long layoff, and looked like they wore down a bit toward the end of the game. (That they would be tired strikes me as being nonsensical at this point in the season, considering these are some of the most finely honed athletes in the world. But the commentators said it on TNT, so I’m going with it.)

3.) The Cavs went cold from the field just as Orlando got hot. It made the difference in the game.

4.) It’s one game.

5.) The Bulls of Michael Jordan’s era lost a few playoff games every year.

It’s that last point that I take solace in. Six times in the 1990s, Jordan’s Bulls won the NBA championship. Fewest playoff losses in any one of those seasons? Two, in ’90-91. The most? A whopping seven, the very next year.

The year the Bulls won a league-record 72 games, they lost three playoff games, including two in the finals against Seattle. In ’91-92, when their record of 67-15 was almost identical to this year’s Cavs, Chicago lost those seven playoff contests I spoke of earlier – three in the second round, two in the conference finals, and two more in the NBA Finals against Portland.

In other words, when you win the title, nobody cares how long it took you to do it, or faults you for losing a few games along the way.

The Cavs have now lost exactly one game this playoff season. To a very, very good team. They have the MVP. They have the Coach of the Year. And they have a solid roster that earned the best record in the league.

The sky isn’t falling. They let one get away. They let down in the second half, and they know it. They’d better not let it happen again, and here’s betting they don’t. I think they’ll win this series. I think LeBron James is sick of the doubters and the naysayers. I think his teammates are tired of hearing that the Cavs are “LeBron and everyone else.”

Give Orlando credit. They came in and stole Game 1. But I don't think they're deeper and more talented than Cleveland, no matter what all the pundits keep saying. They were bound to collect at least one victory this series. There’s also a lot of basketball left.

If the Cavs are the championship-caliber team we all think they are, they’ll evaluate this loss, suck it up, and get back to business the rest of the way.

The alarm has sounded. Let’s see what happens next.