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.

Rondo May Not Be Dirty, But His Play Was

Look, I played basketball, OK?

I don't care if it's school ball, travel ball, YMCA ball, playground ball, college ball or pro ball. When you've played, you know the difference.

In Tuesday night's NBA playoff game between Boston and Chicago, Rajon Rondo got away with a mugging. Big-time. And it changed the game, and, perhaps, the series, in Boston's favor.

With Boston leading by two, Chicago's Brad Miller took an in-bounds pass near the end of overtime and drove down a ridiculously wide-open lane toward the basket. As he rose to take the shot, Rondo swept his hand across Miller's face, altering the momentum of the 290-pounder and sending him crumbling to the floor, his shot suddenly an afterthought as it fell harmlessly to the floor.

Miller's upper lip swelled to the size of Angelina Jolie's, and he appeared dazed and in pain as he stepped to the free throw line and proceeded to miss the all-important first shot.


As the Boston faithful cheered and jeered wildly, Miller (shown at left in an AP photo, trying to stop the bleeding after Rondo's right cross) tried to miss the second shot intentionally, with the hope of Chicago grabbing the rebound and putting in the tying shot. But he missed the rim completely, resulting in a turnover, which all but sealed the win for the Celtics.

"I'm a little guy, so I had to go for the foul hard," said Rondo after the game. "I wasn't trying to go for his head, but I think he went up with his right hand and I tried to make sure he couldn't finish or get an and-one. It's as simple as that. I think I hit him in the head or something, but I went through his arm first, trying to get to the ball."

"I think I hit him in the head or something." OK, whatever. Except there was no chance for Rondo to get the ball. None. It was obvious when the foul occurred in real time, and far more evident once the replays were shown.

What the referees working the game saw from those replays, logical people will never know. Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro protested that Rondo's foul was flagrant -- which it was -- which would have given the Bulls the foul shots plus the ball. Replay after replay confirmed that Rondo whacked Miller across the face in a last-ditch, desperate attempt to prevent the easy shot.

But there's no way he went for the ball. Like I said, anybody who has ever played the game knows the difference. Doesn't take a genius.

It was the second time at that Rondo got away with robbery at a crucial point down the stretch.

At the end of regulation, as Chicago's Derrick Rose blew past him down the left side of the lane in an attempt to convert what might have been a game-winning shot, Rondo stuck his knee, ever so subtly, into Rose's thigh, sending Rose sprawling toward the end line. The ball rolled out of bounds, and the intermittently blind NBA refs ("Wait, who's the home team?") rewarded it to the Celts.

OK, that was a small thing, and Rondo pulled it off. But the clobbering that he got away with at the end of overtime never should have been allowed. His team is now up, three games to two, in this hard-fought series.

Playground players know what happened. The NBA needs officials who know it, too.

Meanwhile, in Bulls' Town...

Couldn't help but notice this item as it trickled across the newswire. New Chicago Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro (left) added former NBA coaches Del Harris (center) and Bernie Bickerstaff to his coaching staff. This is Del Negro's first head coaching opportunity, and it shows either confidence, or stupidity.

Confidence, because it would indicate that he's secure in who he is and knows that he will benefit from having seasoned, experienced coaches around to advise him as he learns the role. Stupidity, because if he isn't up to the job, GM John Paxson can just install Harris or Bickerstaff in his seat.

I suspect it's the former. "When I first accepted this position, I made it a top priority to surround myself with an experienced coaching staff," Del Negro said. "Now. . .you would be hard pressed to find a staff with the combined number of years experience that we have assembled."

It's an approach that makes a lot of sense for someone new to coaching. And it reminds one again of the reservations many fans, and members of the media, have about Cavs coach Mike Brown.

Brown has proven that he can get a team to play defense -- often, great defense. But his offense hasn't worked, and doesn't work. At best, the Cavs offense seems to succeed when they overwhelm teams with athleticism -- usually on the part of LeBron James -- with the occasional and timely tip-ins of Zydrunas Ilgauskas as a follow-up to missed shots (which tend to be numerous). The roster has been littered with lousy shooters, and the offense typically deteriorates into the LeBron-James-dribble-dribble-dribble-shoot pattern. It elicits what one might call the "Ilgauskas chant": Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z. . . .

A frequent topic of radio talk shows and Internet message boards has been the need for Brown to hire an offensive guru to bring the Cavs into the 21st Century. He's resisted the idea, apparently operating under the belief that he and his current assistants can oversee an offense that will win championships.

My 13-year-old son knows that isn't true. Tens of thousands of frustrated Cavs fans do, too. And, as I've written here before, TNT's Charles Barkley told it like it is when, during the playoffs, he called the Cavs' system a "crappy offense."

The Bulls have been on the verge of being a contender for the past two seasons. With Harris and Bickerstaff (both with 13 years' experience as NBA head coaches) now on board to help Del Negro, this could be the year things get serious again in the Windy City. Brown would do well to take a page from Vinny's book and bring in an expert who could help the Cavaliers take full advantage of LeBron's talents and install an offense that will be both entertaining and productive.