Some wild finishes for the Cavs and at the MAC tourney

Nice win for the Cavs last night in LA. Yes it's the Clippers and you wish they'd have put them away early, but a win is a win is a win. A wise man once said that.

ESPN.com covered the Cavs pursuit of the overall home court playoff advantage. They also wrote about Mo Williams. Which makes me wonder — two ESPN.com stories from a Clipper game?

On a separate topic … it almost seems as if the Celtics are writing off home-court advantage in the East.

And on this night of crazy finishes … Akron's win over Toledo in the MAC tournament defies all belief, as Tom Gaffney pointed out in his story. Talk about exciting. Humpty Hitchens makes a three at the buzzer to send it to overtime, then Brett McKnight makes a basket off an amazing inbounds pass with less than a second left for the win. The inbounds pass came from Humpty as well, and was really something – especially given it came from the sidelines and had to go under the basket.

A while back my good friend Andre Knott (here he is … and it's hard not to say this page pretty much has him looking and sounding like a goober … and yes … who am I to talk?) and I were talking about Akron basketball, and all he said was: "Humpty."

I said something intelligent, like: "Huh?"

"Humpty," he said. "He makes them go."

And I have to say that Mr. Knott – a St. V guy – is right. Humpty is the key to the Zips. Just like Al Fisher is the key to Kent State's success. Point guards are the most important players in college basketball, and for a freshman to make that three and make that pass is quite something.

Here's the Akron highlights, with a parental warning that it's taken from the stands and there is some offensive language (thanks to zipsnation.org for this one):

As for Kent State, it sure seems like the Golden Flashes will go as far as Fisher will take them. He was almost single-handedly responsible for the last two wins – over Akron in the season finale and in the first-round game of the MAC Tournament over Northern Illinois. Fisher is an interesting guy. A year ago he was the MAC Player of the Year. Coach Geno Ford told me that his numbers this year were better, but the perception was that he wasn't playing as well. Ford's right. Fisher's scoring and shooting percentage are up (15.4 and 42 percent compared to 13.9 and 40 percent) and his assists and three-point shooting are the same. He's the reason I'd be very afraid of the Flashes in the MAC Tournament, because a senior point guard is so very valuable. (Can't find any video to post of the Kent State-NIU game … if anyone has it, send it along and I'll add it).