Ben Wallace did pretty well for himself. His retirement talk got him traded to Phoenix, where he took a buyout. Wallace earned $10 million not to play this season, proving once again that we should urge our kids to grow tall and learn to block shots. Where else can you go and be paid $10 million not to complete your contract? Another interesting factor with Ben’s buyout: It enabled the Phoenix Suns to sign Channing Frye. Which means the Cavs traded Wallace so Phoenix could save money so the Suns could sign a guy the Cavs wanted.  For some reason I find this interesting.

Game 1 of the Cavs-Hawks didn't provide a lot to grab hold of, so let's grab hold of this: The Cavs have won all five of their playoff games by double digits. They become the fifth team in NBA history to win five or more postseason games by 10 or more points — and the first since the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

The Cavs have barely been challenged. They sure weren't by Detroit, and by game's end they weren't in the first game by Atlanta. A slow start disappeared in minutes, and the Cavs pulled away for a 99-72 win. As usual, LeBron James led the way (34 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, four steals).

Perhaps that is enough to grab onto right there. The Cavs are playing so well and so together they are not being challenged. And when a team plays less than its best and wins going away, it's in pretty good shape.

Atlanta is not a good road team. The Hawks will play better at home. But Delonte West guarded Joe Johnson and Johnson scored 11 points. Josh Smith had five points the second half. The Hawks team scored 28 the second half, the fewest by a Cavs opponent in team playoff history.

"We decided that we were going to defend and not allow them to get back into their comfort zone," James said.

Think Atlanta leaves this game with hope? Yes, the Hawks will rest on the fact they were weary coming off a seven-game series vs. Miami, that they barely had time to realize they won that series before coming to Cleveland. Blah blah blah.

Perhaps it's this simple: The Cavs, even on a night that's not their best, are the better team. And three games from now, that reality might just be driven home.

"We established," James said, "why we've been dominant in the postseason."

 Random thoughts …

—Marvin Williams' injured wrist clearly affected him. The Cavs pretty much dared him to shoot.

—At one point, Ben Wallace went for an offensive rebound and got fouled. He got up and pointed to the floor, saying he did not want a shooting foul. That's not something you see often — a guy lobbying so he does not have to go to the free throw line.

—Josh Cribbs was back again, wearing sunglasses in Quicken Loans Arena.

—Halftime, which is interminable in the playoffs, featured Frisbee catching dogs. One dog was touted as the Canine Frisbee Dog world champion. At what point do Frisbee Catching Dogs become an Olympics demonstration sport?

—In the second half the PA announcer said: "Back on the floor for Atlanta Ronald Murray." When he played for the Cavs he was Flip.

—LeBron James: "We looked pretty good."

—The home crowd drowned out David Stern when he presented James the MVP trophy prior to the game. James seemed overcome by the fan response. "These fans are the ones who have seen me grow from an 18-year-old kid to a 24-year-old man," he said. "Definitely an emotional time."

—Delonte West's line: 13 points, nine assists and a healthy chunk of time guarding Joe Johnson.

—James is now averaging 32.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game in the postseason.

Stating it clearly, from James, summarizing the game succinctly:

"Defensively we weren't very good the first half. … The third quarter was really all about buckling down on the defensive end."

"I'm not frustrated.

I think only guys

 on bad teams

 get frustrated."

— Ben Wallace, on missing time with a broken leg.

Mike Brown has one Coach of the Year vote. He probably deserves more. Looking to the future, Ian Thomsen also points out that Ben Wallace can be a valuable player for the Cavs next season – because he will have an expiring contract worth $14 million.

The Browns should be dancing with lampshades on their heads if they really got a second-round draft pick for Kellen Winslow. That's what SI.com's Don Banks reported, and if it's true Butch and Sundance need to stand up and say: Who are these guys?

Kellen Winslow did a lot for the Browns in his tenure with Cleveland — even though he seriously cut short his career with his motorcycle accident. Winslow played hard, played with pain, and played well. Until last season, when he let his contract situation get in the way of the team.

That and the public spat with GM Phil Savage made it pretty difficult for the Browns to keep him. Especially since his knee is bad, his shoulder is bad and he wants a new and more expensive contract. Those are all factors that would indicate the Browns would never get a second-round pick in return. Which is why if they did they need to unscrew the lamphades and start spinning around to "Boogie Shoes."

No matter the pick, I give Eric Mangini and George Kokinis an unqualified thumbs-up on this move (not that they need or want it from me). Winslow is better served starting new somewhere else. The Browns are better served starting without him. If it's a fourth-round pick I give it a thumbs-up. It was time to move on.

Winslow Part II

How in the world does a team cut a person with the character and ability of Derrick Brooks and then trade for Winslow? One would assume the trade carried with it the promise of a contract extension. Sometimes, NFL teams just don't make a lot of sense.

Winslow Part III

I wonder if this is only the first shoe to drop for the Browns, whether Winslow's trade means the team will trade Braylon Edwards. No doubt Edwards will want a new contract, so it will be interesting to see how he's viewed by the Kokinis-Mangini regime. I had heard conflicting things, that Edwards' immaturity meant he was more likely to be traded than Winslow, and I had heard that Winslow's contract demands brought him a quicker ticket out of town. It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out. One thing about Winslow that is not true about Edwards — the Browns have other tight ends. They do not have other receivers. The glaring hole Edwards would leave might be the largest negative in the idea of dealing him. That and missing out on the "air guitar" celebration.

Ka-Ching

Albert Haynesworth is the first $100 million NFL defensive player. Exactly how long will it be before the Redskins regret giving Haynesworth that deal? Isn't it kind of disgusting to read about all this money going to guys — in Haynesworth's case a guy who stepped on an opposing center's face with football cleats on — while many in the country struggle to find a job or health care. The money is outrageous in the first place; in these economic times it's disgustingly outrageous.

Ben Wallace breaks his leg …

Just when it seemed things were coming together for the Cavs, Ben Wallace breaks his leg. He'll miss four-to-six weeks, which might maybe bring him back for the playoffs. But I can't imagine four-to-six weeks of inactivity helping a big guy like Wallace. Then again, Z came back pretty quick from his ankle injury.

Wallace's injury reminded me a little bit of what happened to Jim Chones just prior to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1976. Chones broke his foot in practice, right after the Cavs had come off the high of beating Washington in Game 7. The Cavs competed, but did not have depth at center against Dave Cowens to win the Series.

Chones said Wallace's injury reminded him of his situation, and he had effusive praise for Wallace. But he also said that the Cavs could compensate for his absence by moving LeBron James to the four spot for stretches of games. Interesting point. I will address more of what Chones had to say in Sunday's paper.

In the interim … anyone have a number for Joe Smith?

Personal note …

Alan, where did you go? I sure hope I didn't hurt your feelings.

Finally …

RedhawkRick suggests we had moved on to Faith Hill for the Official Blog Female Mascot (the OBFM). She is one nominee. Diane Lane is another. I welcome other suggestions.

Gonna try this live blog thing at least thru the first half … night games produce bad deadlines. The atmosphere at the Q is pretty charged, which is no surprise. Final thoughts will come after the game … so bear with us.

First quarter: The Cavs start fast and shoot the lights out

The Cavs started Friday night’s game against Boston with Ben Wallace making a runner. An omen? … Ben has the ‘fro going tonight, which I always prefer to the corn rows. Cleveland made its first six shots – the first miss when LeBron went one-on-one and took a long jumper – and took an early 17-10 lead. … I’ve noticed that the LeBron-Paul Pierce matchup seems to be key. … LeBron is passing very well in the first quarter. He drove and his Wally Szczerbiak for a three, then set up J.J. Hickson for a slam. … Boston’s defense does not seem close to what it was late last season. … James ends with a how’d-he-do-that reverse layup and block at the buzzer. … Nine points, four assists, one rebound, one block for 23 in the first quarter. … Not too shabby. … Cavs shoot 13-of-18 in the first quarter, 73 percent. … Strong start is no surprise, given the significance of the game. … See if Cleveland can maintain the pace. Cleveland 33, Boston 23.

Second quarter: The pace slows

Looked to me like Leon Powe took a crab-dribble walk, but no call. … The reserves produce a sloppy start to the second quarter. … And the Celtics cut the 10-point lead in half. … Mo Williams hits the floor for a loose ball and Daniel Gibson makes a three and the lead is back to 10. … The bench is up now, and the crowd is playoff loud. … My colleague George Thomas smashed the fingernail of his little finger while moving a chair. … After wailing for a bit he’s back typing. … Gotta type thru that stuff. … Me, I’d be down in the infirmary. … LeBron James has to be the league’s most underrated rebounder. … When he goes for the ball he’s an Oreck vacuum cleaner. … Pierce doesn’t like a block call as he guards LeBron. … LeBron misses a four-foot shot he could have dunked, but comes up with a steal on the other end and makes a three. … The Cavs have scored just 13 points this quarter but still lead by 13. Make it 11 after a Kevin Garnett dunk. … Sloppy finish to half lets Celtics cut lead to nine. Cleveland 49, Boston 40.

After shooting 72 percent the first quarter, the Cavs are shooting 54 percent for the game. Cleveland shot six-for-17 the second quarter. That was to be expected. The game itself dictated a fast start, and when that energy dissipated things returned to a more normal pace. The second half should be more "normal."

LeBron had an outstanding half — 15 points, four assists.

Boston is shooting 45 percent. The Big Three are 8-for-20.

More after the game …

Final score: Cleveland 98, Boston 83

–Good night for the Cavs. Great night for LeBron James. Outstanding night for the home crowd, which got to enjoy Ben Wallace’s free throw shooting in the fourth quarter (of all things) and a 15-point win over the defending champions. It’s just one game, but it’s important. Especially in the all-important playoff seedings. All told, a very, very good night for a very, very good Cavs team.

–At 29-6, the Cavs have the best record in the league. The last time the Cavs at least shared the best record was March 21, 1989.

–James finished with 38 points, seven rebounds, six assists, four steals and three blocks. Nobody has had those kind of numbers since David Robinson had 48, 16, six, four and three in a March, 1994 game for San Antonio.

–James’ defense against Paul Pierce was masterful. Pierce scored 11 points, four against Wally Szczerbiak in the fourth quarter. Pierce shot 4-for-15. This won’t happen every night, of course, but it was a defensive lockdown of the highest order.

–The entire Cavs team was energized all night long — except for an ugly start to the third quarter. They dove for loose balls, made defensive switches and hustled for rebounds. This was an effort game, with the Cavs getting 14 steals.

–The Celtics resorted to Hack-A-Ben in the fourth quarter, but it didn’t work. Ben made 5-of-10 free throws in that stretch, which got the crowd going, and the Cavs barely let the Celtics score. Boston shot 41.3 percent, Cleveland 50.8 percent. Those numbers were reflective of the defensive effort.

–Boston will be back. The Celtics have lost seven-of-nine, but they’re too good and too professional to slip away. They will be back and the Cavs undoubtedly will face them in the playoffs, which will make for another hard-fought, intense series (good grief, could I throw another tired cliché in here???). But the Cavs now have three fewer losses than Boston, which is big in the vital chase for home-court advantage in the playoffs. A year ago neither team won a road game in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Cavs have not beat Boston in Boston since January 3, 2007, which is more than two years. They have lost eight in a row there – counting last season’s playoffs. But … Cleveland has defeated the Celtics 10 in a row in Cleveland – by an average of 11 points. Think home court does not matter? That’s why these regular season games will be so important. Every last one of them.

Mike Brown:

“I know offensively (James) did a whale of a job carrying us, especially when we were stagnant and stalled out. Defensively, Paul Pierce is a tough cover and the last few ballgames he had our number. I thought LeBron did a nice job of continuing to pursue Paul even when he got screen after screen after screen. I thought he just kept pursuing and trying to make (Pierce) work for his shots.”

“I thought there was a stretch where we were a little flat offensively. When the ball came to a standstill, we didn’t move bodies and we didn’t move the ball that well. We hung in there defensively, and then LeBron carried us for a stretch there, just making play after play offensively. I thought he did it the right way. He was very aggressive in the second half attacking the rim, especially when we kind of stalled out a little bit.”

That’s the way a team is supposed to play, the way a team is supposed to run an offense. The Cavs claimed they did nothing different, but there had to be some new wrinkles in the Cavs' Game 3 win. The key thing they did different – especially early – was make shots and protect the ball. For some reason, all the Cavs followed their leader in Boston, so when LeBron James shot poorly everyone else did too. In Game 3, they made shots, shooting 65.5 percent the first half.

Lot of contributions to this win. Five guys were in double figures (LeBron, Z, Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith). The Cavs had 29 assists, 11 in the first quarter when they grabbed the game by the throat. James had eight assists, West seven and Z six. That’s just good team basketball.

The Cavs now have succeeded in changing the psychology of the series. Boston was on a high coming off Game 2’s easy win, but now they have lost four in a row on the road in the playoffs and it has to be in their head a bit that they might not be able to win on the road. The Cavs, meanwhile, have to figure they can beat Boston in Boston because they had a chance to do just that in Game 1. As for Game 4, the Cavs have to like the fact they are at home and coming off a big win. It’s why a team always, always, always has to look at these games one at a time (to use a cliché) in these seven-game series.

Big credit to Ben Wallace in this win. Wallace wasn’t supposed to play due to an inner ear infection that was exaggerated by the air in Boston, which is tough for allergy sufferers. Wallace played very well early, with big rebounds, hustle plays, a steal, and baskets. Yes, baskets. He was a big factor in the fast start. He did shoot a free-throw air ball late in the game, but his contributions in the win should not be minimized.

Interesting that Mike Brown actually shortened his bench in this one. Sasha Pavlovic got no time until the final two minutes. The Cavs used three guards – Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Daniel Gibson.

So much is made of LeBron James and his shooting struggles … perhaps it’s time to take a look at Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Pierce went 3-for-8 Saturday and now is 12-for-35 in the series (34.3 percent). Allen was 4-for-12 and is 8-for-26 (30.8 percent). Combined, two-thirds of the “big three” are 20-for-61 (32.8 percent). James? He shot 5-for-16 in Game 3 and is 13-for-58 (22.4 percent).

Games like that one make a person wonder if Delonte West might really be able to be a fulltime point guard. Like to see that kind of game game in and game out, though.

James was the victim of another hard foul, but it was properly called. James Posey actually looked like he reached out to grab James, but he got him in the throat instead. It was a hard foul, but it was not the same variety that Washington gave James – like when Brendan Haywood shoved him from behind after he was already in the air.

LeBron James on the first quarter: “You couldn’t ask any more out of a team in the first quarter. It was unbelievable.”

Be nice to write something new and fresh and amazingly insightful about LeBron James, but it’s difficult. The guy just keeps doing amazing thing after amazing thing. You want scoring, he scores. You want rebounding, he rebounds (and James is a great rebounder). You want defense, he shuts down the other team’s best player. You want passing, he sets up the game-winner. The guy is out of this world, and he keeps proving it and proving it and proving it.

There are game-winning shots. Delonte West had one of those Sunday in Washington. But there are also game-winning passes. James had one when he set up West. Consider this. The first three quarters, James scored 31 points. In the fourth, Washington dedicated itself to keeping him from scoring. So what does James do, he gets three free throws, five rebounds and two assists. Amazing.

DeShawn Stevenson clearly took a swing at James’ head late in the first half as James went in for a layup. Whether it was with a closed fist or open fist depends on who was watching. But it was as cheap as any of the cheap shots James has endured this series. My colleague Brian Windhorst relates he’s been told that Stevenson might just go for James in Game 5 if he feels the series is over . Perhaps the league ought to take another look at this foul from Game 4?

The disdain James feels for Stevenson must have grown after that foul.

Stevenson was quoted extensively in Sunday morning’s Washington Post talking about James. Specifically, Stevenson was upset that James’ buddy Jay Z wrote a song dissing Stevenson and it was played at a D.C. club early Saturday morning. Clearly Stevenson thought James put Jay Z up to it. If James did it, it’s a shame he stepped into it. Prior to the game, James downplayed everything, saying things should just be about basketball. Here’s part of what Stevenson said about James: “I said he's overrated, I didn't say he sucks. If you look at the games and what's going on, I know when I go to sleep I know we have to play LeBron James. When I go to sleep and know we have to play the Lakers, I know it's going to be a long night. It's the difference between the Kobes and LeBrons. Not saying he will never get there, but that's what I'm saying." Glad that’s what he’s saying, and glad he didn’t say LeBron sucks. I’ve written a lot about this stuff, but it’s really getting old. The entire column with this stuff is here.

Stevenson is shooting 15-for-37 in the series.

Washington actually was playing pretty good when Stevenson went wild-swing-at James’ noggin. They led by a point and were playing basketball. The Cavs then closed out the second quarter and started the third quarter strong. The Wizards caught up but never went ahead.

James on being clubbed in the head: “If we were on the park, something definitely would have escalated. If we were on the park where I grew up playing a lot of basketball, something would have happened. But I guess that's what they want to do. They want to hurt LeBron James. It's not going to work.”

Brendan Haywood’s fouls in the first two games seemed part of the Wizards’ plan. They wisely junked it for Game 3. Stevenson’s swing seemed more personal than anything. None of it has worked. No reason to think it will, either.

Hard to state how important the Cavs three-point shooting was (yes, it was wet that day in Johnstown too). The Cavs jacked up 28 threes, a ton for this team. They made 13. That’s 39 points. Would take seven more made twos to balance that out. Threes by Daniel Gibson and Delonte West were a huge factor in the win.

So was Ben Wallace, whose hustle and work were instrumental. Wallace even had a couple assists, taking James passes off penetration and immediately passing to a three-point shooter. Whether that was a good change by Mike Brown or something that just didn’t happen in Game 3, it was clearly an improvement. Joe Smith also very quietly had a good game. Smith and Wallace were in at the end, not Anderson Varejao (1-for-4 and more silly plays).

Why did James answer “no” when asked if he thought the Wizards could get back in it? Well he obviously feels that team is done. But only eight of 174 teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series.

A few quotes:

Antawn Jamison: “It’s just unfortunate for us that Daniel Gibson and Delonte West were really feeling it.”

Delonte West on the winning shot: “Everybody in the gym had their eyes on LeBron. I’m pretty sure everybody in the gym, including the Wizards defense, thought LeBron was going to take the last shot.”

James on not letting Stevenson’s blow affect him: “I can’t allow myself to get unfocused because my team will unravel.”

More James: “I guess that’s what they want to do, they want to hurt LeBron James this series.”

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan: “We didn’t rebound.”

Gilbert Arenas: “We let go of a winnable game.”

Mike Brown: “It was a great pass, on time and on target. (James) trusted his teammates, and Delonte West stepped in and made that shot, which was terrific.”