As Paul Pierce said: "I mean, it was good to win and that's what they did. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to see them again in the playoffs. But I don't have nothing to say about that, they're enjoying it, they're having a good time."

Good for him.

The Boston Globe barely mentioned it, and Mark Murphy of the Boston Globe wrote it this way:

"The Celtics can't complain too much. Back home, they have Dancing Gino to rub it in on the vanquished. In Cleveland, they have Rick Astley. By the end of yesterday's 107-76 loss to the Cavaliers, the Celtics were treated to all sorts of indignities."

I'll post Gino in a few minutes here. All it is is a guy from back in the day shimmying to the BeeGees. The Celtics played it when a game was in hand, and though it had to be irritating to the losing team, I don't remember anyone complaining about it.

Ray Allen said this yesterday about the Cavs dancing while sitting on the bench: "I'm always going to remember that. If I beat a team, as happy as I may be in victory, I'm always going to stay humble. When you're going up there's always a team going down.  When you play on bad teams you see it another way. We play each other too much (for this). Those are just great motivational thoughts for me."

But other than Allen, the Celtics didn't complain.

Steve Bulpett wrote in the Herald: "The Celts shrugged off the slap, knowing they're among the NBA's more demonstrative celebrators. Yesterday, they were a bug on the Cavaliers' windshield. They didn't have anything to play for – and they played that way."

Amen.

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.”

Bottom line: Nothing is going to happen this season, the Cavs have a chance to compete for a title and instead of worrying what might or might not happen almost two years from now, it might be best to just enjoy the season. These stories are going to be written all season long, and paying close attention to them will be akin to living with diaper rash.

The same story, by the way, calls Paul Pierce to task for the same things I did in Wednesdays' Beacon Journal. Pierce took the microphone after lineups were introduced and before tipoff of the season opener and went into a long-winded, self-indulgent thank you to all the people in his life.  It made the Cavs wait an extra-long time, and it took the place of a normal Celtics captain greeting to the fans prior to the season. His me-oriented spiel took place on a night when the Celtics honored a team. Wojnarowski calls it "oddly out of place." I think that was a mild way to put it. Incidentally, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe — perhaps the finest basketball writer of the country — also called Pierce to task for his me-oriented ramble.

You just wonder at times what these guys are thinking.

Of all the many unforgettable moments provided by Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight, the best has to be when Ledger, made up as the Joker, hair askew, makeup all over, wears a nurse’s dress as he sits down to face the man he tried to murder. He looks at a man he put in a hospital bed, says hi with an impish grin and (remember, wearing a nurse’s dress) asks: “Do I really look like a guy with a plan.” Classic. Not quite, “I am shocked, shocked to learn there is gambling going on in here,” but classic nonetheless. It’s also not quite the same as Slim Pickens telling a whole bunch of cowboys “Somebody has to go back and get a (boatload) of dimes” in Blazing Saddles, but it was good. And don’t forget from Airplane — “A hospital, what is it? … It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.” Ledger ranks in there somewhere.

Devoe Torrence wound up joining Akron’s football team – after he was acquitted of charges he had sex with a 12-year-old-girl. Had Torrence had any other previous issues in high school he would not be with the Zips now. And the fact that Torrence was judged innocent enabled the team to add him. Torrence is a talented back who went to Canton South for three years, then to Massillon. But right now he’s running fourth team for the Zips. I wrote a lot about him in Wednesday’s Beacon Journal, but the thought of him sitting in court going testimony against testimony with a 12-year-old is pretty unsettling. Here’s what I wonder: Yes he may have been judged innocent, but how in the world does someone put themselves in the situation where they are charged with such a crime?

Memo to Alan T, one of my loyal readers. Appreciate the complimentary photo; it actually shows my better side. And Alan … as for Adriana … can’t we live with one unreal image in our lives? At least, can’t I in my pathetic little life? I mean, we’re just trying to have a little bit of fun here. Without a plan, of course.

“I’m like a dog chasing a car. Wouldn’t know what to with one if I caught it. I just do things.” Classic.

Next starting question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? “Place the following in order of duration, shortest to longest.”
A) The 100 Years War
B) The time it took the British to navigate to the Falklands
C) The time I will wait for Adriana Lima’s call
D) The death of Francisco Franco
E) The Brett Favre Retirement-Unretirement Saga

Let’s see … Devin Hester signed a new contract for $40 million. It took Joshua Cribbs how long to ask for a new deal? Guess that six-year deal Cribbs signed in November of 2006 doesn’t count. In truth, Cribbs is underpaid. But the problem is it was him putting his signature on his contract, a document that is legally valid in 48 of the 50 states. The proverbial ball is the proverbial court of the proverbial team on this one.

Here’s a couple more pictures from my friend Bob, a fellow St. Ignatius alum, from his travels in Alaska, the great state of bears, glaciers, mountains and snow.

I heard some folks on the radio chattering that the Indians could get back in the race after the All-Star break. Well, never say never, but let’s do the math. Cleveland was 41-53 at the break. That’s 94 games, meaning there were 68 left (impressive math, eh?). If the Indians won 40 of 68, they’d finish at 81-81. That would not get them back in the race. Ninety-one wins would, which only means the Indians would have to go 50-18 after the All-Star break. And since they lost the first game in Seattle, they now have to go 50-17. It can happen, yes, but the math indicates just how slim the chances really are.

Paul Pierce seems to be enjoying his celebrity.

Fox’s Charlie Rosen assesses the Lebron James-will-sign-with-New-Jersey saga here.

And … let’s go back to Yellowstone … hope this does not offend anyone, but here are some animals and their … umm … young. First elk, then antelope. Can anyone explain why it’s so interesting to see animals in their natural environment?

Finally, here is a sunset view (hope it comes out) in Lamar Valley, which has to be one of the most beautiful spots in the United States of America. The first one looks into the sun. The folks in the foreground are looking up the hill at a pack of wolves.

This one points in the direction the sun is shining. The colors continue to amaze me, but then again I've got a pretty simple mind. When I die, though, I want to come back as a buffalo in the Lamar Valley. There simply are very few places where it would be better to wander aimlessly and eat grass for the rest of eternity.

The Indians won two in a row! … Must let the lovely Dyan Cannon know of that. … She’s a huge Tribe fan. … Jack looked great last night, didn’t he? … But who was the guy with the hat and sunglasses? … With two in a row, it could be time for the Indians to get themselves untracked. … Lot of injuries though. … Two pitchers, three and four hitters hurt or hurting. …. Yikes. … My good friend Mark Shapiro will address the media today. … Mark remains a baseball bright light. … Still, nobody in Dubuque will send him any sympathy cards. … Love those valet parking commercials on the NBA Finals. … “Let me get warm here. You are HOT.” … Not quite as good as the E*Trade baby who answers the Blackberry and says, “Hey girl. Can I hit you back?” … Every time Tim Donaghy opens his mouth, NBA folks must cringe. … Donaghy has some fiery claims in his latest court filing. Specifically that a 2002 playoff series between the Lakers and Sacramento was … umm …affected by calls. … Fans have cried conspiracy in the NBA for years. … Don’t think my dear friend David Stern would allow that though. … That being said, the news is enough to make a person scratch his forehead. … And think about those phantom calls that affected a game. … That’s the problem with a crook like Donaghy – his actions smear others just by association. … Not sure about you, but I’ll take Caribou over Starbucks any day of the week. … Clutch game by Paul Pierce eh? … AC in the car was out recently when it was in the 90s and will be fixed today when it’s 72 and lovely. … Great timing there eh? … Felt for all the folks who were within noseshot when the car door opened over the weekend. … Said the parking lot guy: “You were like a zombie!” … Kind of cracks me up. … Memo to ask Jack: What exactly makes you a fan? … LeCharles, love ya and the comeback. … But it still seems like a long road ahead. … Wouldn’t it be great to have The Thing from the Addams Family reside in the house? … If the Indians are to get going, now is the time to do it. … They play Minnesota (31-34), San Diego (28-38) and Colorado (29-39), the Dodgers (31-33), San Francisco (29-36) and Cincinnati (31-35) the next few series. … That’s six teams, all below .500. … They don’t come out of it by the end of this stretch, which coincidentally is June 30, it’s time to start making some serious decisions. … Time to go look for wife number seven to complete marriage number eight. … Oh gosh, forgot I’m not even divorced yet. … Angie, you look beautiful on that Vanity Fair cover. … Call me. … Who in the world gets married seven times to six different women? … See ya around.

All this led some to question the authenticity of the injury. Plaschke called it chicanery, which led to Boston fans writing Plaschke and telling they hoped he’d get cancer. Nice. Lakers coach Phil Jackson smirked about Pierce’s miracle comeback, then said this on Saturday: "I don't know if the angels visited him at halftime or in that timeout period he had or not," Jackson said. "But he didn't even limp when he came back out on the floor. I don't know what was going on there. Was Oral Roberts back there in their locker room?"

Call that a direct shot to Pierce, the Celtics and their credibility. And Jackson is the son of a minister.

Now, I’m not going to question Pierce’s injury. When the Finals are said and done, we may learn he played the rest of the series with an MCL tear or something. But the entire drama in Game 1 was a bit much. The guy was crying, he could not stand, could not put weight on his knee, then he trots back on the court? For crying out loud, he was in a wheelchair, and two minutes later he trotte back on the court. Celtics fans went nuts. There are the same fans, of course, who howled every time LeBron James reacted after getting hit in the face in their series. James was a baby, or so I was told. Pierce, because he plays for Boston, is a hero. Please. Even Pierce admitted being carried off was almost embarrassing.

To compare it to Willis Reed’s situation in 1970 is downright insulting to Reed, who played the first four games of the Finals against Wilt Chamberlain and scored 37, 29, 38 and 23 points. And averaged 15 rebounds. He tore a muscle in his hip the next game and missed Game 6. Prior to Game 7, he had to take three shots just to play – Jackson, a teammate, called them “horse shots.” And when he dragged his leg as he ran on the floor, he was coming back from an injury, a torn muscle. He was not trotting back on from something he thought was an injury.

In terms of drama and being dramatic, Reed’s actions were Shakespearean and Pierce’s were High School Musical. I wrote that here as well, and I stand by it.

All this also points out the sense of entitlement that Celtics fans have carried themselves with since the playoffs started. That by virtue of wearing Celtic green their team deserves the championship. They act so entitled they would make the Clintons blush. Let’s be honest, they were so bad last year Pierce thought he’d be traded. Then Danny Ainge made a nice move getting Ray Allen on draft day. Then Kevin McHale helped his old team and old friend out by shipping Kevin Garnett to Boston. The Celtics are good. Very good. They play defense with a vengeance. If they win the title they are deserving. But this team is hardly home-grown.

Come to think of it, getting Garnett is actually comparable to the Lakers getting Pau Gasol for a ballrack and dirty jerseys in midseason. Perhaps these guys deserve each other in these Finals. (Yes, it’s best to go now — before Cleveland sports bitterness totally engulfs this ridiculous blog.)

Excellent story in the Boston Globe about Paul Pierce, a guy I had questions about prior to this postseason. It details how Pierce grew up this year. Seems easy to grow up when you’ve got two All-Stars on your team, but that’s the take from Boston .In the story, it says the Celtics figured things out against Detroit after playing two “inferior teams.” Ahem. One of those teams would be the Cleveland Cavaliers. On the one hand, anyone can say that, because the Celtics beat the Cavs. But on the other, let’s be honest … the Celtics squeezed out a Game 7 win over the Cavs by four points in a game the Cavs easily could have won had they made a shot at the end. This is sort of like the guy I once knew who used to say he hit the perfect putt, it was just three feet to the right. Which of course means the putt was not perfect. So the Cavs missed their shots and lost. Which means the Celtics deserved to win. But it hardly seems like that series proved the Cavs were an “inferior team.” Boston just happened to win.

Always interesting what motivates players. Pierce apparently was made he was drafted 10th. The story relates: “In his early years, Pierce regularly engaged in a solo shooting drill in which he would rotate from the perimeter, left to right, swishing a 3-pointer and hollering the name of each man drafted ahead of him.”

Could the NBA possibly drag out the start of these Finals a little more? When did the last series end? A week ago Tuesday?

Finally found the best use of HDTV – Stanley Cup hockey. You can actually see the puck!

I’m going to offer some comments here on Game 7, yet another disappointment for Cleveland fans in Boston. (I’m really getting tired of hearing those people celebrate; to teach them a lesson I’m not spending any of my hard-earned tourist money there for the foreseeable future. That’ll teach them, eh?) In thinking about the game, there really isn’t anyone to “blame” per se. The Cavs just lost. Some might say Boston is a better team; I’m not convinced. But they won, so they get to gloat. Me, I think once the Cavs got it to one they were looking right at the chance to win. But LeBron James missed a three, Delonte West missed a three and P.J. Brown got between James and the basket on a drive. And Brown made a 20-foot jumper. Sheesh. How do these things happen to Cleveland teams? Boston did enough late to win, which made the difference. Yes, a better start helps. But the Cavs still had things close late, and had a chance to win. They just didn’t get it finished.

A lot was made of the LeBron James-Paul Pierce duel, and it was special and James was outstanding. But I don’t think this was one of James’ greatest-ever games. That might sound nuts given he had 45 points, but he spent a lot of time dribbling and/or running high pick-and-rolls while the rest of the team stood and waited for him. I don’t know why sometimes there is opposition to moving the ball and running a motion offense. The NBA seems to think it won’t work. I don’t know why. But one of the things that has to be explained about this team – at least internally — is what stops the offense. Is it James who decides he’s going to win or lose on his own, or is it that the plays called are those isolations? I feel like it might be more of the former. James knows he’s the best player on the court, and at times he just waves folks away and points out the spot to set the pick. You can see the rest of the team just stop what they’re doing and go to their assigned places. I maintain James is the best player in the NBA right now, that no other player in the league could have gotten his team as far as James did. So I guess the question is would they be better if the offense moved the ball more, or would they have been worse because James would have played a lesser role? I think we know how LeBron feels. All this being said, short of making one last three I don’t know how much more anyone could have asked from James in this game, this postseason and this season. The guy is an amazing player and mature beyond his years.

In general, Mike Brown had a good game. I did raise my eyebrows at two moves he made. One was a one-minute stretch in the second quarter when both LeBron and Z went to the bench. In that time, Boston scored five unanswered points. Which turned out to be the margin of victory. The Cavs had Sasha Pavlovic and Ben Wallace on the floor at that time, and it was a lost lineup. That minute hurt, but I have to figure LeBron asked for a quick minute of rest. Doesn’t make sense otherwise. The other was playing Pavlovic so much. But then you realize that Wally Szczerbiak gave the Cavs next to nothing. Brown wasn’t going to play Devin Brown, for whatever reason, so the minutes went to Pavlovic, who looked rusty and lost on offense but did contribute on defense. I think that’s why he played almost 35 minutes. I think. I mean … it sure wasn't his offense.

Paul Pierce had not done much prior to Game 7, and the Boston writers were astute in pointing out that Pierce’s series would have been the story had Ray Allen not played so miserably. Pierce showed something in the last game, though, making some very tough shots over James, who actually played pretty good defense on him. It was Pierce’s night.

At one point in the third quarter, James took a three right in front of the Celtics bench. Eddie House stood up next to James and made a motion as if he was going to block the shot. House was not in the game at the time, and he was not the only one to stand. Two or three other Boston players did as well. A Boston writer next to me remarked that House shouldn’t be allowed to do that. James obviously didn’t think so either. He turned and had some words for the bench. The Celtics of my youth back in the mid 1880s stood for good, clean, hard basketball. Not for silly things like pretending you’re going to block a shot when you’re not in the game. This action was rather un-Celtic, I’d have to say.

LeBron James got away with some calls in Game 7 – especially when he grabbed Pierce’s jersey. At least he was in the game at the time and not reaching from the bench.

Wally Szczerbiak had a quote to the effect that Boston did not let him or the Cavs do what they wanted. This flashed me back to the first year Steve Spurrier was coach at Florida. A quarterback threw a corner route, and it appeared to be overthrown. But Spurrier said the receiver claimed he was held coming out of his break. Spurrier told him if he wanted to get the ball he wouldn’t have let the guy hold him. Seems like if Szczerbiak wanted to get in the offense, he wouldn’t have let himself be thrown off. The play when Eddie House caught up to him and outran him down the floor and set up a Szczerbiak foul kind of epitomized Wally’s game.

James walked off the court head high, but clearly upset. He did not take part in the traditional postgame handshake at midcourt, and when he was in the locker room he looked as down as many had ever seen him – especially those who have been around him a lot. I don’t know if he was just mad, if he was thinking “what more can I do” or if he was thinking the Cavs should have won. He was just upset, and you can’t really blame him.

A couple weeks back ESPN Magazine wrote this of the Cavs trades: “The fresh blood was welcomed, but trying to work so many guys into a nine-man rotation so late in the season would have been tough enough without all the injuries that disrupted chemistry.”That’s true. And given the difficulty of overhauling the roster in midseason, perhaps we should look at it that the Cavs did quite a job stretching the Celtics to the limit given everything they fought through. And given the Cavs were that close to winning. Disappointing, but it sure indicates how good James is, what playing defense means and that the disappointment of losing should not overshadow the things that were accomplished.

More on the Cavs and the offseason as the week goes on ….