Dave Smith

I’ve been watching NBA basketball for a long time, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the media pile on a superstar player the way they have LeBron James. Granted, he did not play well in the Cavs 120-88 loss to Boston in Game Five and his decision to try and guard Rajon Rondo didn’t work. But the last time I looked the series isn’t over and King James has a golden opportunity to step up and prove his greatness as a player and leader….

Of course if the Cavs get eliminated in Game Six and LeBron doesn’t play well, I’ll be joining the critics….

In my mind, though, one bad game doesn’t wipe out all he’s accomplished and I’m puzzled by the hate….

In the post-season, you must defeat a team four times, not three; and I wouldn’t be suprised if James plays huge in Boston and Cleveland sends the series to a Game Seven….

Isn’t that what the great ones do?….

In my mind, however, Boston is the better team and will prevail….

I picked the Celtics to win this series, for the following reasons:

-For the first time this season, Boston is healthy. And when they are, they’re as good as any team in the NBA. Sure, they’re getting older and this might be their last opportunity to win a championship, but they’re really good when at full strength.

-When I looked at the player-by-player matchups, Boston is superior. When you have three Hall-of-Famers in your starting line-up, and none of them is your best player, that’s a championship team.

-Here are the matchups:

Power Forward: Kevin Garnett vs. Antawn Jamison. Easy, KG has a big edge here.

Small Forward: Paul Pierce vs. LeBron: Obviously the Cavs have the edge, but Pierce is a great player and future Hall-of-Famer.

Center: Kendrick Perkins vs. Shaq: I call this one even. Sure, the Big Ingrate can still get the ball down low and score, but other than that he’s worthless. He’s as slow as a glacier, a defensive liability and slows the team down. While smaller and not a good offensive player, Perkins is much better defensively and underrated.

Shooting Guard: Ray Allen vs. Anthony Parker. Another big edge for the Celtics.

Point Guard: Rajon Rondo vs. Mo Williams. Again, huge for the Celtics, as Rondo is their best player and blossomed into a star.

Bench: I keep reading the Cavs have the edge, but a look at the subs reveals Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Delonte West, Jamario Moon, Anderson Varejao, JJ Hickson, etc. I like Hickson, but the rest doesn’t exactly look like a Hall-of-Fame list. The Celtics have Big Baby, Rasheed Wallace, Tony Allen, Marquis Daniels, Michael Finley and Nate Robinson. I’s call this matchup even.

Coaching: Doc Rivers vs. Mike Brown. Easy call, with Doc having a huge edge. Rivers won a championship with this group and taken advantage of Brown’s shortcomings in this series. The Cavs should be playing up termpo basketball and trying to run the Celtics out of the gym, but instead slow the tempo and play into Boston’s hands. The final five minutes of a Cavs game is four guys standing around watching LeBron go one-on-one, and you’re not going to beat good teams that way.

After looking at all this, it was obvious to me that Boston was the call in this series. So why is it that the press almost unanimously picked the Cavs to win?….

I have no idea….

But back to LeBron….

With his teammates not stepping up and his coach evidently unable to make in game adjustments, there is a lot of pressure on him to carry the load. Outside of yesterday’s game, he’s been his usual self in this series, but his miserable performance in Game Six has the wolves howling….

Is he injured? Obviously his elbow is bothering him, but didn’t seem to be a problem in Game Three or Four….

And with Kobe playing through a broken finger on his shooting hand, I don’t want to hear about any King James injuries….

The bottom line is LeBron must perform brilliantly, get his team past Boston and show everyone that not only is he a great player, he’s a winner….

He has all the money in the world, more fame than player in the league and has said his dream is to become a “world icon” and “another Bill Gates.”….

All of that is fine, but does he put winning a championship first? Is he obsessed with winning, a la Magic, Bird, Jordan and Kobe?….

Game Six on Thursday night will go a long way in answering those questions….

With seven seconds left in their Game Three nail-biter aganst Utah, the Lakers led by three and I was waiting for the inevitable; stubborn Phil Jackson refusing to foul and the Jazz making a game-tying three pointer….

After Derek Fisher did the right thing and fouled Deron Williams, I sat in disbelief as Phil finally made the right call….

After Williams made two free throws, the Lakers proceeded to throw away the inbounds pass and put themselves in a very dangerous situation. Luckily for the Lakers, the Jazz missed their final opportunity and the Lakers escaped….

But the bottom line is the Zenmaster made the right call and the Lakers won….

Sure, the turnover could have been disastrous, but look at it this way: What if Phil decided not to foul Williams and Utah made a three? The Lakers could have very well lost in overtime and we’d be ripping the Zenmaster for once again holding his breath and turning blue….

The bottom line is he made the right strategical move and his team won. And then next time the Lakers are in that situation he needs to foul again….

We’ll see….

After watching Rajon Rondo’s sensational performance against the Cavs, three things crossed my mind: 1) Rondo is playing like a 6’1″ Magic Johnson 2) Somebody on the Cavs needs to knock Rajon on his ass and 3) When the hell is LeBron going to demand to guard Rondo?….

With the Lakers tied at 2-2 with the Thunder, Kobe Bryant went to Phil Jackson and demanded to guard Russell Westbrook. The result was a Kobe lockdown of Westbrook, a blowout win and advancing to the second round….

With the Cavs in a dogfight with the Celtics, it’s time for King James to announce he’s guarding Rondo and lead his team victory….

If he doesn’t do it, Cleveland is looking at the real possibility of an early exit and LeBron leaving….

Rondo was unbelievable, with 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists, and put on one of the greatest post-season performances in franchise history….

I kept waiting for James to take up the challenge of guarding him, but it never happened….

It damn well better happen in Game five….

Wow. what a strange finish to the Paul Williams-Kermit Cintron fight on HBO Saturday night. In the middle of a good exchange early in the fourth round, Williams tripped over Cintron’s feet and tumbled to the canvas; at the same time, Kermit lost his balance, fell through the ropes and onto a ringside table….

It didn’t look bad and I expected Cintron to continue, but he laid on the floor outside the ring for several minutes and was eventually wheeled out on a stretcher. Since it was only the fourth round, I expected the fight to be declarde a technical draw. To my surprise, though, California has a stupid rule which states that if three rounds are completed they go to the scorecards….

Since Williams was ahead on tweo of the cards, he was declared the “winner.”….

I had Paul winning every round and thought he was going to win by a knockout, but the outcome was unfair to Cintron and California needs to change the rule….

And how about the crowd at Home Depot Center, who have to feel cheated after paying good money in anticipation of an excellent fight?….

Interesting to see that Benedict Riley is at it again, telling reporters he hasn’t ruled out a return to the sidelines and he only wants to do what’s best for the franchise….

A few years ago, after Stan Van Gundy did a magnificent job cleaning up Riley’s mess and taking the Heat to the Eastern Conference finals, the backstabbing weasel stole Van Gundy’s job….

Benedict was green with envy that Stan had outperformed him as a coach and had the team on the verge of a championship, so the SOB canned Van Gundy….

The thought of sopmeone else winning a championship was too much for him to take, so he conspired with the equally low Shaquille O’Neal to run Van Gundy out of town….

The press conference announcing Benedict’s return was comical, as Van Gundy was forced to read a statement that he “wanted to spend more time with his family” and “the grind of traveling and being on the road” was too much for him….

Since he was a long time NBA asistant, it was suprising to learn he didn’t realize coaching a team required travel. Evidently he believed the Heat would play all their games at home….

Not only did Weasel Riley force Van Gundy to read a bogus statement, he also put a gag order on him; forbidding Stan to speak with the media….

Hopefully the media will attack Riley fopr what he is: A guy who quits on his team when times are tough and only returns when he has a chance to gravy train success….

Coming off a couple of horrible years in Miami, Benedict quit on his team a few weeks before the 2005-06 season. With no time to install his own system, Van Gundy got off to a horrible start; yet managed to turn it completely around, win 45 games and nearly make the Eastern Conference Finals….

The next season, after trading for the Big Ingrate, the Heat becams an elite team and lost a seven game war to the Pistons in the Eastern Finals. But they were poised to win a title and Van Gundy was doing a great job….

After the game, Shaq blamed his coach for the loss, even though he only grabbed two rebounds in the second half of a close out game….

And instead of defending his coach and reprimanding the Big Moses, Benedict agreed with the criticism of Van Gundy and then waited like a snake in the grass to steal his job….

The next year, with the back stabber on the sideline, the Heat won a championship which rightfully belonged to Van Gundy….

Less than two years later, with Shaq gone and the team back in the lottery, Riley quit on them again….

And how did he explain quitting on his team with a month to go in the season? Benedict actually said he needed to “concentrate on the draft.”….

This was a crock of s*** and he should have been BBQed in the press….

Now that new coach Eric Spoelstra has coached them back into the playoffs and they have a pretty good nucleus of Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley, plus lots of cap room to bring in a top-notch player, ‘ole Benedict Riley is at it again….

Spoelstra has done nothing to warrant a firing and should keep his job, because the Heat are close to becoming a force again….

But Benedict is going to surface from the rock he lives under, s***-can Spoelstra and bask in the glory of the Heat becoming a contender again….

What a opportunistic scumbag….