Cavaliers NBA Playoff Sleeper Bet?
LeBron James surprises Detroit Pistons in conference finals.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have surprised even the most astute onlookers, with the Cavs' run through the 2006 NBA playoffs. The Detroit Pistons are more shocked than anyone.
As Pistons head coach Flip Saunders stood on the sideline biting his lower lip, one got the feeling there was something seriously wrong in Detroit on Wednesday night. It was game five of the Pistons-Cavaliers second-round NBA playoff series, and Detroit was looking for the home-court magic it used to pummel Cleveland in the first two games of the series.
After two nail-biting losses in Cleveland, the defending Eastern Conference champs should have been cruising to victory, in front of a friendly crowd. With nearly two minutes to play in the first quarter, though, Saunders wore his anxiety all over his face - an unhappy countenance he displayed throughout the game.
Behind another furious start by star forward LeBron James , the Cavs stayed in control for most of the first half. The Detroit fans were eerily silent. And they had every right to be.
In the first two games at home, Detroit scored 210 points, including 43 in the second quarter of a lopsided game one. After scoring 61 fewer points in two losses at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Piston fans arrived for game 5 primed for more home cooking. Their anticipation turned to disappointment very quickly.
The Cavs' bench outplayed Detroit's at every substitution, and a vice-like Cleveland defense thwarted virtually every Pistons shot. Detroit managed just 38 first-half points, five less than it tallied in the second period alone in game 1. Saunders, meanwhile, chewed his lower lip.
The Cavs lead ballooned to 10 in the third quarter, and Saunders chomped away. His frustration must have been contagious. After throwing an elbow into the cheek of Anderson Verejao, Rasheed Wallace, who guaranteed victory in game four, was hit with a technical foul. The Pistons were coming unglued.
But as veteran teams always seem to do, Detroit erased the deficit and briefly took the lead in the fourth quarter. The young Cavs, though, took it right back with huge shots from players not named James, and remarkably big defensive stops that they didn't have in the first two contests.
Game 5 went to the wire, but the Cavs simply appeared to want it more, hanging on for yet another slight victory.
Now, Detroit finds itself backpedaling to Cleveland, down 3-2 in a series no one this side of LeBron's mother saw them losing.
The Pistons, the fans and even the national media are now taking notice of this never-quit Cavaliers team - one that is battling not only Detroit but grief. Teammate Larry Hughes' brother died just a week ago of heart failure.
In spite of this rugged terrain, though, the biggest NBA playoff sleeper of them all is a single win away from the conference finals.
Meanwhile, Flip Saunders will still be biting his lip for at least one more game.
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