Quicker than expected...

Karma struck back quicker than anyone expected last night in Cleveland as the undermanned Cavaliers outworked and outhustled the vastly more talented Miami Heat and their soft hearted half-leader LeBron James to a stunning 102-90 win.
Cleveland used sizzling 56 % shooting from the field to dampen the Heat and send them slumping from Ohio with a popular and unexpected defeat.

I try to catch the Cavaliers whenever they are televised and not against the Devils,so this was a rare treat for me as usually I settle for the free NBA league pass week long preview or their games against Washington.
NBA TV allows fans to choose a game for them to show on Tuesday Fan Night and the fans voted for the Miami-Cleveland games.
I suppose mainly to see how the fans would treat whats his name,not really expecting a competitive contest.

With the ladies out of the house,I settled in to watch the expected pounding,especially when it was reported before the game that Cavalier security was unwilling to allow James and his "posse'" to park in the parking lot reserved for Cleveland players.
I figured that after that,he would dominate and then moan about being disrespected.
On top of that,the traitor refused to leave the bench for the pre-game introductions of the starting lineup.
That was an first for me,never seen that done before and the league needs to step in and stop that before a trend begins.
After all,if he didn't want to be announced,Miami could have had him come off the bench at the first opportunity.

To my surprise,the Cavaliers played them even in the first period and dominated the second for a halftime lead of eleven points.
Cleveland increased their lead to as many as 23,before a late period rally cut into the lead deeply led by a half court shot by the deserter,that was called no good and then good after a lengthy delay.
The NBA issued a release after the game that said the shot should not have counted.
Lot of good that would have done if that shot determined the winner.

Miami was as close as even with seven minutes to go,but Cleveland shut down the Heat without a point for the next four minutes and pulled away for the win.
J.J.Hickson posted the double/double with 21 points and 12 boards and Anthony Parker finished with 20 points with a 4 for 4 shooting night from the three point range.
Give some credit to Ryan Hollins and Baron Davis as well.
Hollins showed some toughness and physicality by basically controlling Chris Bosh on both ends of the floor and Davis played very well considering he is clearly less than 100 %.
Davis can be a real help to the team next season once his physical issues are repaired and his attitude seems far better than most expected as well.

A great night for basketball and a great night for Northeast Ohio.
One game can never pay back for the actions of that person,but it can be a beginning.
Here is hoping for the next step in the rebuilding is for some help with the hidden hand with two sets on ping pong balls in the lottery hopper!!

Photos to come when I can add them.Blogger is having internal server issues at this writing...

Photo Credits-Cleveland Plain Dealer Photo Staff