Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge is back for Cinco De Mayo weekend and the return of Gennady Golovkin for the first time since his disputed draw with Canelo Alvarez is the highlight of the weekend.

It is quite a comedown from the planned rematch vs Alvarez, but Golovkin needs to be active, sponsors wanted a fight for this weekend and few were willing to face the fearsome Golovkin on three weeks notice.
Hence the entrance of Vanes Martirosyan, who although being a contender for years at 154 pounds has never fought at 160 pounds, hasn't fought in almost two years, won a fight in two and a half years or defeated an elite opponent (he does hold wins over Kassim Ouma, Willie Nelson, and Ishe Smith, all fighters of lower end of the top ten level), but was willing to fight under the exacting conditions that this fight will be under.
Golovkin will only be defending his WBA and WBC titles as the IBF and rightfully so does not recognize Martirosyan as a deserving contender, but did give Golovkin an exception for this fight provided GGG defends next against Sergey Dereyvanchenko.
We'll see if that happens as I doubt Golovkin wants to vacate a title with his goal being to hold all four belts, but if the Canelo rematch comes up in September, he may have to choose between belts and dollars.
There also is the chance that Canelo may want a prep fight after being off a year (by that time) and Golovkin could fight Dereyvanchenko in the fall, so I'd call that 50/50.

ESPN2 has a nice main event in touted prospect and heavy Twitter user Ryan Garcia as the main event in a prep card that was planned to be an infomercial for the planned Golovkin-Alvarez rematch against former world title challenger Jayson Velez.
Velez, who is a gatekeeper at 126 and 130 despite his draw with then-IBF champion Evgeny Gradovich and will be the sternest test yet for the talented Garcia.

AWE jumps in with their purchase of an entire card from the UK and I've been waiting for a while to see AWE's satellite coverage with cards that should have TV in the States, but if anyone was interested in buying them, AWE couldn't afford them!
The main event is the rematch between former world cruiserweight and WBA heavyweight champion David Haye against former WBC cruiserweight titleholder Tony Bellew in a rematch of their war from 14 months ago.
Bellew stopped Haye in the eleventh round, but Haye injured his Achilles tendon in the sixth round when he slipped on some water after winning each of the first five rounds.
Bellew won every round thereafter before the stoppage and Haye was forced to exchange because he couldn't move, so the fight was a really exciting fight.

The co-main event will fill the IBF bantamweight title vacated when Ryan Burnett had to choose between the WBA and IBF belts and will put undefeated and untested Emmanuel Rodriguez against former IBF champ Paul Butler, who held this belt but vacated before defending it in order to drop down to junior bantam.
Butler's only loss is to WBO champ Zolani Tete, so a Butler win could lead to a rematch to unify two belts.
Rodriguez is said to be quite talented so this could be interesting.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 75-61.

WBA/WBC Middleweight titles. 12 Rds
Gennady Golovkin vs Vanes Martirosyan
R.L: Golovkin KO 6
TRS: Golovkin KO 4

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds
Ryan Garcia vs Jayson Velez
R.L: Garcia KO 5
TRS: Garcia Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights. 12 Rds
Tony Bellew vs David Haye
R.L: Bellew Unanimous Decision
TRS: Haye Unanimous Decision

Vacant IBF Bantamweight Title.12 Rds
Paul Butler vs Emmanuel Rodriguez
Both: Rodriguez Unanimous Decision

Browns still busy.

John Dorsey wasn't finished with his work with the Cleveland Browns roster even after the draft as before rookie camp started this week, Dorsey was still making minor moves to tweak his roster.

Let us begin with something that has nothing to do with the roster as the Browns are trying to do anything to 'change the culture" that involves almost anything they can think of to forget 1-31 (Which is most likely either first or second on the list of reasons the uniforms will be changed as soon as they become eligible to do so) and one gimmick is for rookies to "Earn their stripes" in rookie camp with the helmet being stripped of their stripes (see what I did there?) until the rookies "earn" them.
Here's the thing though- I like the helmet without stripes!
I know I'm an old-school traditionalist that wishes the uniforms were never changed, but I really like the no stripe look, which frankly surprises me a decent amount!
I might even give the no stripe look a chance if I could see them if I could see them with the old jerseys.

Dorsey swung a trade with his old club in Kansas City as he sent tight end Randall Telfer to the Chiefs for linebacker Dadi Nicolas in a one for one swap.
You might want to keep track of how many players come through town over the next year or so with some sort of background with Kansas City as it's just the way things go in these situations.
We've been through Eric Mangini bringing in former Jets. Tom Heckert former Eagles, Phil Savage former Ravens etc, so this is nothing new, but something to watch for.
Telfer was the Browns "Man of the Year" last year for his work in the community and even announced a Browns pick at the draft, which in hindsight seems a little cold-blooded, but Telfer is strictly a blocking tight end as he caught five passes for a whopping forty yards in his career and when the Browns signed Darren Fells in the off-season, Telfer's future wasn't difficult to decipher.

John Dorsey selected Dadi Nicolas in the sixth round in 2016 and Nicolas made the team, playing in 11 games before suffering a knee injury that finished his 2016 year, but cost him the entire 2017 season as well.
Nicolas is listed as a defensive end, but at 235 pounds, looks to me to be more of an outside end rusher/outside linebacker in passing situations.
The Virginia Tech product will need to make the team on his speed, but among a linebacking corps that lacks a blazing pass rusher, Nicolas could have a chance to make the team assuming that his knee hasn't taken a step off his speed.

Editor's Note: After all of that, the trade was called off the next day with both players being waived by their original teams.

The Browns claimed a linebacker off waivers as the team added Jermaine Grace off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts.
Grace played 11 games last season for the Falcons and Colts as a special teamer after not being drafted in 2017 out of Miami.
Grace will likely have to make the Browns on special teams again, but these types of waiver claims are usually opportunities to improve the speed on special teams and maybe in a fortunate circumstance the player might add depth at his regular position.

The Browns waived two players, one of which makes sense with two linebackers being brought in as Dominque Alexander and Darius Jackson were given their releases.
Alexander signed in 2016 as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma, spending two years with the team before his season ended when he was injured after four games, which led to Alexander failing his physical.
Jackson was a 2016 waiver claim from Dallas that excited a few fans after an excellent preseason, but never made the field after being claimed late in the 2016 season and was injured in the 2017 Browns training camp.

I'm sure that there will be a few more moves before camp and I'll try to keep them updated.
Still working on the inbox cleaning and I even have one already in the queue that is ready to roll when I don't have other coverage, but I'm working on even more to not only clean the inbox but post them with one push of a button.

LeBronto! Cavaliers roll over Raptors in game two!

LeBron James took command of the game in the second half with a sizzling shooting performance and lifted the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 128-110 victory over the Toronto Raptors in the second game of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
James finished with 43 points and 14 assists on the evening with Kevin Love adding 31 points with 11 rebounds in support.
The series returns to Cleveland for game three Saturday night with the Cavaliers up two with a chance to put the Raptors down a deep hole...

Swashbucklings

1) Just when you think LeBron James has shown you what he can do and you cannot be surprised any further, James steps up and shows you again just how good he is.
Last night against Toronto, James was hitting fadeaway jumpers against good defense and he was still knocking them down.
James kept dropping back and the shots kept falling,
On nights like these, opponents aren't going to defeat LeBron James very often.

2) Toronto has to be shaking their heads, especially after a first half that saw them shoot extremely well, their home crowd was loud and rocking and yet the Raptors led by just two at the half.
How many times in sports have you seen this "They played almost as good as they can and the opponent played terribly and the game is close, look out in the second half" line play out in sports?
This game was one of those nights for the Raptors and they had to know it entering the locker room.

3) Kevin Love lives.
Love scored 31 points and did it with 11 of 21 shooting with only two from three-point distance.
When Kevin Love is playing well, this Cleveland team is an entirely different animal and perhaps some of that might be when he tries to score inside the paint rather than force three-pointers.
No matter the reason, Kevin Love's performance is the key to how this team plays.

4) Cleveland struggled against Indiana to get any scoring from anyone other than LeBron James, but the offense has been able to add some varied production against Toronto.
J.R.Smith with 15, Jeff Green 14 and George Hill finished with 13 to give Cleveland five players in double digits.
Toss that type of production with an excellent game from Kevin Love and LeBron James is going to get all the help that he needs.

5) So, rumors of the Cavaliers demise were a bit exaggerated to paraphrase Mark Twain, but it isn't just one thing for Cleveland's bounce back from a less than strong series against Indiana.
Yes, LeBron James has literally choked the Raptors to death in these two games on the road and we mentioned a few things above, but maybe Toronto's stars (DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry) don't match with Cleveland as well as Indiana's (Victor Oladipo and five others that average between 11 and 14 points a game) do.
Toronto also doesn't have an attitude guy like Lance Stephenson to harass and annoy LeBron James.
Sometimes in sports, a better team with a better record isn't always automatically a more difficult team to defeat,
It could be that Indiana is a better team than I thought or simply that they match up better with the Cavaliers than the Raptors, who won eleven more games than the Pacers in the regular season.

6) Is this series over?
Even with the next two in Cleveland, I wouldn't go that far yet-BUT Toronto has defeated the Cavaliers in Cleveland just once in the last ten tries and that was in the final game of the 2016-17 regular season when with nothing onthe  line, Cleveland rested most of their top players.
SO considering all of that, Toronto will now have to defeat the Cavaliers twice at the Q.
Possible, but unlikely and right now the Raptors are wobbling to the E.R- a loss on Saturday and Barney the dinosaur will be on full level oxygen.

Road Trip: The Rain, A Park and Other Things..

We expected rain on day two and lots of it.
Rain that in the amount that we expected could cost us several stops on the trip.
Rain is part of the risk of baseball road trips and you know that going in, so you cross your fingers and hope for the best.

It had started to lightly rain as we checked into our hotel the night before.
When I woke up, it was pouring and when Fred and I talked, we thought there was absolutely no way the Lexington-Asheville game was going to be played that night.

We figured that the game was going to be called, but I wanted to see McCormick Field for some pictures and some shirts for my ladies here, while Fred had never visited the home of the Tourists and he wanted to put it on his list of "Been there but not for a game".
My list of those used to be very long, but I've whittled that list down to one- Myrtle Beach.

We drove to McCormick Field, where the forecast was dire and asked the Tourist employees if we could walk around, take some pictures etc and then stop at the team shop.
They said sure as long we didn't step on the field, which we were happy to follow that direction!
We wandered around the field, snapping (old school term) pictures and looked at a park that is older than Hagerstown's, yet had the charm that the Muni has always seemed to lack.
The right field wall still read Ingles just as it did eleven years ago in my first visit to Asheville with Ryan and Battlin' Bob and there didn't seem to be too many difference since then, although McCormick Field has been well maintained and shined up a bit as all old parks need to shown care for and it comes across as such a neat throwback to the past with enough of the present to get you through.
McCormick still has their concessions away from the field (nothing short of a complete reconstruction would change that) like Hagerstown which doesn't allow you to watch the game while waiting for your food.

We walked back to the souvenir area, where we talked to the employee about Hagerstown, showed them some pictures of the Muni and talked about the other stadiums in the SAL.
This is where I saw a really cool baseball with the Tourists that looked like it was made of wood (it wasn't) and with another recent baseball from Lexington (full Kentucky Blue) in mind, it hit me.
What if I bought a logo ball from each stadium that I visited?
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea and I gave myself a few parameters.
The first was that I had to have visited the stadium and the second was that (with an occasional exemption given by me) that I would have to return to the stadium to purchase.
I gave myself two immediate exemptions-Buies Creek (last year as a team and no plans to go there this year) and Delmarva ( a real pain to get to and I'm not sure I'll get there again), purchased the ball and I was off.
I bought the ladies at home some Tourists shirts (I try to ask them before a trip which team that they would like to have an item from), so it was time for lunch for Fred and I as we laughed in the rain, but did not hold hands as longtime Battlin' Bob favorite Neil Sedaka once sang and the decision was Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack.

Rocky's was the type of local place that I always try to look for whether on the road with Fred or any of the other travel buddies that I hit the road with.
A local favorite with various degrees of heat for their chicken, I tried a sample of their hottest spice and while it was plenty of hot, I didn't find it all that flavorful, so as I do at wing/chicken place went with the second hottest chicken, ordered the daily special (jalapeno chicken pot pie) and two sides (Potato Salad and Cole Slaw).
The Potato Salad was quite good, a subtle mix between an Amish style and mustard version, but the slaw was a little bland.
The pot pie was shaped like those Hostess fruit pies and was good, but not nearly as hot as I expected.
The chicken was very good but wasn't nearly as hot as anticipated.
In hindsight, if Rocky's had combined the flavor of their second hottest, with the heat of the top-notch burner, they might really have something!
We returned to the hotel through the rain resigned to a night that would be highlighted by evening and I sat around for a while wondering where the time had gone from the first time I visited Asheville.

However, as I dozed off for a nap and woke up, I wondered about the weather in Kodak, Tennessee.
The next day, we had planned a noon game with the Tennessee Smokies hosting the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
Fred called the Smokies (on the other side of the mountain and about 90 minutes away) and they had lighter rain throughout the day but planned to play.
With a schedule adjustment, we moved the Smokies into the evening slot and we were on our way on an hour and forty-five-minute drive to Sevierville.

Arriving in Sevierville, we sent an email to Corey White, who was scheduled to meet us the following day at Smokies Stadium about the change and hoped he'd see it.
I had cards to send to Corey and Fred wanted to meet one of the people that I trade with that he has heard so often about.
In the meantime, with an early arrival, we had time to check out the Beef Jerky Outlet.
This store has all sorts of unique jerky's, sausage's and "meat sticks" and a few hot sauces.
I settled for a package of their hottest jerky "The Reaper" (it wasn't THAT hot, but had some heat), package of maple jerky for Rachel and a package of Elk meat sticks (think Slim Jim's) that I ate some of on my trip to Charleston.
Corey called us back, said he would be at the game and had a friend of his (Again, I cannot remember his name) allow us to go in with him early with the season ticket holders.
Very kind of them to help us out and I've always thought it was so cool to be inside an almost empty stadium and just watch the scrambling and prep work to have the stadium ready for a game night.

I didn't have a lot for either team, I had sent a few things to Corey earlier, so most of the heavy lifting was finished, but Fred doing the Shrimp (Doesn't that sound like a dance from a 60's surf movie?) added former Brewers and current Marlins (acquired in the Christian Yelich trade) Isan Diaz and Monte Harrison for me.
Too bad the Top 100 was a few days away from being released because Harrison is in this year's set.
Diaz was in last season's (I added him in Winston-Salem last year) but missed the cut this year.
I worked on a few Smokies with Corey with the most important being Eddy Martinez on his Carolina League top prospect card.
The Carolina League is always the league prospect set that comes out latest and that works against getting some of the players signed.
That set sometimes is so late that graphers pass on buying it due to that fact.
It started to rain in the third inning and we watched a few innings from the concourse before we decided to make the drive home.

Back at the hotel and the closer that we traveled to Asheville, the more rain fell on the roof and we looked at the forecast for the return home, the forecast didn't look great.
Normally, I would add a final day post, but considering things with the inbox etc, I'm going to condense the final day as follows.
We expected lots of rain and got it as we traveled north, passed Johnson City, Tennessee and Fred was gracious enough to stop by and allow me to buy a Johnson City Cardinals baseball, stopped in Bristol Tennessee for another Mad Greek stop and a Yee Haw beer stop to bring home for Miguelito as we rolled towards Lynchburg, Virginia for the Winston-Salem Dash and the homestanding Hillcats.

Lynchburg is about an hour off I-81, so it's two hours of extra traveling round trip.
We were hoping to either play the game or call it early,
The Hillcats did us that favor and called it early, so we saved that time and rolled on up the road to go home.

All things considered with the forecast getting three games in the books wasn't so bad and traveling with Fred is always a good time.
Fred's a great person to travel with because he always asks for an opinion and listens to what your opinion is.
I really enjoy our trips together.

Now, I still have a day trip to Charleston for the Giants Low A team, the Augusta Greenjackets and the Giants top pick in 2017, Heliot Ramos, but that will have to wait for a little bit because we still have Cavalier playoffs (I saw the game one win on delay after returning from Charleston) and that bulging at the seams inbox to try to whittle down.

Road Trip:Kannapolis

Fred Landucci and I got into our car for the little under an hour drive to Kannapolis NC and the home of the  Kannapolis Intimidators.

Readers might remember my trip last year which readers might remember had me feeling like a day spent in one of those coal blasting furnaces that NFL Films always show on the highlights of the 1970's Pittsburgh Steelers.
We arrived just before first pitch, so there was no time to graph the home team or the visitors, the Greenville Drive, who saw in West Virginia and will not visit Hagerstown.

The day (being in April) was far cooler than that and the Intimidators gave us very good seats.
Fred was very excited to see Blair Jewell working for Kannapolis and she was excited to see him through their various interactions throughout the day.
Blair worked for a few years with the Harrisburg Senators and with Fred being a season ticket holder there, they got to know each other well.
It's always nice seeing baseball friends from previous stops and it's especially nice when it's someone that you liked a lot in their previous spot.

This day featured one of the ugliest uniforms that I've ever seen as Kannapolis used a "Paw Patrol" theme.
I didn't take a picture of these beauties, but I'll have one for the future as Fred bought two of these, so I'm sure he'd be happy to send a picture of them.
The stadium had a good crowd (I'd guess around 1,100) and the family sitting behind us (they were so nice and I wrote their names down, but my roster sheet disappeared-Sorry), said that this was the biggest crowd that they had ever seen there.
I believe them, since the Intimidators actually finished behind the Hagerstown Suns last year in attendance (Blame TebowMania) and how often does that happen?
Answer:Very Rarely and the team employees doesn't like the circumstances of how that happened-Want a laugh or an uncomfortable feeling in Kannapolis? Ask a higher up employee about Hagerstown beating them out and take your chances!

Kannapolis also had cheap concessions and long lines in them as I waited for two soda's.
I suppose the team didn't expect a crowd like this and seemed a bit on the understaffed side.
The game was a pummelling with Kannapolis winning going away 11-1 as another Red Sox farm team that seems to be not up to the usual level with Boston making so many trades that sent young talent away from the system.
I didn't get many cards signed,but I did add Alex Schreff ( a high Boston pick) on his Bowman card that I missed in West Virginia because I missed pulling his card and Kade McClure (from Mentor,Ohio home of Mitch Trubisky) of the Intimidators, who was a fourth pick out of Louisville as they went to the clubhouse,
Fred walked down to the field to meet outfielder Luis Gonzalez, who was the player jersey that he purchased, and had Gonzalez sign the two Bowman cards that I had for me.

Fred was getting tired and after the game wanted to get on the road, since our hotel was 90 minutes or so away,so we didn't add anyone postgame.
We drove a bit and decided to stop in Shelby NC (Home of Kenny Powers,Professional Baseball Player, A lot of you, Ah never mind) for a late dinner.
We chose a place called Fatz, which is a southern chain that I had never visited before.
With a name like Fatz, one would assume that it would be fast food or hamburgers, but it was more of a sitdown place..
Our waitress, Shelby (Shelby from Shelby which is kinda neat) was interested in us not being from the area and told us the origin of her name (named after the car and not the town) along with her saving for a car.
I had a shrimp Po'Boy, which was tasty although it fell apart a bit as I dined on it.
I was pleasantly surprised, although I must say Bad Daddy's in Winston-Salem was a bit better.

Finishing the drive to Asheville and settling into our hotel for the evening ended a long,but fun day with Fred.
Day one was in the books and day two would see a curveball and a resulting change of plans.

Road Trip;Winston-Salem

Now that I've gotten past the draft talk for now or at least until I have time to do my draft wrap-up. I'm going to try to work on the last road trip.
Part two may be a few days away.

The trip to North Carolina ( and Virginia on the way home) had five games scheduled over three days, but rain loomed ominously in the forecast-large trip destroying amounts of rain.
However, the forecast was not great for Monday and Tuesday, but our first day looked fine, so the start would be a good one.
On this occasion, I was riding with Fred Landucci and we had thrown an audible, a week before the initial trip.
It would cost some cards over the long run, but we did see more games than we would have with the original plan.

Fred and I pretty much drove straight to Winston-Salem and decided through TripAdvisor to try Bad Daddy's Burger Bar.
Bad Daddy's specializes in some unusual burgers with lots of offered toppings.
I had the Magic Mushroom Burger with four various types of mushrooms and swiss cheese along with a creamy white sauce.
It was delicious and Bad Daddy's offers a generous metal bowl of tater tots as my side.
Bad Daddy's has a handful of southern locations, so if you are a burger or sports bar fan, try Bad Daddy's.

We then jumped over to maybe my favorite High A ballpark in Winston-Salem.
I love the ease of autographing, the wide concourses that wrap around the field, the large scoreboard and the various different views from around the stadium.
My only knock on BB&T Ballpark is that there is not a ton of parking (Or maybe I just haven't found it yet) and with Fred's need for handicapped parking, we were located far from the only entrance in center field.
Fortunately, the Dash golf-carted us from the parking area and saved Fred a lot of walking.

The easy graphing area for the visiting team that I had the last time did not happen this time as it is an area to be rented out for parties.
I talked to the staff member in the area and he told me before I went down that the team is fine with graphers in the area when it is not rented, but of course, when rented, it's unavailable.
That's the way it should be (unlike Hagerstown) in where when someone pays for the area, it's hands-off, but if not paid for privately, patrons may use the area.
Different teams, different policies- to each their own.

I moved to the side of the field and did the Salem Red Sox (Fred nabbed a few Dash players for me as he waited for Luis Robert, you remember my post on him?).
Salem doesn't have the high number of huge prospects that the Red Sox usually have because of the many trades of the parent over the last two seasons, but I did get almost all the bigger prospects, except pitcher Tanner Houck, who I didn't see and is known to be a less than willing signer anyway.
The two biggest prospects signed all that I had with 3rd baseman Bobby Dalbec and 2nd sacker Brett Netzer being very gracious.
I added some others and considered it a decent day.
Fred hung around and did get Luis Robert on a baseball.
I didn't need Robert because the Top 100/Bowman set wasn't released until a few days later.
The next time I see Robert, I'll need him.

As I moved towards the concourse to meet Fred, I ran into C.J. Johnson, who formerly worked for the Hagerstown Suns during the Mandalay years.
C.J is now the President of the Dash and judging from my two visits, is doing a terrific job with the Dash organization.
We chatted for a few minutes, talked about Hagerstown's problems with getting a new stadium in dealing with the city council and one member in particular and how it's too bad that it has gotten to this point with the Suns considering what once was with the team.

Fred and I watched for a bit and then moved to our next stop, which was a little under an hour away in Kannapolis NC.
Normally, I would include our trip to Kannapolis with this one as it was the same day, but I'm getting tired and I have a trip soon.
Kannapolis and Fred's big day will wait until the next road trip post....

Cavaliers put away Indiana-Win game and series

LeBron James battled through leg cramps and exhaustion to score 45 points and carry his Cleveland Cavaliers past the Indiana Pacers 105-101 in game seven of their Eastern Conference series and take a victory in the series four games to three.
The victory lifts the Cavaliers to the Eastern semi-finals against the top seed in the East-the Toronto Raptors.
Game one is in Toronto on Tuesday.
No promises on coverage as I will be away during the game.

Swashbucklings

1) LeBron James not only accumulated his stats against Indiana, he fought through the above problems that sent him to the locker room for a tenure.
James also had nine boards and seven assists and certainly would have had a triple-double had he not been forced to leave the game.
James has literally tossed this team on his back, the bigger question is how far can he carry them?

2) I may be thinking of a hopeful bias here, but I think yesterday might give the Cavaliers a hint of hope that LeBron James might return.
LeBron had every chance to pack it in yesterday (like he arguably did in Boston before he left for Miami) and yet he continued to push through the pain.
I'm not saying that I KNOW he's is staying, but he had a chance to spit out the bit and he didn't.
I just have a feeling he's going to stay.

3) Tristan Thompson has had a bad year and rarely saw the court in this series, but Tyronn Lue took a chance and not only started Thompson, but played him 35 minutes.
Thompson rewarded Lue with 15 points and 10 boards in an inspired performance.
Thompson is always going to be overpaid and he may be a player that's time has passed with the evolution of the game, but on occasion might pop out and give some value as an energy player.

4) Kevin Love's shooting woes continued to a degree with a 5 for 13 shooting afternoon.
However, Love was 4 of 8 from three-point range, so that is a positive to take away from this game.
The answer to Love's problems might be as simple as letting him be aggressive and try to shoot his way out of them- as risky as that could be.

5) Kyle Korver scored just three points, but his biggest play came late in the game when Korver passed up a reasonably open three to run a give and go with LeBron James for the basket that essentially broke the back of the Pacers.
Korver's never been known as an ace passer, but he has a high level of trust with James and saw that was an open option.

6) Glad this series is over. The uniforms are just too similar to see on television and it's easy to become confused.

7) SO... Onto Toronto and after a series that was tougher than expected against a Pacers team that isn't anything special, it is the top-seeded Raptors that await.
The stats show DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry as the keys, but keep an eye on Jonas Valanciunas in this season.
Valanciunas averaged around 13 points and 9 boards and down low is going to be a force against the Cavaliers lighter post players- Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr, and Kevin Love.
Is it possible that we see some very limited action from Kendrick Perkins to pound on Valanciunas a bit in an attempt to slow him and help the Cavaliers quicker, but smaller defenders?

8) LeBron James is tired and it's asking him a lot to carry this team out of the East, let alone to a title.
If that has a slim chance of happening, Cleveland is going to have to end a series in fewer games at least once in order to save some mileage on the legs.
Toronto's the top seed, but again just a hunch- but this might be the chance for the Cavaliers to do that.
Call it an upset special- Cleveland in 6