New Sheriff in Town

The celebration was everything I thought it would be. Maybe it was too much. But, hey, fans can build up a lot of steam in 37 years.

The corner of Huron and 9th was as insane as you can imagine. Hugs, high-fives, horns blowing, tears and dancing in the streets – literally. Donyell Marshall said he’d worry about the Spurs in the morning. That seemed to be the prevailing attitude amid the chaos of downtown Cleveland.

The Cavaliers began to realize that they were the better team after Game 2 in Detroit. And they went on to prove it over the next four – completing the coup de grace by blowing out the suddenly old-looking Pistons 98-82 on Saturday night at The Q. The Wine and Gold became the first team since the 1993 Bulls to recover from an 0-2 hole in the Eastern Conference Finals. They also had a No. 23 who was good at basketball.

Emotions were running high inside the locker room and out. An exhausted LeBron James had tears in his eyes when he spoke about Zydrunas Ilgauskas – who persevered through one surgery and lost season after another to sit atop the East.

“I ran to Z because when I was first drafted, Z was the first guy I saw,” said James. “Z has been through a lot, been through losing seasons, year after year after year, and I promised him when I got drafted I was going to try to change it.”

James’ man-sized hug with the Large Lithuanian following Saturday’s win was a moment for the ages – symbolic of Cleveland’s rise from one of the league’s most downtrodden franchises to the pinnacle of success.

LeBron attempted only two shots in the entire first half on Saturday, but there’s always a method to his madness. One game after one of the greatest Playoff performances in NBA history – an epic 48-point double-overtime magnum opus at the Palace – James was content to let his teammates do the heavy lifting.

After the game, he wouldn’t allow champagne to be popped in the locker room. As a native northeastern Ohioan, LeBron knows exactly how big Saturday’s win was. He also knows they need four more to complete the project.

Daniel Gibson flashed the million-dollar-smile that seems to leave his face only when he’s dissecting Detroit’s defense or merely shooting over the top of it. Gibson was easily Cleveland’s second-best player throughout the series. The Pistons were determined not to let LeBron beat them on Saturday and the young King, always a gracious host, accommodated them by allowing his young protégé from Texas to do it.

Gibson was 5-for-5 from three-point range and 12-of-15 from the stripe – each clutch shot and made free throw another dagger in Detroit’s fading Finals hopes.

“I was excited, feeling good, and happy for my team,” beamed Gibson. “I was happy that we had put ourselves in the situation to win the game because that was our main focus, just getting out there and giving it everything we got, and bringing home a victory."

The young gun seemed to get exponentially better with each passing round of the postseason.

He’ll have to continue that growth-on-the-fly because in four days – after six games apiece against Jason Kidd and Chauncey Billups – Gibson will face the Spurs’ Tony Parker.

The Spurs came out of a bizarre Western Conference postseason that was knocked out of whack when Golden State upset Dallas and continued to spiral strangely after that. Robert Horry’s biggest shot in this postseason was the hip-check on Steve Nash that dashed the Suns’ run.

The Cavaliers match up better with the Spurs than they would have Phoenix or Dallas. Mike Brown knows the Spurs’ system and is 3-1 against them since taking over the helm in Cleveland. In the second game of this season, the Cavaliers went into San Antonio and beat the Spurs for the first time in their arena since 1988.

The Wine and Gold could have folded after a pair of draining games in Detroit, but Mike Brown turned this club into a tough-minded no-excuses team. The Cavaliers simply sucked it up and went about their business – running the Pistons in four straight games. A perfect example of what Brown has brought – statistically speaking – can be seen in the Cavaliers road record in the Playoffs since his arrival.

With Brown, they’re 8-7 on the road in the postseason. Before he arrived, the Cavaliers as a franchise were 7-31.

The Pistons lost their cool and the Cavaliers kept theirs. And for the first time in the 37-year franchise of the organization that began with 15 straight losses, you can add “Eastern Conference Champions” to their resume.

Now comes the hard part.