Still Holding Court.....Cavs take Game 5

King James lead the way with the fourth triple double of his 59 game postseason career: 37 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists to lead the LeBron’s past Orlando 112-102 at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland came out blazing from the start, as this battle was very one-sided early. Feeding off the energy and emotion of the hometown crowd, the Cavs raced to a 32-10 with 4 minutes left in the first quarter behind 4 three pointers from Mo “don’t call me Casper” Williams. Orlando was able to overcome the initial onslaught from Guarantee Ghost and end the half on quite a run. The Magic all but completely erased the Cavs big 22 point first quarter lead with Rashard Lewis’ three pointer pulling the Magic with in one at 56-55 as we hit intermission. While walking to the locker room, you could almost hear Mike Brown thinking; “do we realize this is an elimination game, and it lasts 4 quarters?”

(Note: While the Magic were making their run in the 2^nd quarter, I witnessed something that I’d yet to notice. This actually had nothing to do with LeBron. Dwight Howard actually posted up Zydrunas Ilgauskas, spun across the lane with power and finesse, ala Amar'e Stoudemire, and finished at the rim while drawing the foul on Big Z. If someone that young and raw can ever fully develop that aspect of his post game, he truly could be unstoppable down low. Not just LeBron James unstoppable, but Wilt Chamberlain “I will average 50 ppg in any decade” unstoppable. Obviously the self-proclaimed next “Superman” still needs a jump shot, or any shot for that matter, but that’s what the off-season is for. In a short time he will become much more than the best defensive center who can only dunk.)

The second half was much more tightly contested, back and forth, until the Cavs finally wrestled control around the five-minute mark of the fourth. Thus started the typical parade to the foul line, as is usually the case come playoff crunch time. In the end the LeBron’s were able to defend the King’s Court, and promptly send the series back to the Magic Kingdom for game 6 Saturday night at Amway Arena. Cleveland was able to cover the spread (-8) in Vegas tonight, with the over/under (191) hitting as well. One positive: the growing personal foul epidemic did find a temporary antibiotic this evening, with Orlando committing 27 to the Cavs 25. Although 75 free throws were attempted between the two teams, there were far less of the head scratching, jaw dropping, unbelievable displays of officiating ineptitude that have seemed to plague a few recent playoff matchups. Celebrities in attendance at the Q included rapper Jay-Z, quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Brady Quinn, as well as Yankees stars Alex Rodriquez, Mariano Rivera, and C.C. Sabathia who were in town for a 4 game series with the Tribe starting tomorrow evening.