2010 NBA Playoffs: Cleveland-Boston Game Five and a Bunch of Sweeps

When the NBA season started, I thought that five teams had a shot to win it all in 2009-2010: The Lakers, Cavs, Magic, Celtics, and Nuggets were my "Fab Five" so to speak.

As of right now, there are essentially five teams left. The Lakers and Magic are about to finish off Conference Semi-Final sweeps, the Cavs and Celtics are in an actual series. The Phoenix Suns were the first team to make it to the Conference Finals.

So I had four out of the five teams right to start the season, and the Nuggets had some strange stuff happen to them on their way to the playoffs. The Suns, like the Nuggets, probably lack the size to beat the Lakers. The Suns can hope that the Jazz do win a game in the series to curb the rest for Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.

There are grumblings from talking heads that the Cavs are built for the regular season, and lack the mental toughness for playoff success. Jason Smith on ESPN Radio stated that the Cavs are a front-running team that struggles when they fall behind.

The Cavs go as their superstar leader LeBron James goes. It is not that they lack the mental toughness to come from behind, it is more that their role players get exposed in the four out of seven playoff format.

Mo Williams and Delonte West have struggled two post seasons in a row. The problem that the Cavs have is that they need those guys to make shots. They play well in the regular season, where the depth of the Cavs role players in an asset. In the post-season, it is common to shorten your bench and play your best players.

With one superstar and a bunch of role players, the Cavs have not been able to grind out the wins they did in the regular season. They won an ugly game in Game 1 and lost an ugly game in Game 4. The games in between were blowouts.

Of course when things are going well any team will take confidence from that.

Things are going well for Cleveland right now. The series is tied at two games apiece, and that is what I expected when the opponent is Boston. Last year the Cavs got flat in the second round off of Atlanta, and this road is better.

You have to be tested to show your mental toughness, and Game five is going to be the next huge game for the Cavs.

If the Celtics come out and punch Cleveland in the mouth, then the Cavs will have to fight back. They showed resolve in Game one, and they showed they can play at a high level in Game three. They showed that they are not good enough to mail it in in Game two, and Game four was a decent ball game that the more desperate team won.

The Magic should be the favorite right now. Whether they play Boston or Cleveland, they have earned it. Dwight Howard and Vince Carter are what a dynamic duo looks like. The Magic have great role players as well in Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus.

The NBA is a specialized league, so players that fit roles is vital to success. It is also a league of stars, and it is really hard to win when you only have one. Shaquille O'Neal and Antawn Jamison were former All-Stars the Cavs brought in, and there is still time to have success this post-season.

It is LeBron James that worries me now. He was instantly brought into the league and anointed the next Michael Jordan . He has been a bright star, and somewhat has lived up to that unreasonable hype. Seven years in, though, we can make a better assessment of what type of player he is.

I think it is a more apt comparison between James and Charles Barkley than it is between him and MJ. Like Barkley in Philly, LeBron has never had the stud number-two guy. Like Barkley in Phoenix, LeBron has been to the Finals once. And one day, like Barkley in Houston, LeBron will be bouncing around the league to get that one elusive ring.

I might be wrong. Maybe LeBron can dig down and will his team past the Celtics. Maybe he can lead his team to a series win over Orlando. Maybe he can beat Kobe in an epic NBA Finals.

Those are too many maybe's for me though.

The reality is that Cleveland is in a best two-out-of-three series with Boston. The teams have alternated wins so far, and the best player on the court has alternated between James and Rajon Rondo.

And the winner of this series gets a rested and rolling Orlando team that is the defending champ of the Eastern Conference.

It is all set-up for a stud like James to prove that he is the best player in the world right now. Now all James has to do is go out there and do what he does for a living, which is play basketball at a higher level than everyone else.