LeBron James Blows Up the Cleveland Cavaliers

I used to think the "LeBron bomb" was a mixed drink that included Sprite and Crown Royal. Now it will always be the stink bomb of a performance he mailed in against the Boston Celtics in Game's Five and Six in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

His numbers were "LeBron like" with 27 points, 18 rebounds and ten assists in Game Six. A triple double that was almost a quadruple double when you count his turnovers (nine), which was the biggest problem for the Cleveland LeBron's—the inability to protect the ball in Boston's 94-85 series clinching victory.

The crowd was rocking in Boston and the Cavs couldn't handle it in the the heat of the moment. Too many times the Cavaliers were stripped of the ball in the post. Instead of hustling back to make up for it they would turn to the ref and yap. Every single Cav was guilty of this, especially their leader.

LeBron let the Celtics dictate the tempo and he willingly sat on the three-point line and watched at times. The aggressive LeBron was only seen in small spurts throughout the game. He attempted 12 free throws, and it  looked like getting to the rack wasn't a problem. Yet time and time again he settled for a long jump shot—much like Game Five.

Sure this isn't all LeBron's fault. Antawn Jamison was as timid as a freshman trying to jump into a varsity pick-up game. He made two of his ten shots from the floor with a grand total of five points. He was abused by Kevin Garnett in the post. Jamison is a terrific regular season player, but he shrivels up into a ball come play-off time (ask Wizards fans).

Mike Brown needs/will be fired. How in the world could Big Z play 15 minutes while J.J. Hickson played less than one!? Z is a Cavs legend but he is a huge liability on D and has been reduced to having an 18-footer on offense. Hickson is much more athletic, physical and able to score in the paint. Hickson was a key cog to the team all season long until Brown panicked and apparently forgot he was even on the team.

Having Jamison guard KG was dumb—so was not playing Delonte West more often. He seemed to have the best success against the lighting quick Rajon Rondo.

Mo Williams had a great first half, dropping 20 down the Celtics throats. He was looking like the guy LeBron needed to beat the Celtics as the Cavs trailed by only two at half. But much like the Mo of the past two play-offs, he scored a grand total of two points in the second half. David Blaine wants to know the secret to his disappearing act.

Anderson Varejao was physical inside and drew a few charges, but when he wasn't even past half court barking at the refs to stop the game because he thought he saw blood—inexcusable. The Celtics didn't score, but it was a move that was a perfect example of the lack of desire to win on the Cavs behalf.

The Cavs' bench was useless. The Celtics got 13 points from Rasheed Wallace and ten from Tony Allen. The Cavs' entire bench scored 13.

Yet the blame still falls on "The King". He was on edge the entire game and it showed. His body language was world's apart from what fans are used to. No joking and laughing on the sidelines. No confidence or swagger—usually brought to the arena everyday.

He deferred to his teammates way too often in the second half. He made an awful baseline pass which was intercepted, and it turned out to be the final dagger of the game. Then he had given up. Why did the Cavs wave the white flag with about a 1:15 to go?

It was only a nine point game at the time. Foul Rondo and force the Celtics to beat them from the line. Instead, Boston was able to run down the clock and easily grab a loose ball to seal the deal. The passion and effort from Cleveland was abysmal in the final two minutes of a franchise defining game.

It really was one of the strangest moments I've seen in play-off sports. Five guys content with losing when the odds of making a comeback were still within reach. Very symbolic of LeBron to untuck his jersey with about 15 seconds left. He threw in the towel and his teammates followed.

So now the city of Cleveland is on suicide watch. Their hero has stabbed them in the back and didn't even give them a good-bye present. He has been toying with the franchise for the past three torturous years since their unexpected trip to the '07 Finals.

Now the ride has come to an abrupt stop. LeBron pulled the car over and kicked the franchise to the curb. Nobody knows exactly where LeBron will end up on July 1, but it looks as if Cleveland isn't in the lead. After years of carefully constructing his words to sound more politician than basketball player regarding July 1, 2010, all the cards are now in his hand.

The franchise is completely tied up in the choice of a 25-year-old prima donna that wants to be a "global icon" and will let us mere mortals know his decision when "his team decides what's best".

Yeah that's right. In his post game press conference he kept referring to his "team" when talking about his future. Not the Cavs, but his own personal "team" of advertisers, promoters, publicists and agents.

"Me and my team have a game plan that we will execute"

LeBron sums it up in his post game comments: "It is what it is. We'll see what happens".