By Linn Zinser
Normally, aside from a Game 7, a single game in the playoffs means little on its own. Sure, people freak out when a star player stumbles or a favorite blows a lead, but usually things stabilize over time and the bandwagon-jumping looks ridiculous in hindsight.
That said, the Cavaliers’ epic horribleness in Tuesday night’s Game 5might just mean everything. It is hard to overstate how little the Cavaliers looked like a title contender, how LeBron James’s status might be falling from King James to Guy Who Cleans the Moat. This was at home, in a city desperate for a champion, a place haunted by the heroics of Michael Jordan and John Elway.
The Cavaliers lost to the Celtics by 32 points. James looked as if he wanted to be just about anywhere else, including perhaps Guantánamo. If you would like to read the journalistic version of James’s being taken apart by the limbs, read Adrian Wojnarowski’s column on Yahoo.com, where he writes that James will be nothing but an empty image until he wins something that matters. Others, like ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan, were wondering whether this was James’s last game in Cleveland, with Ian Thomsen of SI.com contemplating where this scene goes from here. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com chooses to throw Coach Mike Brown under the bus for the Cavaliers’ lack of identity. Even in Cleveland, where sporting disappointment is a part of the furniture,Bill Livingston writes in The Cleveland Plain Dealer that calling this an off night is like calling the Edsel an off model.
Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe tries to insist that the Celtics had a lot to do with their victory, but he didn’t have much company.
There was nearly as telling a game going on in the N.H.L. playoffs, with Vancouver’s 40-year chase for a Stanley Cup hitting another wall. As Iain MacIntyre writes in The Vancouver Sun, it would be nice to think the Canucks were making progress, but they’re not. For the second straight year, Chicago torched goalie Roberto Luongo and squashed the Canucks’ hopes. A lot more unraveled too, writes The Sun’s Cam Cole. The Blackhawks’ victory had a heartwarming touch, with forward Troy Brouwer’s star turn coming while his father recovers from brain surgery in a Vancouver area hospital, writes David Haugh of The Chicago Tribune.
Less heartwarming hockey story: Glendale, Ariz., taxpayers are on the hook for $25 million of the Coyotes’ financial losses for next season if the team is not sold, which keeps the team from fleeing to Winnipeg for now, but at a price.
Soccer had a big day on Tuesday that had nothing to do with games being played. Theinitial World Cup rosters were named, which left a big list of superstars on the sideline for the big event. The biggest was Brazil’s Ronaldinho, but the United States team left Charlie Davies off the roster, ending his World Cup comeback from a horrific car crash last year.
Baseball found itself in a highly unexpected debate over whether Ken Griffey Jr. fell asleep in the Mariners’ clubhouse or not. Griffey and Seattle Manager Don Wakamatsu say no, although the discussion has moved on to why Griffey’s days are numbered, writes Steve Kelly of The Seattle Times. As Ken Rosenthal writes on Foxsports.com, the Mariners are in the unenviable spot of keeping Griffey on as an unproductive designated hitter or cutting a beloved superstar.
Far sadder are a couple of stories from high school sports, including news from Odessa, Tex., that a high school basketball star who had claimed to be homeless and was taken in by his coach instead turned out to be a 22-year-old imposter. And then there’s this tale of a high school track coach in California who had an opposing athlete disqualified after her pole vault gave her team a championship. Her sin: wearing a friendship bracelet.
His name is Mike Knowles and he should be getting a rougher ride today than LeBron James.
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The New York Times
