After cruising to 66 wins and sweeping the Pistons and the Hawks, most fans and media pundits had already conceded the championship to the Cavs. No question about it—LeBron James was the greatest thing to hit Cleveland since Otto Graham, the Cavs were virtually unbeatable at home, and as sure as death and taxes they were destined to succeed the Celtics.
But, after being humbled by the Magic, the Cavs are now on vacation.
Amid the ruins of Cleveland's latest disappointing professional franchise, there is one question that must be answered in retrospect: Why did the Cavs lose?
Here are the answers:
There was a not-so-hidden warning in their league-leading record. Included in their 66 wins were just three against the Lakers, the Celtics, and the Magic (compared to six losses). A dismal sign that they weren't quite as good as their numbers indicated.
Clearly, the Cavs believed all of the hype that surrounded them throughout the regular season. As a result, they became unbearably arrogant — as demonstrated by their unseemly bench celebrations over dunks, shot blocks, and blowouts. While the media praised these antics as proof of the team's "togetherness," the players were actually showing their disdain for their opponents and proving that they didn't really understand what a difficult and serious task laid ahead of them.
LeBron's swaggering and continual self-promotion was the most egregious of these haughty antics. It's only fitting that the prestidigitations of the Magic made LeBron disappear in the same cloud of chalk dust that he ostentatiously employed to announce his imperial presence before each game.
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Only Delonte West had the toughness, the offensive versatility, and the defensive chops to enhance LBJ's game.
And what about LeBron Himself?
His jumper is still incredibly erratic, especially when he pulls up going left and has to move the ball across his body to load his shot. This movement creates an often-costly lack of balance in his legs and leads to more bad misses than makes.
He still has difficulty stopping-and-popping with accuracy off a hard dribble.
He's a much better finisher when he approaches the hoop with his right hand — perhaps one of the best ever. And he's particularly deadly when he can execute one of his quick/tight/powerful spins as he attacks the basket. Push him left and load up the defensive help so that he can't spin and LeBron becomes a good, but not a great, finisher.
Too often he tries to force his dribble through an impenetrable crowd.
Too often he still massages the ball before he finally makes a move.
His chase-down blocks have given onlookers the impression that he's become an outstanding defender. Actually, his defense has indeed showed a significant improvement — in Game 6, the one time that he was caught in a switch on to Dwight Howard, LBJ forced the bigger man to take (and miss) a fadeaway hook shot. Still, jet-set opponents can still leave LeBron in the dust, and against all-comers he often wanders too far away from his man in pursuit of steals and blocks.
Finally, his incredible lack of grace after the loss signifies an ego of such humongous proportions as to enable him to deny any personal responsibility for the Cavs ultimate failure.
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Imagine being one of LeBron's teammates, standing around while he does his thing, waiting for the golden pass to come to you — or not — and then absolutely having to hit the open 3-pointer. Imagine the enormous pressure to make that shot. Imagine being either yanked to the bench or being ignored if you miss two or three such shots in a row.
Quite simply, if the defense knows precisely where the ball is eventually going to be positioned, it can make appropriate adjustments. Against the NBA's elite teams — and especially in a long series — these defensive adjustments became more sophisticated and more effective.
