Shining Stars

We are 3 games into the Conference Finals and we have seen 3 great games. Lakers won by 2 points on Tuesday before losing by 3 today. Cleveland lost a beauty yesterday by just a point. We have also seen great performances from the stars as Kobe, LeBron, Melo and Dwight are pouring it on. It's been sort of a rebirth for Melo in these playoffs as he seems to be gaining some of his mojo and attention back. It's almost like he wanted the whole LeBron-Melo talk to come back after a season full of LeBron-Kobe hype. He has scored 39 and 34 in the two games to match Kobe's 40 and 32. These guys score 30 like it's nobody's business. NBA is at it's best when stars shine bright and thats exactly what's happening on both conferences right now.

LeBron is at a whole another level right now. He dropped 49 on the Magic, but somehow the Cavs still lost. They wasted a huge first half lead and LeBron looked real tired at the end and couldn't close the game out. The Magic were a one-man show with D-Howard for a long time, but once Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu joined the party, their fortunes turned. Hedo was spraying assists like Steve Nash and Lewis was draining clutch threes. Suddenly the Cavs were the one-man army with little fire-power. This is not going to be an easy series for the Cavs, but if the Magic can't stop LeBron, the Cavs will still be the favorites. But Barkley made an interesting point on TNT. He says that the Cavs don't have an answer for Howard, Lewis or Turkoglu. LeBron has to defend either Lewis or Hedo. Even then, they can't defend the other 2. This might be the issue for the Cavs.

Playoffs are all about adjustments. I am curious to see the adjustments both coaches make Friday. Cavs have to figure out a way to defend the three-headed monster of the Magic and the Magic have to try and slow down the King. The greatest quote of this NBA season might have been the one by Stan Van Gundy to his players. Apparently he told them you guys are acting like "witnesses" out there. That seemed to have worked like magic on his team. Speaking of "witnesses", how great is that marketing campaign! Nike seems to have hit the jackpot with that line. It sounded ballsy and a little presumptuous a few years back, but LeBron is making it ring true every night. Even I feel like I am a witness every game on TV. I watched a lot of Jordon, but was a little young and dumb to realize the historic significance of what was going on. I appreciate LeBron a lot better. Lets see if he gets to fly as high as his airness.