Lakers, Cavs not invincible...but their alpha dogs are

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Last night's playoff game was one of those "Where were you?" moments.

I was at my Boston apartment, relaxing big-time, even though there's like seven Irish pubs within a two-block radius. Incredibly lame, I realize that now.

Anyways...

Not since the Trail Blazers' 2000 playoffs meltdown have we seen such a polarizing string of events in professional basketball. LeBron James scored 32 straight points to carry the Cavaliers to a 10-point victory over Orlando and keep their season alive for at least another two days.

And not since the days of Jordan have we felt so compelled to write such passionate prose about a singular player. This, of course, can be a good AND bad thing.

By propping up LeBron as a damn near Deity, we've created this illusion that the man can win every game by himself. Don't get it twisted, Mo Williams and Boobie Gibson had tremendous nights as well, but this series has been all about LeBron, LeBron, LeBron.

I've always harped on the man through the years for what I see as a flawed game. Primarily, he lacks that defensive tenacity that complete Jordan, and his long-range shooting had been a few notches above abysmal. But I'm not going to diss the guy's game any more after this series -- at least, most of the time.

Sometimes, a win can be discouraging, and that's what I saw last night. You cannot go 1-on-5 the entire night, every night, and expect to come away victorious.

LeBron's freakish game masks what I see as two major flaws in the team:

1) The ol' "stand around and watch somebody" gameplan

This is the standard Cavs' offensive play: high screen for the ball carrier out of a 1-4 set, give the ball to LeBron somewhere on the wing and let him do something. That might work in college or high school, but at the NBA level it's vital that all five guys are moving around, creating space and calling for the ball. Sure, Varejao, Szcerbiak and Ilgauskas have been great, but in the crunch they are often setting picks.

2) Lack of toughness

Dwight Howard's sixth foul on a driving LeBron will be debated much over the next 24 hours. It's a tough call to make, but I wouldn't have blown the whistle on that one, and Dwight has reason to be somewhat outraged. I bring this us up because this is LeBron's style of play more often than not: take off from the wing, barrel into the lane, throw yourself at the basket and hope they call a foul. The Cavs, in my opinion, get more calls than they should, and they spend more time complaining about calls than any other team still playing right now.

The Lakers, in my opinion, have often gone through these two aforementioned phases this postseason (ahem, Houston). The difference between the Lakers and the Cavs is they don't stay still for long. Phil Jackson's gameplan is based on perpetual motion; he makes sure the ball gets distributed evenly around the court before letting Kobe run free out of the triangle for the final quarter.

That's the major difference between the Cavs and Lakers.

Magic in six. Lakers in seven.