Bye Bye LeBron, Bye Bye Happiness

Ok, I'm still happy. But I will say that I am going to miss watching LeBron in these playoffs. For a 21 year-old in his first stint in the playoffs, he was nothing short of amazing. But we know all of that already.

Today in the 2nd half, it was all about Detroit. Where was that defense all series? Granted, no one, James or otherwise, could hit an outside jumper to save their lives, but even so, the Detroit defense was absolutely suffocating, holidng Cleveland to 23 second-half points in the 79-61 series clicher. According to my research (read: I think I saw this during the broadcast), it was the lowest point total of any team in a Game 7.

LeBron was excellent in first half, but in the 2nd half Detroit collapsed on him and shut down the lane, drawing charges on multiple occasions. On the high pick & roll, they just went ahead and hedged hard, and then doubled LeBron, which was made all the more effective because no one else could do anything offensively (Cavaliers players not named LeBron James shot 9/41 from the field).

The biggest issue for Detroit, at least as far as their series against the Heat is concerned, is how bad Rasheed Wallace was. They need him to be a little more Sheedtastic against a better all-around team than the Cavs, which the Heat are. Shooting 4/16 and scoring 13 points will not get it done for the Heat. I really don't think this will be a problem because Sheed has been pretty consistent since he arrived in Detroit, but I had to come up with something! (Image from Need4Sheed)

Anyway, the Pistons, as expected, move on, although the series was a lot closer than was expected. This is completely overused, but well, I am a witness. And whether they lost to Detroit in Game 7 or not, I'll remember this postseason for LeBron for a very long time. I guess I'll see you next year LeBron. Oh, and work on that jumper a little more.