Only an ignoramus would say a playoff series was over before it’s, you know, over, but I can’t imagine Cleveland beating Orlando at this point, and nothing that happened last night (the Cavs’ game five win) changes that.
It’s been said that the games have been so close that the Cavs could almost as easily be up 3-2 as down 3-2, but that badly misses what’s happening here. Cleveland was almost criminally lucky to win game two (there was a stretch in the mid-fourth quarter of that game when the Magic was on the verge of a knockout, and the Cavs got every call to such a blatant extent it was embarrassing to watch, and I’m rooting for them), so the series could have been a sweep more easily that it could have turned any other way.
Bottom line: Orlando has gotten good shots relatively consistently and relatively easily, and Cleveland hasn’t. The Cavs making an uncharacteristic number of threes last night doesn’t change that.
Bron-Bron is beyond phenomenal, but hasn’t been perfect, or maybe the way he’s been used isn’t perfect. It’s not like he’s been creating easy looks for his teammates over and over and over throughout the series and last night they finally made some of them. Orlando has been the clearly better half-court team and, since James has free reign in his team’s offense to a degree perhaps historically unprecedented, some of that is on him. He’s like Spider-Man- great power/great responsibility.
Lebron going one-on-one while his teammates stand and watch worked spectacularly for a quarter last night. It can’t win the championship, and it can’t win this series.
