The Cavaliers needed to win Game 5 to re-establish the home-court advantage in this series.  What happened was a shock to all who watched.  Honestly, this is one of the biggest embarrassments in the history of Cleveland (there have been a few if you recall).  I'll spoil the end for you; LeBron apparently doesn't care, scores 15 points on 3/14 shooting, and the Cavaliers are blown out by 32 points, in the biggest game of the franchise's history.

We actually started the game off alright, running the floor as much as we could.  Shaq established himself, and had a nice dunk off an LBJ pass.  Anthony Parker had a solid And-1, but Kendrick Perkins came down and responded with one of his own.  LeBron had 3 assists in the first 6 minutes. 

Apparently MB read my post yesterday, because Zydrunas Ilguaskas was inserted into the game at the 4 minute mark.. after 3 straight games not seeing the floor.  Z drills his 1st shot, and the crowd went nuts.  Parker follows drilling a three pointer, and we're up 21-20.  I would like to point out that at the 1:38 mark, Delonte failed to see that Jamario Moon was wide open for a 3.  I digress.  LeBron finishes the quarter scoreless, but does have 4 assists.  Our defense does a pretty good job of containing Rondo, and we take a 23-20 lead into the 2nd quarter.

The second quarter starts off excellent, with the Cavs going on a 6-1 run, but this was the last time we would enjoy what we saw.  Varejao gets called for a highly disagreeable clean block on Big Baby, and Rasheed picks up his 3rd foul at the 8 minute mark.  Paul Pierce continues his awful performance, but that would soon change.  Delonte West is becoming hard to watch, and LeBron is nowhere to be found.  Joey Crawford has a questionable offensive foul call on Shaq, resulting in Antawn and Perkins getting double technicalled.  6 minutes left, and LeBron has made exactly 0 field goals, only scoring on 2 free throws.

Kevin Garnett drills a jumper, and the Celtics take the lead 30-29.  They would never look back.  This was a very ugly game at this point; The Cavs had 8 turnovers.  15-0 run for the Celtics takes place, and the Celtics are up 36-29.  A clutch Mo Williams 3 cuts the lead to 42-39, while Big Baby tackles Varejao.  Pretty unorthodox 4 point play if you ask me. 

The Celtics continue to trash our defense, but a much-needed Zydrunas And-1 cuts the lead to 50-44, and we head into half.  LeBron has 0 field goals (still) and only 8 free throws to show for an entire half.  And we certainly didn't feel great about where this could be headed.

Ray Allen starts the 2nd half by drilling two consecutive 3 pointers.  Not good.  Rondo picks his game up, and starts dissecting our defense; We're down 12.  Shaq's dunk starts the Cavs scoring, but the game was already slipping away.  LeBron gets called for a charge, continuing his shaky game.  No one could have predicted that The King would be such a no-show in this all-important Game 5.  In my opinion, it looked like he didn't even want to be in the game.  He deferred to his teammates, and really wasn't doing much of anything.  The lead balloons to 16 points, and the Cavs are down 62-46.  LeBron starts shooting a bunch of jump shots but they all looked miserable.  And the whispers began, "Will this be LeBron's last ever game in Cleveland?" 

Meanwhile, Shaq gets his 3rd dunk, while Rondo continues to hurt us offensively.  LeBron is 0/, until he gets his first field goal (an easy dunk) at the 6 minute mark in the 3rd quarter.  Not what we expected out of our leader.  At this point, Brown decides to even give Daniel Gibson a chance.

Boom, another Ray Allen 3 and we're down 73-52.  Antawn answers with one of his own, but it was too little too late.  Another LeBrick, making him 1/9 from the field. 

We literally just keep getting owned in the 4th quarter.  It's pretty hard to watch.  I can't even defend this pathetic performance.  It's 92-68, and I'm starting to think it's time to turn this game off.  The quarter drags on, while we wonder what LeBron could possibly be thinking.  The game comes to a merciful end, and we lose by 32 points.  This is the worst playoff defeat in Cavaliers history.  Shaquille O' Neal leads the Cavs with 21 (not good).  LeBron scores 15 points.  15 points.  15 freaking points.. in the biggest game of his career. 

Now, I think we should all just take a second and really assess this game.  Sure, LeBron looked like he would have rather been anywhere else.  The rest of the Cavs, except for Shaq, looked like they were ready to fold as well.  However, stop all the nonsense.  This series is still up for grabs.  Granted, the Celtics have the momentum, and a chance to close out out tomorrow at home. 

The fact of the matter is this.  This team can come together and win 2 games in a row.  Have some faith people.  Maybe LeBron wanted to add a little more excitement to the series.  Wasn't it just last Friday that LeBron scored 21 in the first quarter verses this team, in Boston?  Essentially, if we win tomorrow night, the series shifts back into our favor.  Stop all the talk about LeBron being done in Cleveland.  We're down, but not out.  Sometimes, even The King needs to take a night off.  Kind of a shame he chose Game 5 in a tied series to do it, but LeBron does what he wants.  LeBron James is still Underrated