The Three G’s

The Three G’s took over last night’s Game 4 between the Cavs and Pistons. Gooden, Gibson and God.  OK, well not God but the basketball God of , LeBron James, I just needed another ‘G’ to make this work.  How great was that game to watch?

Being at the game, my first postseason game, was an amazing thrill. I
watched first hand as Daniel Gibson become a man, Gooden looked at his
hands after big shots and LeBron put them all on his shoulders and maybe, finally, learned on to finish off big games.

After two games of cricism from everyone with a mouth, LeBron has
responded the possible way; winning two games, evening the series, and
taking over the fourth quarter while making big shots down the stretch. It was an absolute thing of beauty, except the third quarter, which they better improve on for Game 5.

Two plays stand out in my mind.  There probably would be more but being
at the game and screaming for three hours has my head not thinking right.

The first was Gibson play in the third quarter.  When no one else wanted to do anything he stepped up.  The play of the quarter was Gibson driving to the basket, getting fouled, then getting close-lined and cheap-shotted on by Chris Webber.  What does Boobie do?  He doesn’t retaliant, he smiles, laughs it off and calmly steps up and hits three free throws in a row.  Gibson, known for his outside shooting, showed what happens when you take the ball hard to the hole.  You go to the line and if you name is Boobie, you hit 12 for 12 while you’re there.  Gibson played much bigger than his 6’2” 190 (a generous listing).  The question with Hughes not avaliable was would Gibson became a man or flounder under the pressure.  Safe to say he was a man last night.

The second, of course, was done by LeBron.  His two free throws to ice the game with 4 seconds left was fantastic.  I’m not always the most confident guy when LeBron steps up to the line but last night you just knew he was making them.  If there was any doubt, it was earsed when Hip tried to talk to LeBron, a la LeBron to Gilbert Aneras in last year’s playoffs.  LeBron just pushed him away, and won the game.  No way was he missing after he pushed Hip away.

 The 3-G’s.  And in a Z, a little D by Sasha, mix in some H by Andy and you got yourself a winning combo.  Keep it up and Game 6 could be the first series clinching win in Cleveland.  GO CAVS!

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Cavs Fans Rocked Last Night

For the first time in this postseason, make that in my life, I attended a Cavs playoff game.  What an experience!  It was incredible.  Everyone got wine colored “Beat Detroit” t-shirts and a white “Rise Up” towel.  It was so loud inside we couldn’t even hear the Cavs starting line up being introduced.  It was just a constant loud cheer that grew to deafening everytime a new players picture was put up on the gigantic scoreboard.  Seeing over 20,000 people all standing, all wearing wine, all waving a white towel, was an absolute beautiful sight.  Remember the scene from “Major League” when the Indians were about to win the pennent and the camera panned the entire stadium and showed all the crazy fans cheering and screaming?  It was like that only for real.  I can’t believe I have a voice left this morning.
We, the crowd, were into the game from before the introductions to well after the streamers and confedi came down.  Chants of “Let’s Go Cavs” and “Beat De-Troit” rang out when the Cavs had the ball and “De-fense” and “De-troit Sucks” followed on the defensive end on nearly every possession.  One of the best chants of the nights came just before halftime when Charles Barkley made his way to the TNT table.  “Barkley Sucks” started with a guy just one section over and quickly filled the entire arena.

There were two points in the night which highlight how great the crowd,
especially in the cheap seats were (I say cheap seat losely since the cheapest is $40).  The first came when LeBron James went to the line with 4 seconds left and the Cavs leading by two.  I called my brother, who live in North Carolina.  This was our conversation:

Me: “I just want you to hear how loud this place gets.”
Him: “I can’t hear anything.”
Me: “Just listen.”
The crowd quiets down as LBJ toes the line. First free throw is up and
in.  Crowd explodes.  After about 10 second…
Me:  “How about that.”
Him:  “Yeah that was loud.”
Me:  “Just wait til he makes this one.”
LeBron does make the second one and I have never heard a place so loud.
  I just held the phone up and let my brother listen for about a minute
before I just hung up because I had to get back to clapping, yelling
and towel waving.

The second point I learned after the game.  Three of my buddies, was sitting in the upper section but snuck their way down to the lower bowl at halftime.  I talked to him after the game and he said as good as the seats were, he hated it there.  The third quarter was not a good quarter for the Cavs has it has been all postseason, something they have to change in Game 5.  They said the crowd down there, when things weren’t going good, seemed disinterested and even started booing.  With a few minutes left in the third, they said screw this and went back up to their old seats.  There, the true fans, were stil cheering and yelling, trying to get the Cavs back in the game.

For most of the game the crowd was standing, especially on key possessions or after a big play.  But from teh 6:04 mark of the fourth quarter, no one sat down.  It was constant cheering, ranting, raving, towel waving.  It was by for the best $40 I’ve spent this year.  I would have paid even more to be there and I think will if the opportunity comes again.  I can’t believe I actually had friends who didn’t want to go because they would rather watch it on TV.  Bad
move.  They don’t know what they missed.

When the game ended, the in arena interview was with Gooden.  The reporter asked him something, you couldn’t really hear because the crowd was still extremely loud.  The first thing Gooden said, “Man, I love you guys.” as he looked up and around the crowd.  The fans responded with yet another deafening roar.  Can’t wait for Game 6.

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