the first defining moment of the playoffs

* I haven't been this fired up for a NBA game since the Lakers / Kings game seven back in 2002.

Moving quickly off-tangent ... I don't think this is a "defining game" for LeBron tonight. That line of thinking is ridiculous. If we're going to use one game as the "benchmark moment" for the kid, why wouldn't you use ...

* 2006 Eastern Semis: Cleveland up 3-2 on Pistons, playing at the Q to close out the series. Cavs lose game six by two, then no-show in a game seven blowout.
* 2007 Eastern Semis: Cleveland up 3-1 on Nets, playing at the Q to close out the series. Cavs lose game five by eleven, before winning game six in the swamps of North Jersey.
* 2007 NBA Finals: Cleveland trailing 0-2 to the Spurs, playing games 3, 4, and (if necessary) game 5 at home. Cavs lose game 3 by three, and lose game four by 1, to get swept in the Finals.
* 2008 Eastern Semis: Cleveland tied 3-3 with the Celtics, playing game seven at the Fake Garden. LBJ scores 45 ... but allows Paul Pierce to score 41, and the Celtics win by five en route to their first championship in 22 years.
* 2009 Eastern Finals: Cleveland trailing 3-2 to the Magic, playing game six in Orlando. The Cavs fail to show up, getting blown out by fifteen to end their season.

Five prior occasions, LBJ had the opportunity to "save the season" so to speak. And he failed. Does that mean he's going to fail tonight? No, absolutely not. If I was a gambling man ... well, I would bet on him failing tonight, if only because I've been predicting the Celtics to win this series in six since before the playoffs began.

But tonight does not "define" LeBron any more than losing two straight game seven's to the Pistons "defined" Michael Jordan. Tonight doesn't define LeBron any more than losing the NCAA Championship Game to Michigan State "defined" Larry Bird, than losing three blowout Super Bowls in four years "defined" john elway, than calling that ill-fated time out in the NCAA Championship Game defined Chris Webber as a crunch time choke artist. (Oh. Sorry, forget about that one, it did pretty much define C Webb).

OK, back to the topic at hand. Cavs at Celtics, game six.

This Cavs / Celtics series hasn't been anything like that Kings / Lakers showdown, arguably the greatest NBA series of my lifetime. Four games decided in overtime or on a buzzer beater. Clutch play everywhere (Horry's game winning three as time expired in game four; Bibby's game winning 18 footer with less than a second left in game five, Bibby and Kobe dueling down the stretch in game seven to force overtime). The only game in this series so far to really be a contest was game four. The Cavs won game one by eight, but it wasn't that close. Games two, three, and five were decided by 23 plus points each.

But this one ... this game six ... who knows what's going to happen?

Is the fired-up Boston crowd going to turn this into yet another blowout for the Celtics? Is LBJ going to take over this game from the opening tip, deliver a pantheon-level performance, and force game seven? Is Mike Brown just going to embrace his lack of basketball intelligence and take the court wearing a Bozo the Clown suit?

This is why I love the NBA. You get a seminal game like this at least once a year in the playoffs, if not more. Last year you had the Nuggets / Lakers Game 5 in the Western Finals, that could have completely shifted the balance of power in the West. The Nuggets blew it late, and the Lakers closed it out two nights later en route to their fourth title of the decade. You also had the Celtics / Magic game seven in the Eastern Semis, that marked the rise of the Magic (and to date, is still the only time the Celtics have lost a series they led 3-2 in franchise history).

2008, you had the Boston / Cleveland Game 7 in the Eastern Semis, as well as the "Comeback Game" in game four of the Finals between the Celtics and Lakers. 2007 you had the ".48 Special" by LeBron against the Pistons in Game 5 of the Eastern Finals. 2006 you had Game Seven of the Western Semis between the Mavs and the Spurs that elevated the Mavericks into favorites status, a status they happily occupied ... until Game Three of the Finals, when Dwayne Wade and Dick Bavetta turned the series around for the Heat.

Tonight is the first "seminal moment" of the 2010 postseason. My guess is Boston stands up at home, with a fired up crowd behind them, and wins comfortably. Something like 95-82. But a 57 point night out of LBJ culminating with a Cavs win at the buzzer wouldn't shock me either. The NBA: Where Anything Can Happen. Can't wait to see what that "anything" is tonight.

* Yes, I know the "big" news of the day is the firing of Royals manager Trey Hillman. I have a lot I want to say about this. It will be its own separate post either later tonight or tomorrow. My quick reaction is "too late to make a difference for 2010", but I'll be there Saturday night to witness the Ned Yost Era's second night first hand. To Ned's credit, it won't take much to improve on Trey Hillman. Simply not sacrifice bunting in the bottom of the first inning shows a higher level of competence and intelligence than Trey Hillman ever did. But there are specific things I want to see the rest of the year. I'll try to lay those out with my thoughts on Hillman's firing later.