Game 5: Dogfight

Never, ever could you have imagined that a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series that probably isn't going past five games would create various rap beefs overlapping guys from the likes of LeBron James and Jay-Z to Soulja Boy, DeShawn Stevenson, and some dude named ProV. You may have never heard of ProV, but he's got DeShawn Stevenson's back, as well as that of all of D.C.

When a team wins by 30 points Monday and loses by 30 points Thursday, it's not about basketball. It might be about catcalls of "overrated," flagrant fouls, Soulja Boy, Jay-Z, the future of hip-hop and the American recording industry, who does or does not like who, The Big Trade, and a nightclub called Love. But it's not about basketball.

According to the Boston Herald: This just in from the NBA office: Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce and Washington Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson have each been fined $25,000 for making menacing gestures during games played this weekend, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations. The incident...

Regular readers know that I'm no LeBron-apologist. He's a great player, but he settles for the jumper far too often and I think his focus on being a "global icon" instead of a NBA champion is quite troubling. However, with the game on the line, LeBron did what he should do - he took the ball to the rim. Granted, if he would have made the bucket, the debate over...

Brendan Haywood told LeBron James to "just play basketball." Really? A frontcourt player whose team just got wiped by 20 on the boards in a critical Game 4 is going to tell LeBron James to play basketball? A guy with a 7.5 point and 5.9 rebound career averages whose team is about to get knocked out by the Cavs for a third straight season is going to tell the Cavaliers superstar what to do?

A roundup of the Cavs performance 4 games into playoffs, with a hat tip to real players behind the Cavs performance and a hope of not jinxing future success.

There's something in the water of journalists covering the Cleveland Cavaliers......it's called LeBron James Tang.

Realizing too late what he's saying, I frantically signal for Charles to stop. We're doomed. Might as well shake hands and get on the bus to DC. Charles never lets me down as a negative indicator.

You hate to be pessimistic on this mash-up of bloggers, 80's hairstyle and cocaine references, but its no good for the league to have LeBron James not capitalize on a series that's has been broiled beef from the opening tip. Bald Bull could commit a flagrant 1 on James at this point, and you would still expect LBJ23 to get up and hit the back end of the And-1.

The NBA, Hip Hop and entertainment have always been closely linked, but now this is just going too far.

It's kind of sad that the most compelling thing about the Cavs/Wizards series is all the drama surrounding the ongoing feud between LeBron James and DeShawn Stevenson, though I have to admit I love hearing clueless announcers describe the insult in LeBron's comparison of DeShawn to Soulja Boy. Then Soulja Boy shows up and meets Stevenson before the Wizards go on to blow the Cavs...

The epic battle between Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James has gone back and forth, and started when Melo was a scrappy short haired buck at Oak Hill, and Lebron a long hair high-flyer at St.Mary's. No it's not the other way around.