Kevin Garnett is out injured for 2 to 3 weeks and the Boston Celtics are on the hunt for victories and a replacement player.

The good news is they found a victory with Rajon Rondo leading the charge. Rondo had 32 points to lead the Garnettless Celtics against the Amare-less Suns.

On the replacement player front, the Boston Celtics are looking at Joe Smith at Oklahoma City. Joe was traded to New Orleans and then the deal was nullified with the Okies received a defective player.

“I didn’t know what to think before the trade deadline. You heard so many things. And now it’s almost the same situation. I hear my name as far as being bought out and a lot of teams inquiring about it. But I really don’t know. I don’t expect anything to happen, but I’m not sure.”

source

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There was 1:47 left in the game and the greatest player currently playing in the NBA (well, except maybe for Kobe) on the planet had the ball in his hands.

The score was 87 to 82. The game was in hand. The Cavaliers would win game 5. This playoff thing was easy.

LeBron milked the clock. The cameras showed the Cleveland Coach Mike Brown and he looked tense. LeBron shoots and misses a three by three feet. Washington flies down the court forces up a shot and gets the rebound and scores.

Cleveland would continue to mild the clock with LeBron now passing and other players missing shots.

First, James missed a wild 3-pointer and Daniel Gibson followed with another 3-point miss. Joe Smith missed a short jumper and Zydrunas Ilgauskas missed a tip shot. Instead of going strong to the hole or at least forcing the officials to call a foul, the Cavs settled for the pretty outside shots.
source

Washington would continue to race down the court and score, until they were 1 point behind. Then they put the ball in Caron Butler’s hands. He had been hot all night. Caron drove on LeBron James and scored the game winner.

The Washington Wizards had won the game 88 – 87 and my thoughts were on the Cleveland Coach. Would Mike Brown retain his job for next year?

The final shot by Washington was taken by Caron Butler, who had 32 to LeBron James 34. Here is what he was thinking before the shot.

“I didn’t want to settle,” Butler said. “I didn’t want to look back on the season and say I settled for a jump shot and probably bailed out the defender. I wanted to just try to go in there and get contact and try to get it to go in.”

source

This YouTube will show Caron’s brilliant night including his final shot.

It is back to Washington for a game 6 and Caron Butler is the hero.

NBA Basketball special comment The old it ain’t over till it is over. Cleveland mismanaged the final minute of the game. LeBron can’t be expected to win everything.

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LeBron James career scoring leader for the Cav’s at the tender age of 23

LeBron did it in 168 less games than Brad Daugherty.

LeBron James now has 10,414 points.

Oh, and his team won, too.

Cleveland 90 Toronto 83

Coach Mike Brown pointed out LeBron is only 23.

The sellout crowd at Quicken Loans Arena immediately rose to give James a thundering ovation and when Brown called a timeout, the All-Star forward first walked to the bench to receive high-fives and hugs from his teammates.

Then, he walked to the center of the court to acknowledge Cleveland’s fans, who serenaded him with “MVP” chants throughout the evening.

“These fans have watched me go from zero points to 10,000” he said. “They’ve seen me go from a young man to a man now. It’s one of the best experiences I’ve had. To be the all-time leader is something that I never dreamed of. But now that it’s here, it’s an unbelievable feeling.” source

Perhaps Joe Smith said it best.

“It took me 13 years to get 10,000 points,” Cavs forward Joe Smith said. “It goes to show what kind of talent he is. I know he has at least 30,000 more in him.”

Long live the King, LeBron James.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will LeBron someday get to 30,000 points?

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Cleveland beat the Memphis Grizzlies.

108 – 89.

And all the new guys played and played well.

LeBron thinks it will work out just fine.

Coach Mike Brown cautions them to take it one game at a time.

Still, even though it was only the Grizzlies, it was a victory and everyone was excited from the beginning.

“It brought some energy to the building,” Brown said. “It was energy from the fans because of the new players.”

Ben Wallace, who started at power forward, scored 12 points, tying his season high, and had 10 rebounds, while Delonte West, the starter at point guard, scored five points with six assists.

The other two players picked up in the deal, forward Joe Smith and guard Wally Szczerbiak, came off the bench late in the first quarter. Smith scored 14 points while Szczerbiak had 10. source

For Big Ben it was especially pleasing to have the crowd at his back like in the old days with the Detroit Pistons.

Wallace, the target of criticism by Bulls fans, enjoyed his new home.

“The crowd was great,” he said. “I didn’t get booed. That’s new for me.”

James was pleased with Wallace’s contributions.

“He showed it tonight, his ability to get up and rebound and his ability to throw down dunks,” James said. “And he made free throws, too.”

It didn’t take long for the newcomers to make an impact. Wallace brought the crowd to its feet with a dunk less than 2 minutes into the game and West hit a 3 midway through the period.

There were even T-shirts.

His arrival even was celebrated at the souvenir stands, where T-shirts proclaiming ”BIG BEN A CAVALIER” were on sale. source

Well, it was only one game and Coach Mike Brown is probably right about taking it one game at a time, but LeBron is happy and that means a lot!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Big Ben make the Cavalier difference?

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This is a monster trade by Cleveland, Chicago, and Seattle.

Cleveland gets Ben Wallace and Joe Smith from Chicago and forward Wally Szczerbiak and guard Delonte West from the SuperSonics.

Danny Ferry, the Cleveland GM, immediately announced they were good enough to win the title.

Hold on, there.

All four players were underperforming, especially Ben Wallace.

Now as a huge Pistons fan, your intrepid author likes Ben Wallace a lot, but he is 33 years old. His best years are behind him. You also gave up Dwight Gooden to get him. Expect Ben to play excellent defense, but will he be able to rebound like days gone by? Most likely not.

Here is a rundown on the trade.

In an 11 player three-team blockbuster trade, the Cavaliers acquired Chicago’s Ben Wallace and Joe Smith, Seattle’s Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West before the trade deadline closed on Thursday, two league sources confirmed.

The Cavaliers sent Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons to the Bulls, and Donyell Marshall to the Sonics. Seattle also gets the expiring contracts of Chicago’s Adrian Griffin and Cleveland’s Ira Newble. source

LeBron James

Still LeBron James has to be happy. His current cast was going nowhere and Ben is an intimidator, Smith and Szczerbiak give you scoring, and West is young. It will help LeBron to have more outside shooting around him than Daniel Gibson.

Danny Ferry is happy to be out of Larry Hughes contract.

Much like Wallace, Hughes didn’t deliver as the Cavs had hoped. They signed him to a five-year, $60 million free agent deal in 2005, but he struggled with injuries and his jump shot.

Hughes had become a target of abuse at Cleveland home games as fans grumbled with every miss and every mention of a contract—he’s making $12.8 million this season—that seemed untradeable. source

Still, Danny Ferry was trapped. His Superstar, LeBron James, was unhappy and that is not good.

He’s dead serious, though, about getting the Cavaliers their first title. James, who led them to their first finals appearance last season, had publicly campaigned for Ferry to do something before the deadline.

James got his wish. Ferry overhauled the Cavs, trading 60 percent of the starting lineup Brown used Wednesday night.

The deal caps a busy month of trades as several stars, including Shaquille O’Neal, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion and Pau Gasol, all were dealt to new teams. The Gasol swap triggered an arms race of sorts among the Western Conference’s top squads, while this one could have a major impact atop the East.

Will Ben Wallace bring Cleveland the NBA Title?

Probably not, but the mix makes James happy and gives them a shot and that is all he wanted.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can you break down this trade to make LeBron happy?

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