Gut Check Time for Cleveland

By: Greg Payne

Bob Cousy was right. I couldn't find the original content, but if you remember back to earlier this season, he made comments about the Cavaliers' roster and how it would fair in the postseason. He basically said something along the lines of, "It's easy for players to hit the big shots now, but when the postseason rolls around and the pressure is really on, they'll fold". Something like that. Could be have been more right?

You see, when you're sitting pretty in first place in the Eastern Conference for most of the season, dominating a team by 15+ points and taking cute fake pictures of each other before games, everything gets easier. But sports always proves what a person is truly made of when their backs are against the wall.

Say the Cavs are up 15 points with 2:12 left in the third quarter. Delonte West hits a layup, making the lead 17. Then, the Cavs get a stop, come the other way and the ball finds Mo Williams sitting behind the three-point line. Now, he rises up and if he hits this shot it will give Cleveland a 20-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, allowing the starters to rest and relax and blah, blah blah. Either way, it's a very important shot, is it not? But it's a much simpler shot knowing you have a 17-point lead still if you miss.

Now, throw the complete opposite situation at Williams. The Cavs are down by a point with five seconds left and the ball finds him behind the three-point line (because LeBron still hides from the last shot the majority of the time). An equally important shot suddenly has so much more behind it. That's when we see what Williams and his Cavalier teammates are really made of. Apparently, they're made of bricks. And not the kind that the big bad wolf couldn't blow down.

Cleveland's swagger is gone. Their nearly flawless record at home, meaningless. Their confidence is shot, no matter what they say. LeBron cannot depend on his teammates anymore, and since he still has yet to prove he can come through in the clutch (he HAD to take that shot in Game 2. There was no other option), Cleveland is suddenly facing a major gut check.

Let's see what they've got.