The Cleveland Cavaliers will not win an NBA championship this season.

Sorry, Cavs fans. You’re all going to have to wait a little bit longer to taste the champagne because this Cavaliers team, the way it is currently constructed, is not good enough to win in June.

Here are four reasons why the Cavaliers won’t win an NBA title:

1) MIKE BROWN CAN’T COACH OFFENSE
The Cavaliers head coach came from the Gregg Popovich school of defense, but that seems to be the only thing he took with him to Cleveland. Brown can preach and teach defense, but he is an awful offensive coach. His set plays are so basic you might think the Cavs are running an offense from the 1960s. LeBron James is the most explosive, athletic and dynamic offensive player in the league but yet Brown has not been able to get him enough easy shots to help ease the gigantic burden placed on James’ shoulders to win games by himself. All too often, James is at the top of the circle running Brown’s 1-4 set. TNT”s Charles Barkley has said, in more than one occasion, that LeBron needs to play in a system that will take advantage of his speed and athleticism. Going one-on-three 80% of the time can be a bit taxing. Night after night, LeBron has had to work extremely hard for his baskets, and Brown has not done a thing to help his superstar. This kind of vanilla offense may work during the regular season, but it’s not going to get it done in the postseason. Brown’s latest concoction is this ridiculous experiment that has centers Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas on the court at the same time. This makes the Cavs extremely slow on offense and defense, and it curtails James’ urge to push the ball and create fastbreak opportunities. As long as Mike Brown is the coach, the Cavaliers are not a championship team.

Coach Mike Brown and point guard Mo Williams don't seem to have that championship quality.

2) MO WILLIAMS IS NOT A STAR
To win an NBA title, you have to have a great 1-2 punch. I’ve always believed that if you give LeBron James an All-Star player to play with, the Cavaliers will be a powerhouse. I think it’s safe to say that the Cavaliers should keep looking for that All-Star player because it is certainly not Mo Williams. The much-celebrated offseason acquisition in 2008 has been somewhat of a disappointment. Sure he made the All-Star team last season, but that was only because LeBron begged the league to select him. Williams is not a clutch player, and it clearly showed during the playoffs. Though he finished with decent statistics, when it mattered most, Williams was MIA. He was outplayed by Rafer Alston in the series against Orlando and his decision-making got progressively worse as the games got close. The biggest play he made during the 2008-09 playoffs was his inbounds pass to James that resulted him LeBron’s game-winning shot in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. If Mo Williams wants to be the Scottie Pippen and be the No. 2 guy behind LeBron, he has to step it up big time. He has a career average of 17 PPG, but those numbers were built on against inferior opponents. Williams has to realize he’s no longer in Milwaukee where games don’t matter. He’s playing with The King in Cleveland. If Williams wants to be considered an All-Star, he needs to play like one.

3) TOO MANY OF THE SAME SLOW PIECES
The addition of Shaq made the Cavs bigger up front but it didn’t fix the Cavaliers’ vulnerability against quicker and more athletic big men. Matter of fact, Cleveland became more rigid and are now even more susceptible to quicker and more athletic frontcourts. At this stage of his career, O’Neal is a liability on defense and struggles against the pick-and-roll offense. The same can be said about Ilgauskas. Big Z got exposed big time in last year’s conference finals when the bigger and quicker Dwight Howard ran circles around him. The third part of Cleveland’s three-headed frontcourt problem is Anderson Varejao. Now, Varejao is a unique player who brings boundless energy to the court. However, he’s very limited offensively and lacks a consistent jump shot to space the court when he plays with Big Z or Shaq. In an ideal situation, Varejao is a backup at best. He’s great when he plays just 20 minutes, but when you stretch him to 30 minutes his effectiveness is compromised. He is much more effective in spurts where he can change the tempo with his hustle and can frustrate opponents with his nonstop action. When the Cavs got Shaq, they should have signed a big man who can shoot.

4) LEBRON’S LONG-TERM COMMITMENT
It would help the franchise if LeBron just said “Yes” to a contract extension and put all the rumors to bed. But his continued posturing and constant hints about playing elsewhere doesn’t exactly put the Cavaliers management, coaches, players and fans at ease. LeBron holds all the cards and he’s playing them like he has all the chips on the table – which he does. I find it amusing that he’s even considering playing in New York. The Knicks are a mess. Why would LeBron sign with a team that is about to unload half of its roster just to accommodate him? The allure of playing in Madison Square Garden and being in the center of the media storm can’t be that attractive when you’re playing for a lottery team. If LeBron James is serious about making Cleveland a champion, he needs to commit to the franchise long term.

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Delonte West returned to the court on Saturday night, and it’s not the court where a jury decides his fate.

This time, the only people who were judging West were the 20,000 Cavaliers fans in attendance at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, and they delivered an uplifting verdict to the troubled Cavaliers guard.

West scored 13 points in 24 minutes off the bench in Cleveland’s 90-79 victory over the Bobcats, all of them coming in the second half when he finally got rid of the rust. It was his first game back since getting arrested in September on weapons charges.

Cavaliers guard Delonte West, right, is defended by Raymond Felton of the Bobcats (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Cavaliers fans were not the only ones who were happy to see West back on the court.

LeBron James was glad to have West back in the rotation because he knows the 6-3 guard is a key player in the Cavaliers’ hopes of winning an NBA title.

“He’s important to our team. I don’t want to keep stressing on how important he is. I’ve said it 20 times,” James said. “He’s important to our team just like everybody else. He knows how to play the game of basketball and he’s really good.”

And if there were any concerns if West was going to disrupt the flow of the team, James said, “I have said this before, Delonte is one of those guys who doesn’t need to do anything. He can sit out for two weeks, he comes back in and he’s right in the flow. He’s just that type of guy.”

James also noted that the reaction of the fans is something that can have a lasting impact on his teammate’s confidence.

“We’ve got great fans,” James said. “They get behind whoever is part of this team. That was great for Delonte the fans did that for him because they didn’t have to do at all.”

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LeBron James returned from missing a game with the flu and scored 22 points in 19 minutes in a 105-98 preseason loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.

James, who said before the game his flu recovery was going well, was 7 of 14 from the field and had six rebounds. He’s still expected to sit out Saturday’s game against Dallas.

LeBron James, right, is defended by Spurs guard Keith Bogans during a preseason game in San Antonio. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Along with James, Darnell Jackson and Coby Karl of the Cavaliers also tested positive for Influenza A. Six Cleveland players have had flu-like symptoms this week. Karl and Jackson returned with James, and Cleveland coach Mike Brown said everyone was on the upswing.

James stayed home Wednesday when the Cavs lost to Washington. He had spent two days in bed battling the bug but arrived in Texas looking refreshed.

James has said he believes he may have gotten the flu from the shot he and his teammates got recently to fight the virus. The Cavs treated James, Jackson and Karl as if they had the H1N1 virus but have only tested positive for Influenza A. The team has not gotten the results to see whether they had H1N1.

Jackson scored four points in 23 minutes and Karl went 1 for 7 from the field, finishing with two points.

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The acquisition of center Shaquille O'Neal gives Cleveland a low-post presence and a four-time world champion. (GETTY IMAGES)

I’ve always believed that if LeBron James ever got another superstud to play alongside with, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be NBA champs. Since 2003, when the Cavaliers made James the face of their franchise, the Cavs are still searching for LeBron’s super sidekick.

Carlos Boozer would have been that superstud, but he didn’t stay long enough to see James grow into the most valuable player in the league. Drew Gooden was a nice replacement, but he’s not exactly the kind of low-post presence who commanded double teams. The Cavs gave Larry Hughes $70 million to be LeBron’s wingman, but he failed miserably and couldn’t stay upright long enough to make any kind of an impact. Mo Williams is the latest player to wear the “second-fiddle hat,” but he greatly disappointed Cleveland during the Eastern Conference finals against Orlando.

Now, enter the Shaq Fu.

Cleveland and Phoenix recently finalized a deal that sent 15-time All-Star Shaquille O’Neal to the Cavs in exchange for the expiring contracts of Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic, a second-round pick and cash. The O’Neal deal is a clear indication that GM Danny Ferry is doing everything in his power to please James and try to piece together a team he believes can compete for an NBA title.

Ferry feels that having O’Neal’s 7-1, 350-pound mass in the post can help diffuse some of the issues the Cavs had with Orlando center Dwight Howard, who was too quick for Zydrunas Ilgauskas and too big for Anderson Varejao. The Diesel can also take some pressure off James on offense. LeBron can take some possessions off and dump the ball in the post to Shaq, who is still an effective low-post scorer evidence by his 17-point average last season and his 60% shooting percentage.

The downside of the O’Neal deal is that the Diesel is down to his final gallon on his tank. He turns 38 in March when the postseason begins to heat up, he is injury-prone and his pick-and-roll defense has gotten worse and worse as he gets older. Shaq also will take up some of LeBron’s driving space in the painted area and he does not finish around the basket with the same ferocity.

Another potential problem that could surface is the Mike Brown-Shaq-LeBron power struggle. If LeBron is the king of Cleveland then Shaq won’t settle being the lead general of the troops, which means Brown’s voice will mean little in the Cavs’ huddle. Shaq is the stepson of a military father. He grew up in an environment where positions, titles and accomplishments are of great importance.

In L.A., Shaq trusted Phil Jackson because Jackson had the rings to earn that trust. In Miami, Shaq pushed Stan Van Gundy out of the way because he couldn’t see himself take orders from a guy who has never won an NBA title. As soon as Pat Riley took over the Heat, Shaq gathered the troops and followed Riles all the way to the Finals.

Ferry has done his part in delivering a big piece to Cleveland’s championship puzzle. Now, it is up to Coach Brown to make it work on the court.

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Dwight Howard, also known as Superman II, soared over Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals and landed in the NBA Finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Dwight Howard is Superman II. LeBron James is Iron Man. The two collided in the Eastern Conference finals and the end result was a ground-shaking victory for the superhero from Orlando.

Howard, the self-proclaimed Man of Steel, put on his red cape Saturday night, loaded his teammates on his back and lifted the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals for the second time in the history of the franchise after defeating Cleveland, 103-90, in Game 6 to win the seven-game series at 4-2. The other time Orlando played in the NBA’s biggest stage was in 1995 when Superman I – aka Shaquille O’Neal – was flying high, protecting and serving the people of the Magic City.

You could say O’Neal was Christopher Reeve and Howard is Brandon Routh.

Now that O’Neal is basically retired in Smallville, Ariz., Howard is the new defender of truth, justice and conspiracy theorists. Howard crashed the much anticipated party of Kobe and LeBron, soaring over Cleveland and landing in Los Angeles where Orlando will play Game 1 of the NBA Finals against Bryant’s Lakers.

It’s not the dream matchup Vitamin Water, ESPN/ABC and Nike were hoping for but that’s where we are at. Nike execs are not exactly crying over their Armani suits because they still have the Lakers in the Finals, the NBA’s crown jewel that moves the ratings meter and the franchise with 30 appearances in the Finals.

Maybe the guys in Madison Avenue should flip the script and include Howard in those Most Valuable Puppets commercials. A Dwight Howard vs. Kobe Bryant showdown may not be as sexy, but it has great potential. It’s Superman II vs. The Black Mamba. Or, is it Superman II vs. Darth Vader?

Let the Twittering begin!

Bryant, the most dangerous player in the league, calls himself The Black Mamba because of his ability to strike rapidly with uncanny accuracy from anywhere on the court. But Kobe loves being the villain. He is at his best when he can sense weakness in his opponent and takes great pleasure in ripping someone’s heart. A huge “Star Wars” fan, Kobe is the perfect Darth Vader – the anti-hero who is cold, calculated and menacing on the outside, but emotionally scarred on the inside.

Kobe won’t easily intimidate Howard and the Magic because Orlando is confident it can stand toe to toe with L.A., having dropped the Lakers twice during the regular season. Orlando is one of the few teams in the league that can match up with the Lakers’ length in the frontcourt and can throw a couple of capable defenders at Bryant in Courtney Lee and Mickael Pietrus.

Conversely, the Lakers have the bigs to lean on Howard and keep him occupied. The game within the game will come down to this: Will the Lakers send a second defender at Howard? Back in 1995, Orlando surrounded Shaq with 3-point snipers, aka the Super Friends, that included Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson and Dennis “3-D” Scott to prevent teams from crowding O’Neal. This time, the HD version of the Super Friends are named Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Rafer Alston and Pietrus who complement’s Howard’s devastating inside game.

The Super Friends were critical to Orlando’s improbable run to the Finals, but make no mistake about it Orlando’s world revolves around the man with the massive shoulders and wears No. 12. Howard posted superb numbers against Cleveland despite fouling out in three of the six games.

“I believe in my team, first of all, I believe that if we come out every night and play our brand of basketball we can beat anybody,” Howard said. “If we run, defend and rebound we can win a lot of games. Since I’ve been here, everybody has written us off. But we continue to work everyday, we put in the work in the gym to become a better team. We’re not at our best yet, but I’m happy with our progress.

“I think we started to bring back some Magic in Orlando. That’s one of the goals a I set out to do when I first got here. I felt like we were a laughing stock around the league. When everybody played the Magic they thought about Disney World. So, I just wanted to change that.”

In the series-clinching win, Howard changed the flow of the game by establishing his dominance early, scoring 21 points in the first half on 8-of-12 shooting and powered the Magic to a commanding 18-point lead at halftime.

“I don’t know what else he could have done. He was fantastic. He was unbelievable today,” said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy of Howard. Van Gundy also took a swipe at the perception that Howard is “too nice” or “too goofy” for his own good and does not have the killer instinct to knock out an opponent.

“He was smiling, by the way, and yet was able to play well. Imagine that,” Van Gundy said with sarcasm.

“I thought (Howard) did a lot of great things today. I thought that he protected the basket and didn’t worry about what was going to happen on calls,” Van Gundy added. “And I thought the other thing he did really, really well was run. I thought that wore on them. I thought he was making good plays, scoring when they didn’t double and pass out when they did double. What the post-up game allowed us to do was just settle in, get back and defend them on the break and we can work the clock a little bit.”

Before tip-off, Howard sent one powerful text message to his teammates that really resonated with all of them: “Dominate.”

When Superman has something to say, everyone listens.

“I just told them that when they wake up today, think about dominating. Come to the shoot-around and think about dominating. When they get to the gym, to the game, think about dominating,” Howard said. He made good on his own mission statement with a career-playoff high 40 points and was his usual beastly self in the paint with 14 rebounds.

“He pretty much carried us on his back. He came out and he was dominant,” Lewis said of Orlando’s 23-year-old All-Star center, who made 14 of 21 field goals, converted 12 of 16 free throws and, according to Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, made the correct play eight out of 10 times when the Cavaliers decided to double team him.

“Dwight was a monster. He was a monster early on. They got a big lead because of it. With the way Dwight was playing, it kinda set the tone for the rest of the game,” Brown admitted.

As dominating as Howard was, James was equally impressive and more than did his part to keep the Cavaliers in the series, winning two games by himself. He won Game 2 with a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer that had all of Cleveland rocking. In Game 5, he scored  17 points in the fourth quarter and had a hand in 32 of the Cavs’ final 34 points to send the series back to Orlando.

But Cleveland’s Iron Man finally showed his human side in Game 6. The MVP of the regular season, who entered the sixth game of the series with a robust 41-point average, could not muster another superhuman performance. Hard to blame him considering he had to carry 11 other guys on his bionic shoulders.

James clearly emptied his tank during the series. Prior to Game 6, James’ numbers were astounding: 41 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, making 50% of his field goals while playing 44 minutes. But on the night the Cavaliers saw their season come to a bitter end, James was just 8-of-20 from the field, 2-of-8 from 3-point range and limited to 25 points.

While Superman got stronger as the series got longer, Iron Man simply just ran out of energy.

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Despite a record-setting performance during the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron James is out of the playoffs. (GETTY IMAGES)

LeBron James was so disappointed his Cleveland Cavaliers are out of the NBA playoffs, he immediately left the Amway Arena floor as soon as the final buzzer sounded, skipped the postgame news conference and rushed to the team bus without speaking to reporters.

It was an indication James feels that his Cavaliers, as they are currently constructed, do not have the right pieces to contend for a championship. Cleveland won 66 games during the regular season and James won MVP, but that is all for nothing because the Magic bounced the Cavs in six games and, at the end of the conference finals, The James Gang is still a one-man team.

Eric Snow, who now works for NBA TV, was disappointed his former teammate bypassed the mandatory media session. “He has to come out and talk. Enough said, Bron. You gotta come out and talk. You’re the leader of this team. You come out, you lead, you answer questions, represent your team like you’ve done all season long and you go back on the bus.”

Snow continued, “I know you’re upset; everyone is upset for you. But that’s what you have to do. That’s what leaders do. Leaders go out there and they do the things that are hard. The things that you don’t want to do. That’s what you come out there and get that done. You move on, set the example and the tone for your team to get by this and move on for next season.”

Cleveland coach Mike Brown blamed the loss to poor execution in crucial times. How about lack of talent? It’s the 800-pound elephant in the room that everyone, including Brown, seem to be ignoring.

“We had one goal in mind and we came up short. We came up short because we didn’t execute early on – on both ends of the floor,” Brown said. “It wasn’t about a lack of effort, it wasn’t about a lack of passion, it wasn’t about a lack of heart. Our guys have that. They displayed that the entire year.”

No one is questioning Cleveland’s effort. It’s amazing this team got this far for having so many flaws. They don’t have a consistent second scorer, they’re bench is very average at best and if Anderson Varejao gets in foul trouble, they don’t have a reliable power forward off the bench. Ben Wallace was nonexistent throughout the series and made a crucial mistake by getting picked off by Dwight Howard late in Game 4 that allowed Rashard Lewis an open look at a 3-point shot.

Though James – who averaged nearly 40 points per game, eight rebounds and eight assists during the series – will not publicly call anyone out, much of the blame points to Mo Williams. The Cavaliers point guard had a forgettable series and his unreliable jump shot kept a second and sometimes a third defender in James’ path. When Williams was asked if there was anything more he could have done in the series, he replied, “No.”

Even though Williams averaged a decent 18 points in the series, his 35% 3-point shooting was far below his playoff average. Williams also added extra pressure on himself by guaranteeing that the Cavaliers would advance to the NBA Finals. Big words for someone who has never done anything in the playoffs. We ain’t in Milwaukee anymore, Mo!

ESPN’s Chris Broussard brought up LeBron’s quick exit from the locker room to the bus, to which Williams responded by saying: “Obviously, you’re gonna be disappointed, obviously you’re gonna be hurting inside because you know that you had a team to get it done. And I can understand that disappointment because I’m feeling that same disappointment. At the end of the day, LeBron is a great professional. He’s a very intelligent basketball player. This is motivation and drive for him. I’m 110 percent sure that he’ll be alright.”

Williams continued, “Basically, it’s like you’re at Christmas time and you want that remote control car you’ve been beggin’ you’re mom the whole time. Christmas comes and you open up a present, you open up another present, another present and you never see that remote control car. You could have 10 presents, you don’t have that remote control car you’re gonna be sad and disappointed. But you’ll get over it.”

Funny how Williams would use the Christmas toy analogy because guess what LeBron will be wishing for during the offseason? A player who can help him win a championship.

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Mo Williams' 17 points was not good enough to back up LeBron James' game-high 49 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. (GETTY IMAGES)

If Mo Williams wants to be Robin to LeBron James’ Batman, he needs to play a lot better and be more of a factor in the Eastern Conference finals.

Williams, Cleveland’s much-celebrated offseason acquisition and a first-time All-Star this season, made just 6 of 19 shots from the field and was 2 for 8 from 3-point range in Cleveland’s 107-106 loss to Orlando in Game 1 at the Q. His 17 points may have been good enough for a regular-season victory, but these are the conference finals – a place Williams has never been in. He admitted before the game that he missed his pre-game nap because he was so anxious to play.

It almost seemed like James was playing one-on-five against the Magic for most of the game as the rest of the Cavaliers showed up late to the dance. James scored a career-playoff high 49 points, making 20 of 30 shots. The rest of team made 23 of 58 shots.

James hinted that he may have shot his team out of rhythm in Game 1, but Williams knew better and immediately squashed any criticism headed in James’ way for taking too many shots.

“Offensively, we were stagnant at times. Maybe because I felt the hot hand. I got back to the one-on-one play I had in the past,” James said. Before another reporter could ask the next question, Williams said, “I want to add to that last (statement). I don’t think him (LeBron) going one-one-one was the factor. I think he had it going and that’s part of our offense; him to attack his man. The biggest key to the game was myself. I have to take pressure off (LeBron).”
“I’m looking at the stats, and I’m looking at Dwight (Howard) and I’m looking at Rashard (Lewis) and I’m looking at Hedo (Turkoglu), and those three guys were terrific,” Williams said about Orlando’s big three. “And I look at myself … 6 for 19, Bron is 20 for 30 from the field. He can go one-on-one all he wants but I got 19 shots still. It wasn’t him.”

Howard scored 30 points and had 13 rebounds, Lewis scored 22 points – including the game-winning 3-pointer – and Turkoglu had 15 points and 14 assists.

Williams had a chance to atone for his poor Game 1 performance when James whipped a pass his way with under 10 seconds left and the Cavs down by one. Instead of pump-faking his defender and taking one dribble to step into a potential game-winning jump shot, he swung a pass to Delonte West in the corner for a 3-pointer, which he missed.

At the end of the day, James was bleeding and cramping after playing 41 hard minutes. Williams knows he needs to step his game up if the Cavaliers are going to advance to the NBA Finals. He knows full well that Batman cannot do it alone. Every once in a while, Robin needs to take the steering wheel of the Batmobile and drive Batman out of harms way.

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LeBron James would love to bring a championship to Cleveland. (GETTY IMAGES)

LeBron James is a true resident expert of Cleveland sports lore. He knows all too well the monumental failures of professional sports teams in Cleveland.

After the Akron native powered the Cavaliers to a 66-16 regular-season record, clinching home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs, James immediately turned his attention to the bigger picture – winning a championship. It is something Cleveland fans have not tasted since 1948 when Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Larry Doby led the Cleveland Indians to a World Series victory.

“The thing is with the history of the Cavaliers, you go to the last shot by Jordan … then you go to the final drive with John Elway … and then you go to Jose Mesa, you know, the debacle in the bottom of the ninth. I mean, it’s bad. And Cleveland fans know,” said James, who basically captured a lot of the painful memories of Cleveland sports fans with one comment. The ones he did not bring up were the scars from Earnest Byner’s fumble in the 1988 AFC title game against Elway’s Broncos, and the Indians’ inability to close the deal in the 1995 and 2007 World Series.

“For us to be in a position to make them forget about that, we’ve done that thus far,” James added. “But, we still got a long way to go, and hopefully we can erase all those memories.”

For the past 60 years, Cleveland pro teams have endured a series of mishaps and just plain bad luck that has left the city starving for a title. The day LeBron James became a member of the Cavaliers, which was at the start of the 2003-04 season, Cleveland fans believed that was the day the Cavs turned the corner. Because of his God-given ability to soar above the competition and part any defense with his massive frame, James was annointed as the Chosen One – the one to lift the city of Cleveland to a place it has never been in six decades.

Before LeBron, visions of Michael Jordan beating three Cavalier defenders to the top of the circle and rising over Craig Ehlo for a game-winning jump shot during the 1989 NBA playoffs was the best thing anyone could remember. Now, LeBron is changing everyone’s perception and the dream is beginning to look more and more like reality.

Six years after the Cavs made him the No. 1pick in the draft, James has the Cavaliers in the best position to win the franchise’s first NBA championship. Because the Cavs own the best record in the league, they don’t have to win a road game to win a title. The road to the NBA Finals goes through Cleveland. How’s that for a stage-setter?

But before the James Gang gets fitted with championship rings, they need to exocise the demons of Cleveland’s past, which means getting past the defending world champs in the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference, and surviving a looming and inevitable showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

A Cavs-Lakers final is the dream matchup NBA officials are hoping for because it also means LeBron James will be pitted against Kobe Bryant with the title of “best player on the planet” on the line. The NBA playoffs are all about “Can your best player outplay my best player?” In their two regular-season meetings, Kobe put the handcuffs on LeBron and the Lakers swept the season series. Based on that, should LeBron’s Cavaliers face Kobe’s Lakers in the NBA Finals, Cleveland fans are not going to like the end result.

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