After toying and disposing of the Toronto Raptors last night, breaking the team record for most consecutive home wins in the process, the Cavaliers jumped on a plane to head to New York to face the Knicks. Yes, another media frenzy as the New York fans and beat writers try to sell the world that playing for a bad basketball team is in the best interest of LeBron James just because New York "is better than" Cleveland.
We all know better, and so does LeBron, but being the flirt that he is he'll put on that smile and tease the Big Apple with more talk of "going to sleep tonight and waking up on July 1st, 2010". LeBron must love being the one athlete that can make the city that never sleeps stop on a dime and take notice.
Back to the game for a minute. We all know Kobe Bryant dropped 61 on the Knicks a couple nights ago, and most are looking for LeBron to try and match. Don;t count on it. LeBron James isn't a scorer by definition. He is, at his best, a fasacilitator who scores when the pportunity fits the flow of the game. Besides, LeBron will never get the fouls called that would allow him to take 20 trips to the Free Throw line as Kobe did, not with the whole "re-route" controversy.
No, LeBron will do what he does, and the Cavs will do what they do. So far this season against the Knicks, what the Cavs do is effectively end the game by halftime. In both games agaisnt the Knicks LeBron has yet to see the floor in the 4th quarter. James scored 26 in New York before sitting out the final 12 minutes of the Cavaliers' 119-101 victory on Nov. 25, then had 21 before leaving with 2:33 left in the third of Cleveland's 118-82 blowout on Dec. 3.
TO their credit, the Knicks have been playing solid basketball as of late, winning 6 of 8. Home wins against Houston and Atlanta are among those wins. There's something about LeBron at MSG, however, that seems to bring out the best of him, and regardless if he scores 50, as he did on March 5, 2008, or a "lowly" 21 in 20 minutes, the Cavs should get another 'W' to stay close to the Celtics.
The flirting and mindless obsession by New Yorkers is just the cherry on top.