Photo: Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer

Facing the Pistons at home, the Cavaliers knew they could probably get by with yet another lazy effort and still win. But, to their credit, the Cavaliers showed a much more inspired effort in their dismantling of the Pistons and gaining their first sweep over the Pistons in 30 seasons. The wine and gold had six in double figure scoring, and they led by as many as 29 in the fourth quarter which the starting five was allowed to sit. The all-around team effort lowered the Cavs' magic number to clinch homecourt throughout the playoffs to just eight and extended the win streak to seven games.

Knocking down great looks: That's pretty much what the Cavaliers did starting in the first quarter and continuing throughout the game. LeBron looked in rhythm early with two long jumpers, and Mo Williams hit several long shots as well. Getting out and running a little bit helped the Cavs distance themselves from the offensively limited Pistons. LeBron, Mo, and Antawn Jamsion each had six plus points in the first quarter, and the Cavaliers were off and running. I really feel for John Kuester, who knows this team so well and still can't do anything to stop them because he lacks the personnel. Let's face it, the Pistons really messed up by trading Chauncey Billups and then signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva in free agency. Looking back, it's no contest that the Cavaliers benefited by signing Varejao instead of Villanueva, who has continued his "get stats in meaningless minutes" approach and is playing BEHIND a rookie in Jonas Jerebko. Instead of saving their cap space, they settled for consolation prizes, and they lack a star to move forward with into the future.

Photo: Morry Gash/AP

A good number of people are reluctant to believe in the Ohio State Buckeyes because they're not sure what else they have besides Evan Turner. The "others" were thrust into the spotlight in tonight's first round game as Evan Turner battled his way through a 2-for-14 shooting performance. The team survived largely thanks to Jon Diebler's hot shooting, Dallas Lauderdale's defense and rebounding, and solid contributions from both William Buford and David Lighty. The Gauchos of UCSB did their part though as they shot just 32% from the field and surrenderred runs of 13-3 and 13-0 in the first half to send the Buckeyes to the second round on Sunday.

Circus shot and an offensive wrinkle to start: The first thing I noticed early in tonight's game was that Ohio State had installed a little wrinkle into their offense, utilizing William Buford in the short corner on multiple trips. One of those plays finished in a fantastic circus shot layed in by Buford underneath the hoop that resembled Dr. J. The sophomore guard seems to play well off the ball as a secondary option, and this is a nice way to get him some easy looks without him having to create with dribble penetration like Lighty and Turner do so well. Buford reached double digit scoring with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block in 39 minutes.

Photo: Nam Y. Huh/AP

For three straight games, the Cavaliers have faced teams in their own division, and for three straight games they have sleep-walked against them for long stretches even though each team is dealing with significant injuries to key starters. But, each of the games ended in a wine and gold win, stretching the current win streak to six and shrinking the magic number for homecourt thoughout the playoffs to nine. Once again, LeBron James took the team on his back in a thrilling fourth quarter, but it should have been a blowout considering the Bulls were missing arguably their three best players.

Doesn't get much worse: It isn't too much fun to be a Chicago Bulls fan right now. First, you trade two key contributors (Tyrus Thomas and John Salmons) to other Eastern Conference playoff contenders. Then, you suffer injuries to your three best players in Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and the always obnoxious Joakim Noah. Finally, you lose ten (and counting) in a row and are in danger of dropping out of the playoff picture. This is essentially the same team that gave the Celtics all they could handle as a 7 seed in last year's most entertaining playoff series, but things haven't worked out for Vinny Del Negro. The result? Well, you've got to believe that Vinny Del Negro is on the hot seat to get this team to the playoffs.

Photo: Joshua Gunter/Cleveland.com

Only twice in the 38 seasons of Cavalier basketball had the wine and gold won the Central Division, the least among all teams. So, when the Cavaliers clinched their franchise's third division title, their second straight, with a win tonight over the division rival Pacers, they did something special and significant, even though it may not feel like it. LeBron had a fantastic second half for the second straight night, and the Cavaliers used a big third quarter run to break open a huge advantage. They came back to earth, however, and their finish against Indiana was less than stellar to say the least. It seemed very much like a "win and move on" game once again.

Missing pieces of the Pacer puzzle: The Pacers are struggling with injuries right now as they are currently without Jeff Foster, Tyler Hansbrough, T.J. Ford, and Danny Granger. Granger was just injured last night when he received a significant blow to the head near the end of a game against Charlotte. That robbed fans of seeing another installment of what has become a nice rivalry between LeBron and Granger. Meanwhile, the Cavs welcomed back Delonte West after a one-game absence due to a sprained knee.

It's that time of year, my favorite time of the year in fact, March Madness! In honor of that and in the spirit of competition, Curse Of Cleveland will be holding its Bracket Challenge once again. Instead of doing this on the website like last year when we had some technical difficulties, we will be holding the contest through ESPN. Here are the details of the league.

First, go to the following link.

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=11904&entryID=1043067

Next, if you haven't already, you'll need to create an ESPN profile, which is free. The details of the league are as follows.

League name: Curse Of Cleveland
League password: "ilovecofc" without the quotations.

I've decided to give out a "grand prize" of a $10 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings and a CofC shirt to the winner! If you end up being the winner, just contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll work out the details on getting you your prize.

Happy bracketing!

Kirk

Photo: Paul Sancya/AP

It's no secret that the Cavaliers often go as their superstar LeBron James goes. In last night's installment of the 2009-2010 season, things looked relatively bleak in the first half in an encore performance of last week's matchup with Detroit. LeBron looked relatively uninterested early, and the Cavaliers fed off that, being out-hustled by a Piston team that was absolutely stripped of dignity last night against the struggling Celtics. Midway through the third quarter, though, LeBron seemed to flip the switch, and his play set the Cavaliers in motion. Mo Williams once again played the role of cold-blooded assassin and put the Cavaliers ahead for good, leaving Cleveland with a guaranteed share of their 3rd Central Division title in 40 years of basketball with the opportunity to clinch it tonight.

Photo: Scott Shaw/The Plain Dealer

Every time the Cavaliers play the Celtics, it becomes more evident that the cockiness of the once-lethal Boston team is just the front of a rapidly declining team right now. LeBron James believes it is boredom, but I believe it is simply time catching up to the 32-34 year old core of this team. The Cavaliers used their Shaq-less athletic lineup to thoroughly beat the Celtics, although the scoreboard didn't show it for much of the game. Boston prides themselves on their defense, but it has lightened up in recent months, and their offensive prowess just isn't that of a top two team in the East right now.

J.J. takes the challenge early: One thing that cannot be said about J.J. Hickson is that he struggles in big games. Ever since last year when he was destroyed in the Cavs-Lakers game in Cleveland by Lamar Odom, he has thrived in big games, especially national TV games and those against the Magic, Celtics, and Lakers. He had 11 points and 14 rebounds in a game against Los Angeles, 20 points and 4 rebounds in the second matchup with Orlando, and 12 points and 3 rebounds against the Celtics today. Hickson had 8 of those very early with LeBron finding him for several open looks. More impressively, he didn't back down from Kevin Garnett, who took sort of a cheap shot at him. Garnett likes to pick on people he doesn't think will fight back, like point guards or young bigs. I give J.J. credit from not letting his youth idol not walk all over him. Hickson continues to improve on finishing around the rim, and those pesky frequent blocks that plagued him early on happen much less often.

 
Photo: Associated Press

After all the Buckeyes had been through in the last two days, including a buzzer-beater from 40 feet by Evan Turner to beat Michigan and a gusty, surviving performance against Illinois that took 2 overtimes, they seem determined and focused to finish the job against the sixth-seed Minnesota, who had taken down Michigan State and Purdue on back-to-back days. Evan Turner was once again brilliant, but it was David Lighty and Jon Diebler that helped the Bucks run away with a big lead in the second half, outscore the Gophers 57-31, and clinch the Big Ten conference tournament championship, their third since the Big Ten started the conference tourney in 1998. It set up the Buckeyes for a number 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Slow start for both: This game resembled the Big Ten style early as both teams kept the score low. Minnesota had a five and a half minute scoring drought after their first basket of the game, while the Bucks hit just 1 of their first 8 shots. The turnovers were occurring at a record pace for both teams at the outset, with each team having six in the first ten minutes. The Buckeyes had each of their starters pick up a foul in the first ten minutes, and Dallas Lauderdale picked up foul number two at the 7:03 mark, causing him to sit the rest of the half.

It's been an eternity since this writer has written something about the Browns, but I feel that the number of moves made this past week warrant it. Team President Mike Holmgren hasn't wasted any time in putting his stamp on things in the Browns' organization, cutting several players and signing several others. Here are some of my impressions of Holmgren, GM Tom Heckert, and Co.'s moves.

Pay the man! FINALLY!: I have to applaud the Browns' organization for taking care of their franchise player, PR/KR/WR/RB/special teamer/everything man Joshua Cribbs. Cleveland gave him a 3 year deal that replaced his previous one. It comes out to about $20 million if he reaches all of his reportedly attainable performance bonuses. $7.5 million of it is guaranteed, and it pays Cribbs more than Bears return specialist Devin Hester got with his deal last year. I feel that the Browns may never have recovered if they had forced Cribbs to sit out and request a trade. Kudos to Holmgren and the rest of the organization for getting this done, and I look forward to seeing Cribbs in the orange and brown for years to come.

Photo: Darron Cummings/AP

A 20-0 run, ten extra minutes, and surviving two last shot defense scenarios is what it took for the Buckeyes to keep their Big Ten conference championship hopes alive. Their star, Evan Turner, played like he was in the NBA already, willing himself into the paint and marching to the line. Ohio State battled foul trouble, hot first half shooting from Illinois, and a tremendous amount of turnovers, but their defense got stops when they absolutely had to, their pressure forced turnovers and caused Illinois trouble, and their supporting cast kept it close into crunch time, allowing The Villain to put his stamp on this one.

Start 'em up: The first four minutes of the game went really well for the Bucks, who took an 8-2 lead. Evan Turner had a nice breakaway jam, and the Illini started hitting just 1-of-7 shots and turning it over 4 times. Demetri McCamey missed his first five shots from the field, and the Illini looked much like the team that the Bucks handled with relative ease in two earlier contest this season. However, the Buckeyes learned just how hard it is to dismiss one team three times in the same season, especially one fighting for their tournament lives.