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Everything that could go wrong for the Cavaliers on Monday night did go wrong, and the Celtics were right there to take full advantage.

After leading throughout most the first half, Boston broke open the game early in the second half, outscoring the Cavaliers 31-12 in the third quarter. The Cavaliers attempted to make things interesting in the game’s final minutes, but the visitors held on for a 104-86 victory at Quicken Loans Arena.

The win ties the Eastern Conference semifinal series at 1-1 and puts home court advantage in the hands of the underdog Celtics.

There was a lot not to like about the way the Cavs play, especially defensively.

The Celtics shot over 51 percent from the floor and were nearly as accurate from the three-point line, hitting 9-of-19 from beyond the arc. Five of those three-pointer belonged to Rasheed Wallace, who finished 3-of-4 on threes.

Boston did turn the ball over 19 times, but it seemed every time they didn’t commit a turnover they got an open look inside or from the three-point line.

The Cavs finally picked up their defense to begin the fourth — holding the Celtics to just eight points over the first eight minutes of the quarter — but by that point it was too late.

“I’m concerned our defense was not there tonight,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said after the game. ”We tried to turn it up for a little bit and we got physical and there was a sense of urgency in that fourth quarter for about three minutes, but we were down.”

Rajon Rondo ran wild on the Cavaliers for the majority of the contest, finishing with 13 points and a game-high 19 assists.

The 24-year-old point guard didn’t do as much scoring as he did in game one — when he had a team-high 27 points — but was an absolute artist in finding his open teammates.

He assisted on seven of his team’s ten third-quarter field goals, including two big Ray Allen three-pointers that were key in the Celtics’ stretching their lead past 20 points.

“He just comes off multiple pick and rolls,” Shaquille O’Neal said. ”We have to do a better job of staying attached to him, stay in front of him and stay attached to their shooters. He’s a great player.”

Rondo dominated his matchup with Cavaliers’ point guard Mo Williams, who finished with just four points on 1-of-9 shooting. Williams’ didn’t get a single shot off inside the paint, settling for contested mid-range jumpers and three-pointers instead.

Williams, like the rest of the Cavaliers, seemed passive.

“For 48 minutes, we did not play with a sense of urgency,” Brown said. “… We have to decide if we are going to take the fight to them and take these games. Nothing is going to be given to us at all.”

Even LeBron James struggled for the Cavs.

He finished with a very average 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists. James, who was presented with the NBA MVP trophy before the game, seemed hesitant to make plays offensively. He had five turnovers, mostly coming on force passes to teammates.

James did get to the foul line 15 times, but ten of those attempts came in the fourth quarter when he became more aggressive offensively.

After the game the All-Star forward stopped short of blaming his elbow injury for his unspectacular play.

“For me, I’m going to go out and continue to try to be the player that I am,” James said. ”I’m not going to use this elbow as an excuse, I would never use an injury as an excuse. Like I said before, if I’m on the court, I’m going to try and be as productive as possible.”

At halftime the Cavaliers found themselves still in contention, trailing by just four points. That changed quickly when the third quarter began.

The Celtics shot 10-of-17 from the floor in the third, compared to just 5-of-16 for the Cavs.

The Cavaliers gave the visitors plenty of open looks in the quarter, which shooters Paul Pierce and Ray Allen took advantage of.

Allen scored 10 points in the period, while Pierce added five.

“I think all five guys that were on the court at one time weren’t communicating,” James said. ”We weren’t in tune with one another and the game plan.”

The Cavaliers finally pulled things together on both ends of the court during the fourth quarter.

The Celtics held a 91-66 lead with about nine minutes remaining in the game, but the next few minutes belonged completely to the home team.

Cleveland scored 15 straight points, with nine of the points coming at the free-throw line. J.J. Hickson poured in seven points during that stretch, while James added six.

When Pierce ended the run with a finger roll with 3:28 remaining, the score stood 93-81 Celtics.

“We were stuck on 91 points for an hour it felt like,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ”I just kept telling our guys ‘the clock is still moving’ and they’re not really scoring, we’re still getting stops. We made some silly fouls in that one stretch.”

It looked as if the Cavs might have a chance to pull the score even closer, but Boston started hitting shots again and ended the game on an 11-3 run.

The Cavaliers may have been the better team in the fourth quarter – the outscored the Celtics 26-21 in the fourth — but their sloppy, uninspired play earlier in the game was too big an obstacle to overcome.

“We don’t want to keep shooting ourselves in the foot by digging big holes like that,” O’Neal said. ”Now it’s a series, they’re a veteran team over there and we’re a veteran team over here. We just have to go get one or two games there.”

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The Cavaliers cruised into the new year the right way, by winning at an impressive rate.

They went 14-3 in the month of December, including a 7-0 record inside Quicken Loans Arena.

Those seven home victories were against some of the best the NBA has to offer. Four of the teams (Phoenix, Portland, Houston and Atlanta) they defeated in Cleveland currently have 20 or more victories on the season. To put that in perspective, there are only 11 total teams that this year have reached the 20-win mark.

Still, the Cavaliers are expected to win at home. When they beat a good team in their home arena, it really doesn’t come as a surprise because, after all, this is the same team that lost a grand total of two games at The Q last season.

What is more impressive is what the team did away from home in December.

Aside from a two-game losing streak early in the month– with losses against a talented, but young Grizzlies team and a gritty Rockets team– the Cavaliers lost just one road game.

Even a four-game West Coast trip did little to hinder the play of the Cavs.

After a tough loss to the Mavericks to begin the trip, they beat the Suns, Kings and Lakers over a span of five days.

Mo Williams averaged 21.8 points over the four-game span, while LeBron James poured in at least 25 points in each of the games.

The biggest win of the four came on Christmas against the reigning champs, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Beating a team like the Lakers at the tail end of a road trip isn’t a simple task, but the Cavaliers made it look that way.

They took the lead five minutes into the game and didn’t trail the rest of the way.

The Lakers came into the match up with just four losses, but were outplayed on both ends of the court by the visiting Cavaliers.

“I felt that it was going to be a good test for us,” said Shaquille O’Neal after the game. ”The Lakers are the best team in the league, they have won it before, and they have a lot of experience playing together.”

The Cavs held 2009 Finals MVP Kobe Bryant to 11-32 from the floor, well below his usual shooting percentage. Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker guarded Bryant for the majority of the game and did a good job of forcing him into difficult field goal attempts, resulting in the tough shooting night for the superstar.

On the other end the Cavaliers got scoring from multiple places. James and Williams scored 26 and 28 points, respectively, while O’Neal chipped in 11 0f his own. The most important contribution, however, came from the bench. Four reserves scored in the contest, led by 13 points from Moon and nine from Anderson Varejao.

Cleveland dropped both of their games against the Lakers last season, making the 102-87 victory even more important.

It was a good road win for us,” said James after the win. ”I think it ranks up there, just because of the caliber of the team and the caliber of the players they have.”

After the hard-fought win against the Lakers the Cavaliers finished off the month in style with three victories.

Two of those wins were against the Atlanta Hawks, who have been a much-improved team this season after being swept by the Cavaliers last year in the playoffs.

The two victories against the Hawks didn’t come easy, but being able to win games when you are not playing its best is the mark of a truly great team.

“All our wins aren’t going to be pretty, but I think if we continue to work hard and fight like that the outcome will always be like this.” said O’Neal after the Cavaliers December 30th win against the Hawks.

Playing well right now is something the Cavaliers are happy about, but they understand that the playoffs are still months away.

“We found a way to beat some pretty good teams during this stretch,” said Brown after the team’s December 30th win. “You feel good about that. But this is a long, long season and the thing that we have to continue guarding against is getting too far ahead of ourselves. We still got a long way to go.”

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The Cavaliers were looking for their chance to go on a run against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, but when their opportunity finally came, they fumbled it away.

The Rockets punished the Cavaliers at both ends of the court in the first half, then played just well enough in the second to come away with a 95-85 victory at the Toyota Center.

LeBron James finished with 27 points, six rebounds and seven assists to pace the Cavs, but shot an ugly 8-21 from the floor.

James played especially poor in the first half. Guarded by top-defender Shane Battier, he was unable to find open looks and went into intermission with seven points on 3-11 shooting.

Shaquille O’Neal shot 2-8 in the loss, even though he was guarded by Chuck Hayes most of the night. Hayes, the shortest starting center in the league, stands just 6-foot-6, about five inches shorter than the former MVP.

It was the second-consecutive loss for the Cavaliers, who played one of their worst games of the season.

The Rockets used a 19-1 run in the opening quarter to create some space between themselves and their opponents. During that span Trevor Ariza and Aaron Brooks made shot after shot, a theme that lasted the entire game. In the first half the two combined for 27 points.

Ariza finished the game with 26 points on 11-19 from the field. The 24-year-old didn’t shoot any foul shots in the contest, but didn’t really need to. He had it going from the outside from beginning to end, making 4-6 from the three-point line. 

“He’s just playing,” said James about Ariza after the game. ”I think the biggest thing in this league is confidence. When you believe in yourself that you can do it every single night then it takes care of itself. Then you put in the work, and you can tell Trevor has put in the work every single year.”

Ariza’s counterpart, Brooks, finished with 27 points for the game. He blew by Mo Williams time after time on drives to the hole, resulting in multiple trips to the foul line. In all he was 12-13 from the free-throw line.

At the other end Brooks did a great job of forcing Williams into contested jumpers. Williams scored just 5 points on 2-10 from the floor.

“One thing that you know when you play the Rockets is they are going to play hard no matter who is out on the court,” said James. ”I think Rick (Adleman) has definitelygiven them the opportunity to do that and they have some very good players.”

The Cavaliers shot under 40 percent from the field in the first half, but still had a chance to get back in the game after halftime, thanks to some poor second-half shooting by the Rockets.

The Rockets shot 30 percent from the field in the third quarter, but the Cavaliers failed to capitalize. They turned the ball over nine times in the period, despite a seven-point quarter by James.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” James said. ”One thing we did do, we decided to play with a little sense of urgency in the second half. We just came out way to flat against a good team.”

The Cavaliers had their final opportunity to win the game in the fourth quarter.

James made two free-throws with nine minutes remaining in the game to cut the Rockets lead to five. It looked as if they might be able to break into the deficit further, until a 9-2 run by the home team put the game away for good.

The Cavaliers did play much better in the second half, but the hole they put themselves in to begin the game proved too big to overcome.

“I don’t know how many open shots they got to start the game off, but that set the tone,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown.”… That first quarter, with the way that we came out, made it tough to bounce back.”

Brown was ejected with 1:22 remaining in the first half after arguing a call. James was posting up Battier and put up a tough shot over the defender. There appeared to be some contact, but no foul was called, much to the dismay of Brown.

“I wanted a chance to get my point across because I thought he got hit on that play,” said Brown. ”Obviously I took it a step too far.”

Brown’s ejection did seem to fire up his team a bit, but by then the Rockets had already gained control of the game.

“They really played a physical game with us tonight and it had a lot to do with the outcome,” said Brown. 

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A disastrous 0-2 start for the Cavaliers was quickly turned around this weekend. After losses to Boston and Toronto to begin the 2009-10 campaign, Cleveland bounced back to defeat Minnesota and Charlotte on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Two games is never anything to panic about in the NBA, especially this early in the regular season. With 78 games left on the slate, taking losses too hard can only damage the cohesion the team has built. Playoff positioning will not even begin to take form until mid-January, when the team reaches the halfway point of the season. For now the Cavaliers are focused on fixing mistakes as they adjust to new players playing big roles.

“We can get better in a lot of different areas,” said point guard Mo Williams on Monday. “But at the same time the more we play together the better we’ll get.”

Williams likes the improvement he has seen in the team over the first four games, even in his own play. After shooting just 7-22 from the field in the first two games, the former Alabama guard has shot a much improved 50 percent in the team’s recent two victories. The 26-year-old was the Cavaliers second-leading scorer a year ago, averaging a career-high 17.8 points per game as he became a fierce complement to superstar LeBron James.

After trading for Shaquille O’Neal and signing several key free agent, the team anticipated being able to take some scoring off the shoulders of Williams this season, which would allow him to be more of a distributing point guard. To this point that hasn’t happen.

O’Neal is only averaging nine points per game, although he did score in double-figures against the Celtics and Raptors. The Cavaliers traded for the three-time Finals MVP because of his knack for scoring around the basket, even though at age 37 he doesn’t move like the Shaq of several years ago. One thing that has held him back so far this season is his foul-shooting. He is just a 53 percent free-throw shooter for his career, but has been even more horrendous with the Cavaliers thus far, hitting just 2-12 from the charity stripe, a figure the center will need to improve on as the season progresses.

Another new acquisition, Anthony Parker, has been starting in place of Delonte West to begin the season. The result has been mixed. Although he is shooting over 60 percent from the three-point line, Parker’s overall field-goal percentage is just 39 percent, well below his career 46 percent shooting.

After personal troubles caused him to miss the first three games of the season, West returned to the floor on Saturday night, but came off the bench. He scored 13 points and played an excellent defensive game. The 6-4 guard was one of the center pieces to the Cavs playoff run last season, averaging 42.2 minutes in 14 postseason games. Although West figures to continue to be a major part of the team’s plans, that doesn’t mean that he will necessarily reenter the starting lineup. Coach Mike Brown said on Monday that he is “definitely going to go with what we have right now,” meaning West will continue to begin games on the bench. Brown, however, doesn’t anticipate having to limit West’s playing time.

“I’m not worried about his minutes, if he’s active or anything like that,” said Brown. ”And if he’s not then I can’t play him anyway.”

With West back, the Cavaliers are virtually at full strength, minus Leon Powe who won’t return until late in the season. With a number of talented players at his disposal, Brown should be able to find a rotation that suits his system soon.

He has been trying many different lineup combinations through the first four games, including playing O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas at the same time. The two centers, who are both over seven-feet tall, have formed an awkward, but sometimes effective combination. Still, expecting Brown to continue playing the two aging centers alongside each other seems to be a long shot. The team will be trying to save the bodies of O’Neal and Ilgauskas this season, meaning their minutes during the regular season will have to be limited. Playing them together will only deter that from happening.

Both O’Neal and Ilgauskas will continue to reap the benefits of having LeBron James on their team, who looks to be on his way to another superb season. He is shooting nearly 50 percent from the field while averaging 24.8 points. But scoring isn’t the only thing James has done for the Cavaliers so far. He has averaged 7.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists, showing why he is the reigning league MVP.

With James at the helm and the return of West, the Cavaliers’ ship seems to be getting back on course, although there is still plenty of work to be done. And even though an NBA Title can’t be won in the first month of the season, Cavalier victories are still a welcomed sight.

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There is no questioning where Delonte West’s head is when he is on the basketball court. He plays with unmatched heart and ability that made him an instant hit with the city of Cleveland. Off the court though, he is a day-to-day mystery.

Need an example? Just look at his actions over the past several weeks.

It all started when he was stopped on September 17th for a traffic violation. Three guns were subsequently found under his possession, which could lead to a future prison sentence if he is convicted.

Fast forward to this week.

On Monday, which was Media Day for the Cavaliers at Cleveland Clinic Courts, West was present and seemed in high spirits.

“I feel good. I feel great,” said the sixth-year pro.

West has struggled with mood disorders throughout his life and touched on that when he met with the media.“I’m dealing with some issues a lot of you are familiar with the past,” explained the 6′4″ guard. “I get highs and get lows. But all last year I’ve been consistent with being in a nice routine. I was in a routine that I kind of got out of this summer. I kind of got away from it.”

West seemed to be getting back on track by owning up to his personal problems, but surprised everyone, including Cavaliers management, by not showing up to either of the team’s two practices yesterday. What does this mean for the former first round pick’s status with the team, or more importantly, his status as a person?

Mike Brown put it simply, but probably best, on Tuesday. “On a personal note, you always hope he’s doing well.”

As fans of sports, we sometimes forget that these athletes are not just players in a game, but real people. They have their own problems, just like us. Delonte West obviously has some serious personal issues that he has been trying to contain for a long time and must deal with those issues before he can be a productive part of the Cavaliers once again.

Why did West need a 9 mm in his waistband, a .357 strapped to his leg and a shotgun in a guitar case slung over his back on September 17th? It seems to me you do not carry that type of protection on a motorcycle unless you feel there’s a good chance you are in danger, that someone wants to harm you or you want to harm someone else. It’s scary to think about any person not on the battlefield needing that type of ammunition and makes you wonder about West’s current mental state.

The native of Maryland’s days in the NBA will not last forever. He will retire someday and be forgotten by sports fans. We will forget about his personal troubles, but they won’t necessarily go away. For West, fighting his bipolar disorder could be a life-long battle.

So before we start worrying about what the absence of West could mean to the Cavaliers NBA Finals chances, let’s take a second and worry about what his recent actions could mean to his well-being.

Here’s to hoping that Delonte defeats his inner demons for himself, not for Cavalier Nation.

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The 2007 Eastern Conference Finals were just 2 1/2 years ago, but in Daniel Gibson’s mind it must seem like forever ago. The 6′2″ guard from Texas was the Robin to LeBron Jame’s Batman at that point. A NBA rookie at that point, Gibson scored 31 points in the series-clinching victory, hitting an incredible five for five from the three-point line. He was producing on basketball’s largest stage and was looking like a future all-star.

Now the fourth-year pro is just fighting for reserve minutes on the Cavaliers.

This isn’t to say that Gibson hasn’t had his moments over the past couple seasons, but overall he has failed to take the steps forward that the Cavs were hoping he would after his stellar performance against the Detroit Pistons in that 2007 playoff series.

He averaged just 7.8 points last season and wasn’t nearly as accurate from the three-point line as he has been in the past. Things got worse in the postseason when he shot just 33% from the floor to score 3.4 points per game.The former McDonald’s All-American now finds himself falling out of favor with Cavaliers fans, who wonder what happened to the hot-shooting guard they had grown accustomed to seeing.

Gibson will have to get his game back on track quickly if he hopes to see the floor regularly after the moves the Cavs made this off season. The team drafted Danny Green and signed Anthony Parker, meaning the back court will be fairly crowded this season.

Gibson does have four years left on a $21 million dollar deal he signed last off season, but on a championship-caliber team like the Cavs there is no room for streaky shooting, just ask Sasha Pavlovic.

Pavlovic was a big part of the Cavs’ future not too long ago, mainly the 2007 Finals team, but management steadily grew impatient with his lack of improvement. This summer Pavlovic was involved in the trade for Shaquille O’Neal, marking the end of his time in Cleveland.

If Gibson isn’t careful, he could be next.

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The talk among Cavaliers fans this summer has been the acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal and for good reason.

O’Neal is arguably the most dominant center over the past decade and although he is now 37, he can still demand a double-team on a regular basis. An underlying effect of Shaq coming to Cleveland, though, is that it will signal the move of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, a fan favorite, to the bench.

Ilgauskas has been a cornerstone of the Cavs starting front line since before the team drafted superstar LeBron James and will have to get used to the idea of being a reserve. Big Z is known as a win-first player and solid teammate, meaning one would expect that the transition to the bench will transpire as smoothly as Adam’s Sandler’s move from Saturday Night Live to Hollywood films.

Coach Mike Brown and General Manager Danny Ferry have a feel for their players, so they must have known Ilgauskas would react in a positive manner to the Big Diesel’s arrival. No matter what the players opinions on the offseason trade is, the fact of the matter is neither O’Neal or Ilgauskas is youthful enough to garner the full load of being a  full-time NBA center at this point in their careers, so splitting time at the position seems like a perfect fit for both parties.

Ilgauskas has always been comfortable stepping away from the basket to shoot jump shots and now that O’Neal has joined the team he can look to do that even more, providing a “ying” to Shaq’s “yang”. That ability to hit shots from the outside will come in handy for the Cavaliers, since he is their only true big man who is reputable from outside the key.

The 7′3″ center from Lithuania averaged 12.9 points and 7.5 rebounds a year ago, but it is unlikely that he will approach those numbers this season. His minutes will be cut somewhat and finding shots among the abundance of scorers Mike Brown has at his disposal will not be easy, but Ilgauskas’ ability to hit an open shot will keep him a part of the team’s rotation, even though it won’t be to the extent that fans have come accustomed to over the past 12 seasons.

It will obviously be strange seeing the Cavs 1996 first round draft selection moved to the bench as he nears the end of his career, but an NBA Championship ring on his finger would certainly make it easier on the eyes.

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One of the major question marks on the 2009-10 Cavaliers will surely be forward JJ Hickson. The former North Carolina State star was a first round pick of Cleveland last season and had some stellar games for the team in his rookie campaign, but the Cavs will be looking for more from him in his second year with the club.

He averaged 7.2 points per game in January, including a 13 point game against the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic late in the month. Hickson continued to see significant playing time in February, although his production fell dramatically. His points per game average was only 3.6 and he produced just one double-digit game for the entire month, compared to six double-digit contests in the previous month.

By the middle of March JJ had completely fallen out of Coach Mike Brown’s rotation, mostly because of defensive struggles. Fellow rookie Darnell Jackson began to see the majority of Hickson’s minutes and by April 8th the 6′9″ forwards season was over with a back injury.

For the season as a whole Hickson’s statline looked like this: 62 games, 11.4 mpg, 4.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, .515 fg%. Nothing to write home about, but General Manager Danny Ferry knew the team was getting a project when they drafted the Georgia native after just one year of college ball.

“He clearly has the potential to be a very good NBA player,” said Ferry about Hickson during the 2008 NBA Summer League, which Hickson participated in. “Now it’s up to him and us to work on some things and get better.”

Hickson will have to get better in a hurry if he wants to seriously contribute this season as his competition at the power forward position has improved dramatically. The Cavs signed two forwards this offseason in Jamario Moon and Leon Powe and still have fellow 2008 draft choice Darnell Jackson.

Jackson saw his minutes increase as his rookie season progressed. He played 18.3 minutes per game in April, including 42 minutes in the regular season ending loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. In that game he scored 15 points on 6-10 shooting, showing his ability to hit shots around the basket. In the playoffs he averaged five minutes per game, although he didn’t play at all in the Conference Finals as the Cavs shortened their rotation. Jackson has a major strength advantage on Hickson, but not as much athletic ability.

Although Moon is more of a small forward, he is athletic enough to play the power forward position if need be. He played with the Toronto Raptors last season before being traded to the Miami Heat midseason. He is a solid defender and, at the age of 29, is much more disciplined and game saavy than Hickson.

Powe could serve as even a bigger threat to Hickson’s playing time, as he is strictly a power forward. The good news for JJ is that Powe is recovering from surgery on his left knee and won’t be ready to see the court until at least February. The former Celtic does have big game experience after playing on Boston’s 2008 championship team, which should give him the upper hand in postseason minutes.

It is obvious that Hickson will need to show Coach Brown that he is committed to playing on the defensive end to earn his trust. He will also have to add more offensive moves to his repertoire. Hickson is just 21 years old and has much muturing to do, but on a Finals-caliber team like the Cavs there is no time for prodigies and growing pains.

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We are just 17 days from the start of Cavaliers Training Camp and the closer camp becomes, the more excitement that is built. Big offseason acquisitions have the buzz around the Cavs at an all-time high.

Shaquille O’Neal was the most promiment name to join the team this summer. The 15-time All-Star coming to Cleveland seemed unreal to most Cavs fans, which is understandable. Let’s put the trade for the Big Diesel in perspective.

When LeBron James was playing his rookie season with the Cavs back in 2003-04, Shaq was finishing up his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was 31 at that time and just exiting his prime. Now he is quite a bit older at 37 and seems to be rejuvenated after this past season with Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns.

Shaq is a 17-year professional, which is one more pro season than LeBron, Anderson Varejao and Delonte West have played combined. If there is one thing he can teach the Cavs about, it is how to win championships. The 7′1″ center has four rings. Aside from newly-signed Leon Powe, the rest of the Cavaliers have zero.

If the Cavaliers can keep O’Neal rested for the postseason run, then they can maximize his impact. As he nears the end of his career, fatique is beginning to play a major factor. The good news is that the Cavs won 66 games last regular season, so his need during the 82 game schedule should be minimal.

The main reason O’Neal was acquired is his impecable playoff career, having averaged 25.2 points and 12.1 rebounds in 203 career postseason contests. Against clubs like the Celtics and Magic, who have above-average centers and forwards, Shaq can be a reliable source in the post on both the offensive and defensive ends.

Magic center Dwight Howard had a field day against the Cavaliers in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. He averaged 25.8 points per game in the six game series, with Cavaliers big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao and Ben Wallace providing little resistance. With Shaq on the team, Howard should be more contained, which would give Cleveland a better chance at defeating the Magic in a seven-game series.

There is no way to be certain how O’Neal will fit in with LeBron and the Cavs, but as training camp begins at the end of this month we should begin to find some answers.

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Finishing with the NBA’s best regular season record doesn’t guarantee a title, or even a trip to The Finals. Still, when the Cavaliers went 66-16 this season, it seemed they could do no wrong. Most everyone had them penciled in to face the Lakers for the championship. No matter how bold it was, that prediction seemed well-founded when the Cavs barreled through the Pistons and Hawks in the first two rounds. They looked like a team on a mission as they went 8-0 to open the playoffs. Cavalier fans everywhere were ranting and raving about the team.

Then came the Magic. Well, you know the rest.

Orlando, who was the third-seed in the East, outplayed Cleveland to move on to the championship round. A record breaking season came to a sudden stop. A franchise record for victories, but no title to show for it.

If you think falling short after such a terrific regular season is something new in the NBA, your wrong. Just ask the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks.

The Suns, led by newly signed point guard Steve Nash, went 62-20 during the 2004-05 regular season to gain the top seed in the playoffs. They ended with a similar fate to the Cavaliers, losing in the Conference Finals. Still, as tragic as that season was for Phoenix, Dallas’ collapse two years later has to be the most devastating.

The Mavericks, coming off a loss in The Finals to the Miami Heat, won 67 games in the 2006-07 campaign, only to lose to the eight-seeded Golden State Warriors in the first round. It was one of the biggest upsets in NBA history. So big that I believe Mark Cuban still has nightmares about Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson.

The regular season will always be simply a stepping stone to the playoffs. Although finishing at the top of the league is always a plus, the playoffs are where true champions are crowned. The Cavaliers and their fans will have to wait another year to find out if their team has what it takes to hoist that elusive Larry O’Brien Trophy.