They Play Carmina Burana Before Tip-Off at the Q

And, at least tonight, LeBron sings along to it.  In flawless Latin, I'm sure.

Dan "Boobie" Gibson -he will no longer answer to "Daniel"... without a flurry of fists, feet and wadded-up newspapers - is getting his first start this evening against the Raptors, and the shot clocks have auspiciously malfunctioned.  Shannon Brown, on the other hand, is back to riding the pine.  And chewing his fingernails, which is probably actionable if LeBron's intellectual property lawyers feel like throwing their weight around.

Donyell Marshall should not be logging significant minutes.  Shocked to find a clear path to the basket awaiting him, he responded with a halting drive and a weak layup that bounced right off the rim as if offended by the lack of effort.  On the next offensive possession, LeBron fired a pass to a wide-open 'Yell directly under the basket; rather than throw down an uncontested dunk, he paused for a second, pondered retirement, and then meekly dropped the ball through the hoop as the Raptors defenders sedulously kept their distance so as not to risk catching whatever mystery malady sapped Marshall of his game when he signed with the Cavs in the summer of '05.

Cavs down 25-18 at the close of the first quarter.  They look like one of the five worst teams in basketball.

It is now over two minutes into the second quarter, and Eric Snow has yet to sit.  Boobie Gibson has been sitting since midway through the first.  The Cavs are being exploited by quick guard play and transition baskets.  Someone please finish this thought for me because I've tired of arriving at this conclusion.

LeBron drives to the basket in transition and draws a foul that isn't called (it's not hard contact, but there is contact, and goes skidding into the first row), leading to a four-on-five fast break that ends in a Cleveland foul on Fred Jones

Boobie Gibson is back in, gets comfortable and responds by defending his position competently, swiping the ball in the passing lane and knocking down a three.  The more he plays, the better he looks.  And Brown refuses to reward this because he's got a chubby for Snow's hard-nosed defense... on bigger, slower guys who don't create offense with dribble penetration.

Thanks to extended minutes for Damon Jones (who has too much pizazz to play defense), the Cavs now have an Anthony Parker problem.  Parker has twelve.  His season average is ten.  His career high is twenty-two.

The shot clocks were inoperative during the entire first half, forcing the public address announcer to earn his paycheck for once.

BTW, it's Brad Daugherty Night, as the Cavs celebrate the final year on his contract.

Jeremy Daniel Boobie Smith.  Yep.  Commence legal filing.

As has been his custom this year, LeBron waited until the six minute mark of the third quarter to start his second half.

Boobie Gibson just stole a rebound from Chris Bosh.  Kid's got the hops.  And he's banging the boards with more energy than Gooden and Z, who both look terrible tonight..

Donyell Marshall powered up!  Two back-to-back buckets go down.  But he begins to flash and ceases to glow as he tries to drive for his seventh point of the quarter.

Z loses a rebound to T.J. Ford, who, unlike Boobie against Bosh, did not have to leap for his carom.  Z then has an opportunity to keep an offensive possession alive, but turns it into a transition basket for Toronto because he is a lazy sack of shit.  Coach Brown senses this, too, and finally subs in AV.

Hooray for Boobie!  He hits a contested three as the third quarter expires!  Sixteen points for the sudden consensus favorite ROY..

And LeBron has put on his cape.

And an out-of-position official overrules an out-of-bounds call, awarding Toronto the ball with a minute left and the Cavs up by four.  They go right down and hit a three.

That wasn't Donyell Marshall who just knocked down that three with seventeen seconds remaining, was it?

Boobie knocks down two clutch free throws.  He will walk on Mars one day.  Wearing nothing but ten championship rings, two championship anklets and a gold championship assplate, which will be the fashion in twenty years.  Blame the Singularity.

Dramatic four-point win at home against the Raptors.  On Brad Daugherty Night.  Take the win, but the Cavs sans Larry Hughes are still a bad basketball team.

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