The defining moment

Every playoff series needs a defining moment. One play that you will look back on and say "THAT is the moment that changed everything."

If you watched last night's game, you know the moment I am talking about. With the score tied at 68-68, LeBron James dribbled to left and put up a three-pointer. It missed, and bounced off the rim about 10 feet to Z on the left wing. Ilgauskas quickly passed the ball to James, who was still outside the three stripe. James had an open three, but did not take the shot. Instead, he....well, watch it for yourself.....


Those three seconds will be shown again and again on highlight reels, and with good reason. LeBron punked all five Pistons on the court. Watch the clip again five times, and focus on each Piston player.

- Tayshaun Prince was removed from a pick by Z and didn't have the speed to catch up after that.
- Chauncey Billups literally froze like a deer caught in the headlights.
- Richard Hamilton backtracked a couple of steps, anticipating a pass to a wide-open Daniel Gibson.
- Chris Webber looked old and slow, and had no chance to even slow down James. LeBron drove past Webber's left side and all he could do was throw a weak left arm up and pray. Webber may have been humiliated bigger than the time he tried to call timeout against North Carolina.
- And finally, Bitch-Boy Wallace tried to block the shot, but ended up getting nothing but a face full of leather and a foul called against him as LeBron slammed the ball through the hoop and sent 20,000 people to their feet.

It was the defining moment of the series thus far, and could be the moment that changes everything in the Eastern Conference Finals. Each Cavaliers series has had that moment, and this was the one for the ECF.

In the Washington series, it came when Z won the opening tip of Game 1.

In the New Jersey series, it came when Sasha Pavlovic blocked an easy layup by Jason Kidd that could have cut the lead of Game 1 down to 2 points. Instead, it provided the cushion for victory and etched the name "Sasha" in the brains of Jersey fans everywhere.

Now, LeBron has given us that moment in time. Let's run with it and take Game 4 tomorrow night!

Meanwhile, Charles Barkley was bitching about LeBron selfishly taking the highlight reel and not shooting the three or passing the ball. Seriously, he did say that later.

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Oh, and by the way....here's a stat that will shock you, especially if you think about all the commentators who are not giving Cleveland a chance in hell (most of them seem to work for TNT).

The largest lead in any game this series for Detroit is 5 points. We've never trailed by more than 5 points in this series. That's amazing, especially when you consider that the Chicago Bulls trailed by 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 points for most of the first three games in their series against the Pistons. THAT is what solid defense does, boys.