King,

Thanks for the heads up on Ernie Harwell broadcasting for the Tigers. Though I'm a Chicago boy (go Cubs!) I think Ernie is one of the greatest braodcasters ever. When I was watching Fox's unwatchable World Series coverage last year, the only bright spot was when Ernie did a few innings in the booth. I hoped against hop that he would kick the normal Fox bums out of there and take over himself. No such luck.

Cleveland doesn't want to admit it, but this series is much, much less about King James' ability to carry a team than about the rest of his team being complete horsecrap. Yeah, Hamilton should've been whistled, but did you see Larry Hughes gank on that gimme immediately after? Sasha's travel was similarly egregious. And if Varejao didn't have the Sideshow Bob do, he'd be just another Matt Barnes: a hustler who can step up but not help take the scoring heat.

Yes, the Pistons have great D, but hardly anyone thinks they'll challenge the Spurs, because the Spurs have surrounded Tim Duncan with talented role players. Not even '92 Jordan could carry Drew Gooden and a washed-up Zydrunas Ilgauskas to a championship. The Cavs' best isn't good enough, Bron-Bron's out of here, and everyone knows it. How hard would it have been to find a poor man's Pippen for LeBron?

Yeah, in that James barrelled into a backpedalling Hamilton while in the act of shooting. I know this gets called about 75% of the time, but don't know why.

I also thought this column had previously taken the position that "shooter-initated-contact" should not be called against the defender.

IMHO, James missed the shot. Good no call.

... with both of the previous letters re. lebron. i'm surprised to see so much frothing at the mouth in the media about the non-call last night (hello, chris sheridan!). bottom line, lebron could've pulled up for a jumper, hughes should've made the gimme put-back, no one should count on a ticky tack foul being called in the paint at the end of a playoff game. been there, done that last year with wade's dubiously drawn fouls, and i thought we had all agreed we didn't want to see that kind of officiating again this year.

and yes, the spurs were sitting at home laughing their asses off at this game. no way they miss both of those end-of-game chances in the finals -- if it's even that close.

I'm a Cavs fan, and I think my friends were a little alarmed last night because I was just staring passively at the TV rather than screaming at Hughes etc. as is my wont. But I think all Cleveland sports fans are familiar with that horrible sinking feeling you get when you realize that a)something terrible is about to happen, b) you can't do anything about it, and c) you can't stop hoping against hope that it won't happen. I had that feeling all through the second half last night. It was just clear that the Pistons were a more talented, seasoned, poised team, and that they would manage to pull it off somehow even though they're not at the top of their game right now. They're just better.

We can dissect LeBron's performances all day, but in the end that's not really the issue. It's not his fault. Larry Hughes missing that bunny six-footer is a fitting image to represent the series. He (and the rest of LeBron's supporting cast) just doesn't have what it takes. I actually think the gap is closing, though; even though the Cavs scared the Pistons last year, that was mostly because Detroit just collapsed. "We'll get 'em next year" is becoming my (somewhat sad) rallying cry.

He handchecked him and slapped him on the arm at least a few times even before the contact on the shot though the latter got all the attention. Hamilton had to stifle a laugh when asked about it after the game. But, as was said earlier Clevland's problems are mainly due to their woeful "supporting" cast. I can't imagine how much better they would be if Boozer hadn't stiffed them.

I grew up in Windsor, right across the river from Detroit. I could see the lights of Tiger stadium from my bedroom window, and I started listening to Tigers baseball on the radio in 1978 - the rookie season of Trammell and Whitaker. That was back in the day when televised baseball was limited to the Game of the Week, and a few local broadcasts a year - so the radio was indispensable for following baseball (all the more so, since my granola-head parents didn't have a TV anyway).

What a treat Ernie Harwell was - a smooth professional, who wasn't the overbearing homer that has become the norm.

Harwell's trademark was his reference to local towns that a fan who caught a ball in the stands was from: "and there's a souvenir for the young man from Kalamazoo to show his classmates tomorrow morning". I was in awe that he knew where everyone was from. I think I was in my late teens before I realized he was pulling it out of his hat...

Good teams become great teams when at least 2 players other than the superstar emerge from "role player" status and become stars (though not superstars) in their own right. These players provide some combination of slashing to the basket, solid short range jumpers, and decent 3-point shooting percentage.

Girnobli and Parker are perfect examples. Pistons lack the superstar, but have 4-6 players, depending on the night, that play like stars. Nash maybe needs 1 more. Up and comers like Cleveland and Golden State have potential stars that have not yet fully emerged.

What differentiates these players is what they do when the star has the ball. They're still role players when they stand around the 3-point line, waiting for the star to drive and dish. They might win if they're hot and drain the threes, but otherwise, they lose. They're emerging stars, when they cut to open spaces, drive to the basket, step in from the 3-point line, looking for open space.

It's painful to watch these teams as the defense caves-in on the paint and surrounds the star player, as the role-players watch, hovering around the supposed saving-grace of the 3-point line. Cut! Set a pick! Run the weave for God's sake! Move!