Last nights loss hit me as hard as any defeat has in several years. Why? It effectively ended the Cavs season. A magical season that I wasn't ready to say goodbye to. A season that made being a Cavs fan not only fun, but fashionable. Hiko's a big Cavs guy as well, and he gives us his thoughts on last nights loss and the series as a whole in his latest column for us.

Do I still believe?

For the love of… You can’t lose that game! That game was the Finals. The Finals are effectively over.

The Cavs thoroughly outplayed the Spurs tonight – and they lost anyway. Why? Because they put on one of the great clinics of all time regarding offensive futility. They were like the army – outnumbered 3 to 1 – that felt it was a good idea to charge the hill. No matter how vehemently they tossed the grenades, they never got anywhere near the target.

The lids were on tonight. You’d think that before the biggest game in Cleveland Basketball sports history that the damn court technicians could have made sure that the invisible lids were off the rims.

You would, of course, be mistaken.

Unquestionably, at vital junctions of the game, it was nice to see the offense running through Anderson Verajao. He is without a doubt our most potent offensive threat.

And for only 34 easy annual payments of Soul Crushing Defeat, you too can own Bitter Sarcasm™.

I do not blame LeBron. I am somewhat disconcerted by the fact that he is – sadly – not The Chosen One in this series. But he’s 22 and he’s being asked to carry this offensively challenged franchise. It’s almost as if he’s trying too hard to live up to his own legend. His efforts are noble – but seemingly futile. He is Sisyphus, pushing that freakin’ rock up the hill, trying with all his might, but doomed to watch it slip from his grasp, fall to the bottom of the hill, and start again in infinite fruitlessness.

There were some bright spots! The Cavs defense was spectacular. They certainly played good enough D to win this game.

If only good Defense could score you points…

So you’re down 0-3. Big deal. I check my history, and, say, just because no team ever in the history of the NBA ever in a 7 game series has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit ever doesn’t mean that a Cleveland sports team can’t do it.

One could argue that it is more likely for me to hit the lottery in Thailand – where I’ve never been – than it is for the Cleveland basketball franchise to emerge from this depressing muck and claim that long-awaited championship. But those are the realists. I have no use for reality.

I believe they can still win this series. And so does my buddy Humphrey Bogart. He’s sitting next to me, smoking a cigar, and he tells me that we have them right where we want them.

(Yo, Bogie, puff puff give.)

Suddenly, rainbow colored dragons have filled the room. And they all think the Cavs can come back too.

Who else will join our cause? God bless ye, random Tree Sprites. Ye also believe that the Cavs can win 4 games in a row against the mighty and inherently evil Spurs of San Antonio!

So, apparently, me, Bogie, the Rainbow Dragons, and several belligerent Tree Sprites believe that the Cavaliers of Cleveland, Ohio still have a chance to win this series.

Three Cheers for the Victors. Hurrah! Hurrah!

Hurraaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh…

Don’t believe. You can never believe.


***Quote of the Day: “It’s like watching the Varsity play the JV.” – Grant Hill, at halftime, regarding the Cavs efforts. I always liked you, Grant. Until now.

Hmmmmm… let’s see… how can I launch my inevitable post-NBA career with auth-or-i-tie? I’ll just talk some shit and pretend I’m a tell-it-like-it-is kinda guy. Seemed to work for Charles Barkley.

Except for that I buy what Barkley says. You just a broken condom, Hill. People thought you would be there for them, but you snapped under pressure.