James scores 46, clinches playoffs

[T-Pain]

[Darrin]

A little piece of useless knowledge: the last time the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers went into the playoffs in the same season was 1991-92 when the Cavs made it to the Conference Finals and the Pistons were eliminated in the first round for the first time since 1986.

The closest the NBA has ever been to the current playoff seeds (obviously Miami hasn't been around that long) - Detroit, Washington, Cleveland, New Jersey, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia was in 1984-85:

Boston - 63-19
Milwaukee - 59-23
Philadelphia - 58-24
Detroit - 46-36
New Jersey - 42-40
Washington - 40-42
Chicago - 38-44
Cleveland - 36-46

[T-Pain]

A little piece of useless knowledge: the last time the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers went into the playoffs in the same season was 1991-92 when the Cavs made it to the Conference Finals and the Pistons were eliminated in the first round for the first time since 1986.

The closest the NBA has ever been to the current playoff seeds (obviously Miami hasn't been around that long) - Detroit, Washington, Cleveland, New Jersey, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia was in 1984-85:

Boston - 63-19
Milwaukee - 59-23
Philadelphia - 58-24
Detroit - 46-36
New Jersey - 42-40
Washington - 40-42
Chicago - 38-44
Cleveland - 36-46

interesting. but you gotta give cleveland some leeway, they have been the team for decades

[Darrin]

Yes, they have been, but let's not treat the Cavs like they are the Clippers of the East. From 1987-88 thru 1997-98 they made the playoffs 9 of 11 seasons, and had 10 winning seasons. Twice they won a franchise-record 57 games in 1989 and 1992. They only losing season came on the heels of Mark Price tearing his ACL at the end of November, 1990. The furthest they got in the playoffs was the 1992 Conference Finals where the Bulls beat them in six games.

Around here, people paint a clear story about how the Pistons lost in 1988, and used that as motivation to come back and win a franchise record in games, going 15-2 in the playoffs and generally dominating the league.

That kind of thinking has actually hurt Isiah Thomas' image to a certain extent because believeing that 1988-89 was smooth sailing means there was no reason for the Pistons to trade Adrian Dantley, their leading scorer, for Mark Aguirre - a guy with a close, personal relationship with Zeke and a reputation for being a malcontent the likes of Rasheed Wallace.

The truth is, the Pistons were disturbed by their play mid-season because Boston had lashed them on Super Bowl Sunday, and after a 80-79 loss at the Palace to the Cavs, that saw Laimbeer and Daugherty suspended for fighting, the Pistons were five full games back in the race for the Central Division. Remember, the Pistons were 38-4 at the Palace that season. All in all, the Pistons were 9-8 after a 16-4 start. They had to make a move because Dantley was bogging down the offense, and against Cleveland, they were going to lose. No one else had shown that ability to beat the Pistons, not even the Bulls.

People anticipated a Cleveland-Detroit Conference Finals the way we anticipate the Pistons-Heat will be there at the end of the day.

Cleveland had the best record in the East at the All-Star break; Lenny Wilkens coached the East All-Stars and Price, Nance, and Daugherty were on that team. People seem to forget that when Jordan hit "the shot," he was doing it over a 3-seed that was tied for the second-best record in the league. Mark Price, Craig Ehlo, Larry Nance, Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper, Hot Rod Williams -- that team was stacked. It was a true upset in every sense of the word; they had to beat both the Cavs and Knicks without home-court for a franchise that had been out of the first round but once in Jordan's tenure with the team.

I'll never buy that Cleveland's a doormat franchise; I watched them be too good for too long. They just built this mental block where they couldn't beat the Bulls.