FanHouse DanielGibson

ORLANDO -- If the state of Texas is planning on any commercials during NBA games over the next week, officials might want to hold off. Cleveland's Daniel Gibson will be a walking advertisement.

Just in time for Wednesday's big nationally televised game at Orlando, the guard has shaved onto the left side of his head a big map of Texas with a star on it. While it is the Lone Star State, Gibson, who is from Houston and a big baseball fan, calls it an "Astros star.''

"I'm the first one,'' Gibson claimed about being the initial NBA player with a state shaved onto his head for a game.

FanHouse previews the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Pistons and Cavs have a lot of history together, which is fortunate, because that's the only thing that makes this series the least bit compelling. The Cavs finished the season as the most dominant team in the NBA, leading the league with a franchise record 66 wins and terrorizing opponents with an 8.9 point differential. The Pistons, on the other hand, posted their first losing record since 2001, winning just 18 times in their last 50 games. This could get ugly.

That whole exceeding expectations bit was fun while it lasted, Bulls.

Chicago, needing a victory for the No. 6 seed (which may or may not be more valuable than the No. 7 seed), blew it against Toronto. (To that point) 32-win Toronto. John Salmons shot 1-7, Kirk Hinrich went 0-6 and the Bulls front line gave up 16 offensive rebounds in 45 opportunities. Bad stuff all around.

But! Chicago could hold on to the No. 6 with a Philadelphia loss to ... Cleveland, a team which sat four starters (including LeBron) and had only a share of the all-time home win record at stake. Cleveland's remaining crew actually led much of the game, and Daniel Gibson sent the game to overtime with a deep deep three. Philly took a lead in overtime, though, and despite Andre Miller missing two free throws in the final seconds pulled out a one-point victory for the 76ers.

As such, Philadelphia gets Orlando instead of Boston, and the Bulls find themselves facing the defending champs. Awesome work, Bulls. It's almost as if they worked hard so that they could control their own destiny ... so they could blow it.

Waiting For Next Year has the scoop on the new alternate jersey the Cavaliers will roll out. It's the team's fifth this season; WFNY has photos of the previous four (orange, blue, white and French's mustard). In honor of Boobie Gibson Bobblehead Night and LeBron's ongoing theological battle over Sunday's traveling call, the Cavs will wear this shirt on Wednesday.



(OK, OK ... I'm no Skeets. The real jerseys are here.)

The Cavaliers have successfully made the jump from "very good" to "elite" by absolutely destroying opponents on both sides of the ball. They've defied logic by proving that stingy defense and dominant offense can go hand in hand, allowing the fewest points in the league (90.4) while scoring the second-most (104.0). This isn't just a legitimate championship contender, folks; if they keep this up, it will go down as one of the best seasons of all-time.

But while the team has caught all the breaks so far, their depth will be tested in the short-term. Sixth-man Daniel Gibson sprained a toe last night and will rest for the next two weeks, at which point he'll be re-evaluated. Can the Cavs keep chugging along?

Considering their average point difference is +13.6 points, it stands to reason they can lose a guy averaging just 9.4 points a night without too much concern. Not to pile on, but Cavs might actually be better for it. Gibson has started to turn things around the last few games, but on the season he's shooting just .402, including .310 from beyond the arc. Statistically speaking, letting a combination of Sasha Pavlovic (.415 / .389), Delonte West (.472 / .411) and Wally Szczerbiak (.480 / .349) absorb Gibson's 24.3 minutes a game should make the Cavs even more efficient, especially when you factor his non-existent defense.

Say what you want about Danny Ferry and his incredible inability to put a superstar next to LeBron James, he's protecting his 2010 money no matter what.

Today's mini-coup comes in the form of re-signing a player they wanted but were unwilling to break the bank on. The Cavaliers re-signed guard Delonte West today according to Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal.

"West has agreed to a two-year contract with a team option for the 2011-12 season. According to league sources, the deal is worth between $4 million and $5 million per season.

Now, I'm assuming that's a typo and the option is for 2010-2011, since two years from now is 2010-2011 and I'm smart like that. If it's not, this could be clumsy. If it is a typo and the extension is for 2010, this is a pretty nifty deal. Not only did the Cavaliers nab a legit point guard (if an underwhelming "big name") in Mo Williams via trade, but in the same stroke they managed to neutralized the leverage Delonte West was using with fictitious offers from Europe. So they get their guy, they pay him a reasonable sum for his services, even though West has considerable upside and played very well with LeBron in the playoffs, exhibiting a chemistry the Cavs haven't seen between a point guard and the franchise player since ... well, ever, and the best part?

There is nothing more exciting in sports than a Game 7. Expect perhaps finding out that both Mike Brown and Doc Rviers have been kidnapped before this game and that there will actually be some offense. Since that is unlikely to happen -- and certainly not endorsed to happen by anyone here -- we'll have to settle for seeing whether LeBron James can have his best game of this series on the biggest stage.

He has slowly been stepping his game up after abysmal Games one and two, possibly in the pretense of going off during the Eastern Conference Finals and trudging the Cavs back into the Finals. But first things first -- the Celtics are staring at most scrutiny they have faced in years, without a road playoff win and with another Game 7 against a team they should have closed out already, if they were anything like the Boston team of the regular season.

Live Blog begins here at 3:30, or shortly before.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Celtics-Cavs Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 6 this evening.

Nowhere To Go But Up. Or ... Home: Demolished in Game 4. Daniel Gibson out. Unable to get LeBron hot. Rajon Rondo shaking off doldrums. Kevin Garnett. There's a mountain of stuff lined up against Cleveland tonight. They are at home, but as much as it's been a saving grace for teams so far in the playoffs, that's got to end at some point. I hate using cliches, but they're unavoidable in this situation. The Cavaliers are in a position to bond together, give 110%, rise to meet the challenge, and let the hometown crowd buoy them to a Game 7 in Boston. It's not quite that simple though.

Delonte's Inferno: Okay, Delonte West. You're up. Gibson is down, you've been great at home, and this team needs a shooter like nothing else. If the Cavaliers are going to push this thing back to Boston against all odds, they need West to do three things. Create, contain, and close. He's got to spark the offense. He's done a better job of that than even Gibson has done, and has done well both in transition and in the half court set of finding the open man and making the right decision. He's got to contain Rajon Rondo and send him back to his dreadful pre-Game 5 ways, and he's got close out by knocking down and defending three point shots.

Whatever hopes the Cavaliers had of winning the final two games of the series against the Celtics just took a huge hit, as sharp-shooter Daniel Gibson has been ruled out of Game 6 with a separated shoulder. Gibson left Game 5 early in the fourth quarter with the injury, which will keep him out of action for at least one-two weeks. Which, you know, is bad news for Cleveland, because this series definitely won't last past Sunday, and might not even get that far.

While Gibson's only big game of the series came in Game 4 where he dropped in 14 points, the fact that he's a long range threat tends to open things up for the all-important one, LeBron James. So even though Gibson's firepower won't necessarily be missed, his presence will be, and that might be just enough to get the Celtics over the hump on the road in Game 6.

Brian Windhorst, who is one of the finest NBA reporters in the land, let alone for the Cavs, has a terrific quote this morning from LeBron James that gives us some insight into where his head at, both with his identity and his team's. After the Game 5 loss in Boston, James was quoted as saying,

"A LeBron James team is never desperate."

Now, there are a lot of ways to interpret this. One is that any team with James on it is going to be confident, because he knows what he's capable of. And you can't really fault him for that. I personally hate it when guys are overly modest to the point of it being facetious. The Cavs are LeBron James. And for them to really excel, to beat the Celtics in a seven game series, especially winning a Game 7 in Boston, if it even comes to that, he has to be the guy. That kind of honesty is kind of refreshing in a league where so many players talk about their teammates but don't actually trust them in the game.

More analysis of the King and "his team" after the jump.