Just turned off our Tivo-like box, wherein was stored tonight's wonderful pro hoops contest. Cleveland stomped Detroit to reach the NBA Finals. LeBron James, a one-man scoring machine the other night, did everything but make baskets tonight. As the Pistons sent their whole defense at him, he simply passed off to a rookie guard named Daniel "Boobie" Gibson -- a recent teammate of LaMarcus Aldridge's -- and Gibson went nuts, hitting three-point shot after three-point shot and finishing with 31 points.

Adding to the entertainment was ex-Blazer still-bum "Ra" Wallace of the Pistons, who got himself thrown out of the game toward the end for his legendary temper. It was also quite heartening to see that the addition of washed-up convicted perjurer Chris Webber hurt, rather than helped, the Detroit team this year. They couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the second half. Their time has come and gone -- with Flip Saunders coaching them, they've got nowhere to go but into oblivion. Fine with me.

The Cavaliers will likely be like lambs to the slaughter against the Spurs. But at least in the weak Eastern Conference, they played the best. And nobody thought they'd sweep Detroit after dropping the first two. It could be a somewhat interesting finals.

Anything but the Pistons against the Spurs is a major relief.