LAst Night's Action: Clippers Almost Giant Killers

LeBron James doing his thing. But notice the Chris Kaman sighting. AP Photo/Hector Mata

Cleveland Cavaliers defeat LA Clippers 87-83. If the game ended after three quarters, the Clippers would have gotten their biggest upset of the season. After all the Boston Celtics were a little road fatigued and injured when the met in the Staples Center several weeks ago. The Clippers had held the Cavs to under 20 points in each of the three quarters and had a 19 point lead. But the fourth quarter happened, and just like that the Cavs turned it on. LeBron James notched his second straight triple-double with 32 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. However the Cavs were only 3-for-20 behind the three point line with all three coming as they were rallying in the fourth quarter. Questionable shots by the Clippers didn't help things any especially Zach Randolph's airball from three-point land with four seconds left in regulation when down by only two points. This game was marked by the Loch Ness-esque appearance by Chris Kaman. I could have sworn he didn't really exist.

Notable Notes

• The upset of upsets happened Tuesday night in the World Baseball Classic. When I say Dominican Republic, everyone just tacitly assumes they will go deep in the tournament. When the Netherlands beat them this past weekend, it was a wake up call to the Dominicans. But there was a sense for bad things to come when the game was a scoreless tie after nine innings. Then after the Dominicans scored a run in the top of the 11th inning and came out onto the field celebrating, you really knew the baseball gods would not look kindly. And boy did the gods strike. With a runner on third Yurendell DeCaster hit a squibber down the first baseline that should have been handled by first baseman Willy Aybar. But he botched the play which allowed the winning run to score. Lesson: don't fuck with the dikes.