With the Miami Heat, LeBron James finally accomplished what he could not with the Cavaliers: beat Boston in a seven game series.

The once-savior of the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James went turn-coat exiting the Rust Belt for South Beach last summer. Since his arrival and pairing with Superstar Dwyane Wade and (now exposed to be rather pedestrian) Chris Bosh, LeBron James has been under the microscope and expected to deliver a title to Miami. His performance throughout the season suggest and uneasy partnership with Wade, as the two often struggled to closeout games. Interesting to note that even during the playoffs, the worse lineup for the Heat (in plus-minus terms), was when the ‘Big Three’ were on the court together. On Wednesday, the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics to close out the series 4-1. Unlike last year’s meltdown with the Cavaliers, LeBron James led a furious comeback and helped Miami score 18 straight points(10 of which were his) to win the game 97-87 on their home court. Afterwards, it was clear that a weight had been lifted from LeBron. For all the tough talk he had this summer about winning multiple titles, LBJ knew that he would have to defeat Boston if he wanted to win anything.

The ‘Big Three’ of Miami beat the original ‘Big Three’ of Boston in a series where health and in-season trades contributed greatly to the outcome. Danny Ainge, GM of the Celtics, curiously traded staring center Kendrick Perkins and spark-plug guard Nate Robinson for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ainge, not wanting to see the current Celtics suffer from the same problem of age that his Celtics did in the late 1980s, made a bold move to get younger and more athletic. Unfortunately, injuries and age at the center position — along with Rondo’s wrist injury — were the ultimate undoing of the Celts. Would they have won with Kendrick Perkins? Hard to say. For sure, they would have challenged Dwyane Wade and LeBron Jamees more at the rim. But truth be told, this Celtics team had chances and didn’t close. Blame the Rondo wrist or a few off games from Ray Allen, but this team still had a chance.

LeBron James and company will wait the winner of the Chicago-Atlanta series, in what will prove to be a more athletic encounter. But having already defeated experience, you have to like their chances against youth. For LeBron to truly exercise his demons, he’ll need to win it all. Remember, he’s been to the NBA Finals before, only to get swept. But this year, there will be no LA Lakers.

What is the LeBron Karma Tweet?
No denying that LeBron is one of the greatest talents in the NBA. But it is now also hard to ignore the fact that when he opens his mouth, it’s usually to insert his foot. After his old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, got taking to the woodshed by the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday 112-57, LeBron made the following tweet.

LeBron Karma Tweet

Really? You’re taunting the team you left high and dry? The same team that handcuffed themselves with garbage contracts to appease you?

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The Cleveland Cavaliers got kicked in the teeth over the summer when their native son, LeBron James, announced on national television that he would not be staying in Cleveland, but rather “taking his talents to South Beach.” As you might have guessed, every red-blooded Clevelander has had December 2nd marked on their calendar since the NBA released the 2010-11 basketball schedule.

LeBron James Returns to Cleveland on December 2, 2010

Maybe only one game (or two) so far this season have brought with it an enormous Superbowl-type hype with it. The opening tip between Boston and Miami felt like a Game 7. The first Orlando v. Miami game also had something special, until the blowout of the second half. These games were hyped because everyone wanted to see how Miami measured up against the NBA heavyweights.

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Mike Woodson was fired by the Atlanta Hawks after taking the Atlanta Hawks to their best regular season finish in more than a decade. Should it come as any surprise that the regular season Eastern Conference champions have fired their coach?

Mike Brown was let go by the Cleveland Cavaliers after 5 seasons as head coach. The one-time assistant for the Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, and the Indiana Pacers, was the only coach that NBA All-Star LeBron James has ever had. That is both good news and bad news for Brown. With LeBron comes instant wins but monumental expectations.

Brown is one of the most successful coaches in Cavs history, going 314-177 in the last two years and qualifying for the playoffs in each of his five years. However, after winning the coach of the year award in 2009, a year where the Cavalies won 66 games, he was unable to duplicate regular season success into playoff wins. NBA finalists in 2007 (the only appearance in Cleveland history), the Cavaliers have backslid every year, losing to the Orlando Magic in teh Eastern Conference finals last year and bowing out to the aged Celtics in the second round this year.

Brown’s fate was sealed by the performance of his team in this year’s playoffs. A sluggish and well contested first round series against a scrappy Bulls team may have been a sign of things to come. Despite excellent performances by LeBron James, the Cavs were never comfortable in the series. Game 1 of the second round against the Boston Celtics started ominously for the Cavs as they trailed by double-digits well into the second half. But a LeBron outburst in the fourth quarter led to a win and a 1-0 series lead. Two more games, and it was 2-1 for Cleveland. Inexplicably, the team lost 3 games in a row, some in blowout fashion to a Celtics team on the backside of their careers.

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