King Kaufman's Sports Daily

LeBron plays like a superstar, but the result is the same: 79-76 Pistons. Plus: Ernie Harwell returns to the airwaves.

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May 25, 2007 | That's more like it, LeBron.

LeBron James was a little more Michael Jordan, a lot less Dirk Nowitzki Thursday night in Game 2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Detroit Pistons NBA playoff series. The result was the same as in Game 1, a 79-76 Pistons victory, but for Cleveland's star, it was a different game in an important way.

Widely panned -- including in this space -- for his passive, get-my-teammates-involved performance and especially his last-second dish to Donyell Marshall Monday night, James defended himself one last time Thursday in an on-court halftime interview with TNT's Craig Sager.

Asked about the criticism, he said, "I know I made the right decision in that last game on Monday, so you come up with that same mindset today and try to get a win."

But actions speak louder than words, if I may coin a phrase. First Cavs possession: James takes an inbounds pass and drives the baseline for a layup. Third Cavs possession: James takes a pass at the free-throw line, drives the lane and is fouled going up for a layup. Fifth Cavs possession: James calls for the ball in the backcourt, takes a pass at the half-court line, stutter-steps and drives hard around Chauncey Billups, toward the basket, though he fumbles the ball and turns it over.

By the time James stood with Sager for that interview, he had 14 points, four assists and three rebounds. He'd taken five free throws, five more than he took in Game 1. Not coincidentally, the Cavaliers led the Pistons 50-38.

That's the end of the good part of the story for Cleveland. If you're good at math you can see the Cavaliers only scored 26 points in the second half on the way to losing and falling behind 2-0 in the series. James had five points in the half, which looks an awful lot like Monday's performance, when he scored 10 for the game.

But it wasn't the same at all. Gone was the passive Dirkmonster of Monday night. James took charge of his team and tried to lead it to victory. It didn't work, but that's because the Pistons clamped down on defense in the second half in a way that can only be called spectacular.

There were long stretches when the Cavaliers looked completely befuddled on offense. With Pistons defenders inside their shirts, the Cavs missed having a true point guard and Detroit quickly gobbled up most of Cleveland's lead with a 9-0 run starting about three minutes into the third quarter.

Next page: James dishes to the corner again, but it's not the same. Plus: Ernie Harwell back in the booth