LBJ=MVP

A couple of quick notes from the Cavs' win over the Heat in Miami last night:

- That's five straight for Los Caballeros now, including the last three without starting point guard and 2nd-leading scorer Mo Williams and two without backup PG/SG Delonte West. Their only blemish in the past eight games was that heartbreaker in Utah. Bonus points if you can name that fellow who hit the game-winner for the Jazz.

- You do realize our starting backcourt is Daniel Gibson and Anthony Parker, right? That speaks volumes about the production we're getting from our frontline players.

- In particular: LeBron James. The MVP debate for this season isn't even open anymore: it's the King. Look at the last two games, particularly the endgame scenarios (ignoring, if you will, the 69 points he poured in for a shorthanded Cav squad against two plus-.500 clubs). Against OKC, all he did was drive and kick for the game-winning shot then block Kevin Durant's retaliation attempt. Against Miami, all he did was make a steal, take it all the way to the other end, hit two FT's for a one-point lead, then force Dwyane Wade into a shot that missed to give the Cavs the win.

Nobody is playing better than this guy at both ends of the floor. I can't see a legitimate argument for anyone else as tops in the league.

- Heat fans nevertheless seem to think it's their guy Wade, evidenced by the M-V-P chants that went up in the first half after he made a shot and was fouled in the process. I noticed that these chants ceased after he bricked the FT, and never resurfaced in a second half in which he went 1-8 shooting and scored just two points.

- This despite the fact that Wade gets a preposterous number of calls. I felt like I was rewatching the '06 Finals last night. Cleveland players couldn't even look at D-Wade funny last night, lest they get whistled. That might have been the worst-officiated Cavalier contest of the season.

- The most concerning call: not getting Wade for goaltending at the end as he grabbed onto the rim after decking LeBron while LeBron's shot was in the air. How do you miss that call? LeBron kept saying to the officials, "he grabbed the rim, man!" with apparently no explanation from the zebras. Ridiculous. I would have been furious had they lost.

But they didn't. Because they have the real MVP.