LB, Cavs should end series tonight

Boston and Orlando already know who they will play in the Eastern Conference finals in a few days. But will they know after tonight? If you're a Vegas man, the answer is yes.

The fourth game of the Conference Semifinals between Cleveland and Atlanta SHOULD end tonight as the two teams will battle it out in Atlanta at 7:00 PM ET on TNT.

If Cleveland wins, they will once again sit back for another week, waiting and watching their future opponent duke it out in another seven game series. Fresh legs are a nice entity this time of year.

Before this series, I made a case in point that the Hawks would take one game. At the time, it looked like Atlanta could put it altogether for one night and deny a sweep, even after seven game series win over Wade and the Heat.

This prediction is looking bleak as the Cavs are starting to look more and more like a championship team with each passing game. The Hawks are a good young team, but right now, Cleveland is playing at a more consistent level, which is viable this time of year. Want evidence of a team looking for better team effort? See the Lakers.

Before making the 4-1 Cavs prediction, however, I left out one important factor: who is going to stop Lebron James, while maintaining Cleveland's perimeter shooting? So far, no one.

On paper, the starting five for Atlanta isn't a bad one by any means, led by former Indiana recruit Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, Al Horford, and Maurice Evans. Former second overall pick Marvin Williams is the first man off the bench, while Shaw standout Ronald Murray has made a name for himself this season. Zaza Pachulia is a solid player on the defensive end.

Atlanta coach and former Hoosier standout Mike Woodson throughout multiple defenses at the Cavs in Game 3, hoping to slowdown James' penetration to the basket. Ironically, it wasn't James' inside play that killed the Hawks from the start.

Woodson's game plan was pretty simple: placed a man on straight up on the MVP, with another man shading no more than 7 feet away. If James drives, the shade helps. If he shoots, you hope for a miss and a rebound. This defense isn't new to James, or Kobe, or Wade, all of which know how to drive around the coming "shade" or dish it out to an open man on the perimeter. At different points in game 3, a three man rotation was in charge of guarding James one-on-one: Bibby, Williams or Murray. All three had their share of successes, but for only short spurts.

While this makes sense from a coaching standpoint, it doesn't help when James finds his rhythm early, dropping three straight three pointers, finishing 5-10 for the game, and ending with 47 points. Jordan-esque?

This is the difference between Lebron in 2008 to 2009 on the offensive end, you can't leave him one-on-one. Once asked to shoot by defenders has become a quick sense of panic. He's no Steve Kerr or Kobe Bryant, but it's very eveident James' shooting woes are behind him.
Put a big man with long arms on the perimeter, James will drive by him. Put a smaller, quicker guard on him, James will muscle past or shoot over him. Other than Kevin Durant, I'm not sure another player in the league has these two qualities going from him.

If the Hawks want to win this evening, they better hope for an off night from James and a so-so night from his teammates. By the way things have been going for the Cavs, neither is bound to happen until the next round.

Boston or Orlando should know their opponent after tonight.