Free Damon Jones!

Boobie out of control on the drive. Shocking!

And so the regular season closes with a whimper and a loss.

Lebron sat out and secured his scoring title, the first for a Cav. As is the case each year, his 30-7-7 has only been accomplished by 2 other people, Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson. He ended up with a career high in shooting percentage, rebounds (and offensive rebounds), and blocks. Additionally, for my fellow stat geeks, his advanced metrics were off the charts. His true shooting % and effective field goal % (incorporating 3s and FTs) were also career highs, as were his offensive and defensive rebound rates, assist rate, and PER. You'd be hard pressed to argue that this wasn't the best season yet of his young career. And still, with no MVP trophy in his sights, he'll have to use the second season to punish the league.

But first, there was a game to play. Damon Jones started opposite Rip Hamilton and held him to 1-8 in a quarter of play. Sheer domination. On the other end, DJ was happy to fire away, to the tune of 1-12. Looks like he'll be the team's defensive specialist come the Eastern Conference Championship. That, or he went out shooting in his last game in a Cavs uniform. (He is locked up for next year. Anything could happen.)

I miss the turtleneck.

Nobody in the playoff rotation except for Wally played substantial minutes. Wally logged 43, from a starting role, in an obvious effort from Mike Brown to get him primed for a big role in the postseason. Brian Windhorst believes, and I agree, that that big role means a starting job. Tonight that meant taking the lion's share of the shots and scoring a game high 18.

Ben Wallace also showed some positive signs, hauling in 9 boards in 21 minutes against the guys backing up his former teammates.

Delonte showed he can run an offense, nobody on their team can get their own shot, and Joe Smith is a beast against all comers.

Plus, we got to see some extended minutes from Lance Allred (10), who looked like the sort of 5th big you would want if all your scorers went down and you wanted to keep the opposition honest. I could see the Cavs using him as a 6th big, with Dwayne Jones keeping his garbage time role as the energy/rebounding guy.

Speaking of depth, Billy Thomas must be the greatest practice player since Allen Iverson. After two 10 day contracts the Cavs not only decided to lock up Thomas for the remainder of the year (how does that work??) to provide some practice depth with Sasha sidelined, but also locked Thomas in for next year. Gee, I guess another undersized shooter at the 2 makes Damon Jones expendable.

After Lebron looked pretty healthy, this extra rest should get him ensure he's tip top and ready to take on the trash talking Wizards. Early speculation out of Cleveland is that Game 1 will be Saturday. We'll be back before then with a preview.

Go Cavs!