By RICK NOLAND
Staff Writer
Quicken Loans Arena public address announcer Olivier Sedra is going to have to alter his pregame introductions a bit when the Cavaliers host the Houston Rockets tonight at 7.
“And at forward, from Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, your 2008 NBA All-Star Game MVP, LeBronnnn James!”
Then, about midway through the first period, Sedra will bellow, “Now entering the game for the Cavaliers, your 2008 Rookie Challenge MVP, Daniel “Boobie” Gibson!”
To be sure, things couldn’t have gone much better for owner Dan Gilbert’s franchise over All-Star Weekend in New Orleans.
James once again showed why all those polls that have Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant running ahead of him in the league MVP race are just wrong, wrong, wrong.
The 6-foot-8, 250-pounder was the best player on the court from beginning to end Sunday night in leading the East to a 134-128 victory over the West in the All-Star Game.
The 23-year-old finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and nine assists en route to his second All-Star Game MVP award in the last three years. To erase all doubt about who should win the honor, he threw down a resounding dunk in the final minute.
Gibson was just as impressive, making a record 11 3-pointers in 20 attempts Friday night in the Rookie Challenge game. For good measure, the second-year guard came back and finished second to former Cavalier Jason Kapono in the Three-Point Shootout on Saturday.
The performances of James and Gibson on one of the NBA’s biggest stages garnered a ton of positive national publicity for the Cavaliers, who now have a chance to not only ride that momentum to a strong regular-season finish, but perhaps another memorable postseason showing as well.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, and while it certainly would help if general manager Danny Ferry could add another piece or two to his club, doing so won’t be easy.
Still, if the Cavaliers can continue to play well while waiting for Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic to return from injuries, there’s ample reason to believe they can position themselves for another successful postseason run.
Cleveland, which plays three of its next four games at The Q, is currently 29-23, which places it fourth in the Eastern Conference playoff seedings. In an ideal world, the Cavaliers would move up to the No. 2 spot, but the chances of that happening are slim and none with Detroit 10 games up and Boston ahead by 13.
Of more importance right now is staying at least No. 4, which guarantees home-court advantage in the first round. Toronto, which currently holds the No. 5 spot, is just a half-game back of the Cavaliers, who trail No. 3 Orlando by three games.
Whether Cleveland finishes third, fourth or even fifth in the East, however, it will almost certainly have to go through Detroit and Boston if it hopes to return to the NBA Finals for a second straight year.
That will be an extremely difficult task, especially if the Pistons and Celtics are healthy in the postseason, but it’s not impossible.
With James, anything — and more importantly, everything — is possible, which means the Cavaliers may not have experienced their last “valuable” moments of 2007-08.
Noland may be reached at rickn@ohio.net or 330-721-4061.

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