Random Thoughts

The Phoenix Suns played with pride and emotion last night but without first team All-NBA center Amare Stoudemire and backup forward Boris Diaw, the Suns just didn't have enough firepower to overcome the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs now lead the series 3-2 and are in position to close out the Suns on Saturday in San Antonio... Jon Lester will make another start for the Pawucket Red Sox, in Ottawa on Saturday. Hopefully this will be Lester's final Triple-A start and he can finally claim the spot in the rotation currently held down by Julian Tavarez... To me, LeBron James can not be considered a great player until he steps up and actually leads the Cavaliers. It is not enough to be flashy, sell sneakers and make SportsCenter every night with a fabulous dunk; it is time to validate all the hype and win in the lowly East. The Cavs could have won their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New Jersey Nets last night in Cleveland but James -- who scored just 20 points -- could not lead his team to victory against the mediocre Nets. New Jersey led going into the fourth quarter by a score of 77-59 but were held to just 6 points in the final quarter. Even with the Nets falling apart on offense, the Cavs -- and James -- could not capitalize, falling 83-72. Now James is not surrounded by an All-Star team in Cleveland but there is more than enough talent to advance at least as far as the Eastern Finals. They had a great chance to do that last night at home but they choked. James needs to step up his game and get his team to win. Anything less will be a failure...