Cavs Fans can exhale for now
Instead of sitting in my customary assigned press row seat in the upper echelons of Quicken Loans Arena, I decided to watch the game from a spectator perspective in section 28- row 16 on Saturday night.
Actually, the seat was a better view than my press row seat as I sat right behind family members of Boston Celtic guard and Cleveland native Terry Rozier all dabbed in the Celtic green jersey and one even had on his Louisville uniform.
It is only here where you can feel the anxiety of the Cavaliers faithful as they stand before the Cavs make their first basket and complain with every Celtic score and Cavs missed shot there after.
On this night they would earn a 10 piece chicken Nuggets from McDonalds because their hometown team scored at least 100 points, and while they rejoiced in they Cavs resurgent 116-81 shellacking of their Eastern Conference Finals rivals they yearn for one more on Monday night.
These are the people, men, women, children, husbands, wives, boyfriend and girl friends who take each Cavalier loss harder than the players themselves.
Although this game was never in question from the opening tip as the Cavs won each of the four quarters, the inebriated couple in seats 13 and 14 and the tipsy ladies in seats 18 and 19 seemingly waited with abated breath for the cardiac Cavs to slip up.
It is a theme they have grown accustomed to this season as they don’t know what to really expect from a Cavalier team that barely got out of the first round, swept the top seed Raptors and then fell flat in Bean town to sink in an 0-2 hole.
Essentially the Cavs played they way they always have, but this time the shots were falling and they won most of the 50-50 balls, yeah they played like their fans had acted on this night at The Q…Desperate.
They cheered loudly for Ryan Shazier, the former Ohio State star and Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowl linebacker who was shown on the big screen standing after many feared he would never walk again.
Theses are the people who clamor for Sherman Williams rubber balls, a Huntington Bank T-shirt and a falling lottery ticket that doesn’t come their way.
They are decked out with their varied Cavs attire, The Land shirt, a LeBron jersey or one of the bright yellow souvenir shirts they get in their seat when they arrive.
They navigate the slender rows of seats with soft drinks and buckets of popcorn too big to consume.
They were more than happy to get out early and beat the traffic, knowing the Cavs had this one in the bag and as they exited, then ponder out loud whether the Cavs would win on Monday.
A few Celtic fans took the heat of the blowout and shouted “we are still up 2-1,” to which a Cavs fan responded, “yeah for now.”
As the trio of Celtic fans disappeared in the elevator at Tower City, a Cavs couple pondered. “It will probably be a close game on Monday?”
They will never know what to expect from a Cavalier team, which on one night can look invincible and then on another invisible.
Still down 2-1 in the series, Monday will tell the real tale of what happens next.
