Rewind your internal calendars to a week ago. The Cavaliers were staring at a 2-0 deficit after getting beaten handily by the Detroit Pistons in the first two games in the series. Anyone who bet on the Cavs winning the next three, when Detroit hadn’t lost three games in a row all season, sure would be a pretty rich man by now. After Game 2, nobody, including those in Cleveland, gave the Cavaliers a chance to win the series, let alone win another game. However, the Wine and Gold have done the unthinkable and have taken the lead in the series with an 86-84 nailbiter in Motown Wednesday night.

LeBron led the charge with 32 points and had 5 assists. His biggest dish came in the final minute when he passed to Drew Gooden in the paint for the game-winning bucket. Tayshaun Prince attempted a driving runner but was rejected by Donyell Marshall, who finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds. The Cavs built a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter but the Pistons battled back to close to gap to two to start the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers once again toughened up defensively in the clutch and never allowed the Pistons to take the lead.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas finally woke up temporarily from a month-long nap and contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds, before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Varejao again had an outstanding game, taking charges and elbows in the face all night long.

The Cavaliers have given the Pistons a taste of their own medicine the last three games with aggressiveness, hustle, and strong late-game defense. Cleveland is playing like a former championship team right now, not the Pistons. The James Gang has constantly given LB support even when the young star has not been on his “A” game. Everyone seems to know their role on the team and are playing like they’ve been there before. The Cavaliers and their fans are witnessing something extremely special.

“Everybody wrote us off, but we started to get some confidence in the second half of Game 2 and we’ve just kept it going,” Cavs reserve Damon Jones said.

No, Cavalier fans, this is not a dream. We have a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night. Let “The Q” rock!

The Tribe looked like they were headed for their seventh straight defeat until Grady Sizemore’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth tied the game.

“I think we knew then that we were going to win,” Sizemore said. “I was just trying to do something to get us going, but when I saw it go out, I was pretty fired up.”

Then with one out and Jhonny Peralta at first, Travis Hafner ended it with one swing of the bat. Hafner’s 12th homer of the season gave the Tribe a 6-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals, snapping their six-game losing streak. Paul Byrd ran into some trouble out of the gate, giving up three runs in the first inning, but managed to settle down. Betancourt, Mota, and Jason Davis each pitched a scoreless inning in relief for the Indians.

I would say we needed this win but that would probably be an understatement. The monkey is off everyone’s back now so hopefully they’ll just go out, relax, and play the kind of baseball that they are capable of.