But today we lease this space to LeBron James, who by all rights should be too exhausted to talk but yet attempts to explain what has happened to the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.

"We all know we haven't got the breaks in this series," James said after his desperate heave missed at the Game 4 overtime buzzer.

Ben Wallace trying to defend Rashard Lewis with six seconds to go isn't a bad break. It's just a really, really bad idea.

Dwight Howard getting the ball inside so easily in the overtime wasn't a bad break.

The Cavs have lost 11 of their past 15 games against Orlando. The count this season, which is the more relevant context, is five Magic wins in seven tries.

If not for one of the NBA's greatest players hitting the biggest shot of his career, the Cavs' record against Orlando could well be 1-6 and James might already be giving NBA Finals studio work a whirl.

Look, if you're the target of a pigeon over and over, that's not a bad break. It's deeper than that. It probably means you're a statue.

(But enough about the four teammates who watch James dribble at the top of the key, possession after possession, in the fourth quarter.)

James has proclaimed the Cavs a "no excuse" team during a season in which they won 66 games and the first eight played in the postseason. So speaking of breaks - like the Cavs on offense and defense - runs counter to what they've been about most of the season.

A group that prides itself on defense gave up double-digit leads in the only two games played at The Q in this series.

The old third-quarter sleepwalking that plagued Mike Brown's Cavaliers in the first few years of his tenure isn't quite "Night of the Living Dead" scary. But it surely has created a monster in Orlando.

The Magic believe every close game is theirs now, and for good reason. They have won from behind and won from ahead, on the road, at home and now in overtime.

Breaks? Cavs guard Mo Williams is shooting 32 percent, 20 percent from 3-point range.

The foul call that put James on the line and gave him a chance to send Game 4 to overtime could've been a charge, a block, or no call at all.

James scored 28 percent of the Cavaliers' points in the regular season. In these playoffs he is scoring 43 percent.

Hubie Brown made the point on ESPN radio that it's not as simple as taking Williams and guard Delonte West to task for failing to sufficiently help James. He said the Cavs' insistence on running the high pick and roll over and over limited their ability to choose their offensive outlets.

And you thought Orlando was only dictating the game while on offense?

Wallace and Williams say the Cavs are doing things on defense they never did during the regular season. Instead of talking about breaks, they should be talking to their head coach and coming to a consensus in time for tonight's Game 5.

For the sake of those poor souls eager for the first championship in Cleveland since 1964, you can only hope the Cavaliers are talking more honestly with each other in private.

This is one of those lay-it-all-out moments. You'll find out now about the significance of all that good chemistry they've been talking about.

Williams repeatedly said before Game 4 that the Cavs had the "best team" in the NBA.

Sorry, but there's a scary possibility hiding inside the 66-16: their losing record against the league's other top teams, Boston, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Magic.

Maybe that meant something after all?

For bad breaks to get anything close to equal mention with the real reasons for the 1-3 deficit - bad matchups, bad shooting and the return of bad habits - the Cavs would've had to crack a side mirror on the team bus on Friday the 13th while trying to avoid a black cat.

Trespassing on Indian burial grounds.

A lover, not a fighter

Jose Canseco loses his first MMA fight.

Korean giant Hong Man Choi disposed of Canseco in 77 seconds, not surprising since Canseco didn't have any experience in mixed martial arts and was going up against a 7-2 kickboxer.

Since Canseco previously lasted less than a minute in a celebrity boxing match against former NFL player Vai Sikahema (once a Golden Gloves champ) and fought former "Partridge Family" star Danny Bonaduce to a draw despite outweighing Bonaduce by 70 pounds, MMA officials decided there was absolutely no reason to test Canseco for steroids.

You said it

Bud: Should all maternity wards in Cleveland be required to post the notice "Abandon hope, all ye sports fans who enter here"? - Ron

The only saving grace for the newborn Cleveland sports fan is that since they enter the world already crying, there's no need for a slap from the nurse or doctor. (By the way, Ron, you are officially entered in our May "Best of You Said It" contest.)

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Bud: Indians reliever Rafael Betancourt says Cleveland fans always blame the bullpen when the team loses. Given their team ERA, does he know something that I don't? Is he just angry that the offense doesn't score 16 runs a game? - Tom

He must know something we don't. And apparently, whatever that thing is, he thinks about it for five minutes between every pitch.

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Bud: The media won't let the (Cleveland) fans forget they are supposed to be disappointed forever, and now it has spilled over into the national media as well. Please watch or listen to the games, enjoy what's good, lament over what's bad, talk about it and then move on. - Gary

Gary, I think it's actually the Cleveland teams that won't let the Cleveland fans forget that they are supposed to be disappointed forever.

Any deals on fireworks?

Chinese investors have purchased a minority stake in the Cavaliers .

The most intriguing aspect of this deal, other than an influx of capital for owner Dan Gilbert at a time when he needs it to reduce costs, is the marketing opportunity for LeBron James. In return, the group must have strong reason to believe James will re-sign with the Cavaliers after next season.

He has given no indication he plans to sign elsewhere. But maybe the Chinese connection could come in handy if he does leave.

China has the technological expertise to deliver to Gilbert the one thing he'll desperately need in a post-LeBron James era:

A LeBron James robot.

Hot (or cold?) off the press

Clearly . . .

Headline before the Orlando series: "SI cover jinx doesn't faze Cavs."

Irrational exuberance

Obviously . . .

E-mail received Saturday after the Cavs won Game 2 on LeBron James' shot at the buzzer:

"Crank up the KC and the Sunshine Band, let go and celebrate because with that shot a new era of Cleveland sports has begun and it will right all the wrongs of the past." - Tony

To reach Bud Shaw: bshaw@plaind.com, 216-999-5639

Previous columns online: cleveland.com/columns