First of all....

Infered Prediction from February

Second of all...

Complete prediction from April

On December 27, 1964, The Cleveland Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts to win the NFL Championship.

In July of 1966, Browns' owner Art Modell offered an ultimatum to Jim Brown demanding that he report to training camp. Brown was shooting a movie called The Dirty Dozen. He took Modell up on his offer, and retired from football on July 14th.

Cleveland has been without a major championship since.

Some Indians writers refer to the Tribe's title drought as "The Curse of Rocky Colavito". This refers to the beginning of a string of terrible moves by Indians GMs with the trade of right fielder Rocky Colavito.

This is an ok attempt at placing mystical blame on Cleveland Sports woes, but, as anyone who regularly reads the Plain Dealer will tell you, Cleveland Sports writers lack creativity.

So I, the Spectating Savant, in my infinite sports wisdom have taken it upon myself to name the dark cloud that has festered over Cleveland for the last 42+ years...

The Curse of Jim Brown

Brown is easily the greatest athlete to ever put on a Cleveland uniform. At the time of his retirement, he held the rushing records for a season and a career. He was the best player on the last team to win an a major championship in Cleveland sports, and several columnists have named him the greatest athlete ever. Clearly, his leaving Cleveland was the worst thing to ever happen to the city's sports identity.

(Note: The Cleveland Sports curse should probably be named the curse of Art Modell, easily the worst owner in Cleveland Sports history. Modell fired 3 time NFL champion head coach Paul Brown, ran Jim Brown out of town, and committed the ultimate in Sports Mutiny by moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1995. However!, I refuse to promote that scumbag by naming anything after him.)

And, having named the 42+ year curse, let me be the first to declare that the curse is over...

The Curse of Jim Brown is officially dead

Because such a curse can only be undone by winning a championship, you must be wondering "What Championship has Cleveland won, Pat?"

The NBA Championship, duh.

"Ok Pat, you're excited. The Cavs just advanced to their first ever NBA Finals and you're a little crazy. You're a complete homer. The San Antonio Spurs are heavily experienced, they won a much tougher conference, they have the best player in the NBA the last 10 years in Tim Duncan, and Greg Popovich is probably the best coach in the NBA"

And I would say to you that all of those things about the Spurs are true.

And none of them matter.

In 2003, the Boston Red Sox lost to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship series. Aaron F. Boone hit a homerun off of Tim Wakefield in 11th inning of game 7 to end the series.

In 2004, the Red Sox were down 0-3 in the AL Championship Series when something happened. David Ortiz went to a place that was beyond human. Through pure strength of will, Big Papi put the Red Sox on his back and took them to 4 straight victories against the Bronx Bombers, including a walk-off base hit and a walk-off homerun.

Boston easily cruised to a 4 game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals who were probably the best team in baseball at the time having won 105 games in the regular season.

Momentum matters.

And the Cleveland Cavaliers have more momentum than any other force in sports right now.

They have so much momentum that it's contagious. Less than 24 hours after Lebron's 48 point Freak Fest, the Cleveland Indians scored 5 runs in the 9th to beat the Detroit Tigers 12-11.

The Cavs just beat the best team in the Eastern Conference over the last 5 years four games in a row! How can you argue with that kind of momentum? Clearly, the Cavs have it.

"But Pat, momentum alone doesn't win games, especially in the NBA Finals"

That's correct. Your skills of deduction are borderline occult.

So, without further ado, here is my NBA Finals Preview:

(2)Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (3)San Antonio Spurs

Marquee Player: Lebron James Key Matchup: Lebron James vs. Bruce Bowen Difference Maker: Cavs Guards Coaching Edge: Spurs, Greg Popovich

This series is very easy to sum up. The San Antonio Spurs are a good defensive team. On offense, they are Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker, and an occasional shot from the rest of their team which consists of the real Mr. Big Shot (Robert Horry), the dirtiest player in the NBA (Bruce Bowen), and a collection of homeless guys.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a good defensive team. On offense, they are Lebron James and an occasional shot from Sasha Pavlovic, Daniel Gibson, Larry Hughes, and a collection of homeless guys.

The biggest difference in this series is simple: The San Antonio Spurs are a physical basketball team and the Cleveland Cavaliers are the most physically intense team in the NBA. Let's do a size rundown...
(All Sizes from espn.com)

Tony Parker: 6'2", 180 lbs.	Larry Hughes: 6'5", 185 lbs.
Michael Finley: 6'7" 225 lbs. or Manu Ginobli: 6'6" 205 lbs.	Sasha Pavlovic: 6'7" 210 lbs.
Bruce Bowen: 6'7" 200 lbs.	Lebron James: 6'8" 250 lbs.
Tim Duncan: 6'11" 260 lbs.	Drew Gooden: 6'10" 242 lbs.
Francisco Elson: 7'0" 235 lbs. or Fabricio Oberto: 6'10" 245 lbs.	Zydrunas Ilgauskus: 7'3" 260 lbs. or Anderson Varejao: 6'10" 240 lbs.

Eric Snow, Daniel Gibson, Damon Jones, Robert Horry, and Beno Udrih notwithstanding, the Cavs just have a physically superior team. Lebron James is the most dominant physical presence in the league as we've seen the last two weeks. 6'8" 250 with his speed makes him the most domineering physical force in this series.

The perimeter isn't even close. No matter who is playing around the arc, be it Lebron, Boobie Gibson, Eric Snow, Larry Hughes, or Sasha Pavlovic, the Cavs are bigger and stronger at the perimeter than anyone the Spurs can run at them.

What does all this mean? It means that Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker, the Spurs' alternatives to Tim Duncan, are going to be neutralized through most of this series.

"Are you sure about that, Pat?"

Have you heard anything about Tayshawn Prince, Rip Hamilton, or Chauncey Billups the last two weeks? No? Well, what about Vince Carter? Nothing? Hmmmm...

It's not that the Cavs guards are talented scorers, passers, or shooters. What they are is bigger and quicker than the guards they are playing against. They're better athletes. This doesn't mean they'll outscore their counterparts, it just means that Manu, Parker, and whoever else is playing the perimeter for the Spurs are going to have their production severly limited.

Tim Duncan is going to be all alone. Whether he's trying to run around a larger Ilgauskus, run through a speedier Varejao, or posting up Drew Gooden, Duncan is going to have his hands full for most of the series. He's going to get double teamed a lot and don't be suprised if Eric Snow is sent in from time to time to come off his man and pester Duncan when he's trying to post up Gooden or Varejao.

Do I believe the Spurs are the best team in basketball? Yes, I do. Do I believe Greg Popovich is a far far superior coach to Mike Brown? Absolutely. But do I think the Spurs can beat the Cavs? No, I don't. Lebron and Co. is a mismatch for the Spurs. It's as simple as that. The Spurs won't be able to count on scoring from their guards, and Tim Duncan is going to have to handle most of the scoring load. If the Cavs can score 80 points a game on the Spurs, they'll win the series. Easily.

And don't forget about Uncle Momo (not your gay uncle from Baton Rouge). Momentum is on the side of the Cavs, and they have the matchups that upsets are made of. This series is almost too easy to bet on. I'll take the Cavs.

Results: Cleveland in 6

Watch it happen.

Tschüs!