The final day

Playoff races make strange bedfellows.
Tuesday, Cavaliers fans were rooting as hard as they could against the Celtics. Tonight, with the Celtics hosting the Nets in the last game of the season, Cavs fans will be rooting as hard as they can for Boston.
Cleveland's 100-86 win over Boston Tuesday night combined with New Jersey's 109-101 win over Washington means the status quo was kept. The Cavs and Nets have identical 41-40 records with the Nets holding the head-to-head tiebreak, having beaten Cleveland in three of four meetings this year. Tonight, Cleveland must win in Toronto and New Jersey must lose for the Cavs to advance to the playoffs for the first time since 1998.
The Cavs have a chance tonight. But that may be the only thing they get. Because the Celtics, with the Atlantic Division title and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs both secured, were trying harder to stay healthy than they were to give the Cavs a meaningful game Tuesday night. The same will probably hold true against New Jersey tonight.
Celtics pillars Antoine Walker, Gary Payton and Paul Pierce spent all but a sliver of the fourth quarter glued to the bench. Boston coach Doc Rivers will probably afford the Nets the same comfy situation tonight. But, as we all know, there is a huge difference between the Cavs and Nets this spring: the Nets are playing like their feet are on fire; the Cavs are just plain burning up.
Heading into tonight's regular season finales, the Nets have won 14 of 18 while Cleveland has a scant 11 wins since the all-star break. If the stumbling Cavs managed to beat the Celtics reserves by 14, one can only imagine what the streaking Nets will do to them.
Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith spent part of this morning (loudly) debating the issue of the Celtics tanking their last two games on the ESPN2 show "Cold Pizza." Bayless tried to make a case that Pierce, still fuming over the Nets' elimination of the Celtics en route to two NBA Finals, will try to singlehandedly derail the Nets' playoff hopes tonight. It's fun to imagine, but you'd be better off putting stock in what came directly out of Pierce's mouth after Tuesday night's game, as reported in The Plain Dealer:
"I know it sounds good to say every game means something, but, matter of fact, it don't mean nothing for us. We got home court, we won the Atlantic Division. I think it's more important to rest the guys who played heavy minutes for the the playoffs."
If the rest of the Celtics roster feels that way, and it would be wise to bet they do, it sounds like an easy New Jersey win tonight, and the end of the Cavs' season.