Tough enough?

I watched the Bowling Green women's team manhandle Kent State Saturday afternoon. It was a wonderful catharsis, a vicarious pouring-out of any frustration I had.
Then I came home and watched the Cavaliers on Sunday. And I was transported back to the world of the gangly and easily-overwhelmed.
For three quarters, the Cavs played with poise and purpose, at one juncture having a 15-point lead over the Heat. But then the Heat did what elite teams do and got tough in the fourth quarter.
Some sportscasters like to call the fourth quarter "winning time." It's when great players are supposed to take over, when great teams are supposed to stop screwing around and focus on the task at hand. And that's what Miami did.
The Heat lived up to their name for those final 12 minutes. You could physically see the Cavs sweating, then wilting, then losing, 98-92.
It all came down to what the Heat bench did versus what the Cavs bench did. And for the second straight game, the Cavs bench did absolutely nothing, scoring five points.
The Miami bench, meanwhile, brought scoring and energy. Alonzo Mourning spurred the Heat's fourth-quarter rally, and the Cavs couldn't match the intensity. When it came down to a competition of intestinal fortitude, the Cavs barfed all over the floor.
That's how LeBron scores 47 and the Cavs still lose.
It was LeBron's fourth-highest point total in a game. In three of those four games, Cleveland lost. Blame it on the bench.
LeBron and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had to carry this team through Florida, not coincidentally an 0-2 swing. This can't continue. Nobody is expecting the Cavs' bench to be world-beaters, but they have to do something.
If the Cavs' bench turns up as mush against Dallas Tuesday night, they might lose by 40.
I am starting a campaign now: re-sign Flip Murray. The Cavs need at least one starter-caliber player coming off the bench in future years, not to mention the ever-present need for an insurance policy on the fragile Larry Hughes.

LeBron or Dwyane?
ESPN, in their typical controversy-stirring way, posed a question on ESPN.com this morning: is Dwyane Wade better than LeBron?
I answer it this way: Give LeBron Shaquille O'Neal, Mourning, Antoine Walker, Gary Payton and Udonis Haslem as a supporting cast and see where it gets him. Give Wade Drew Gooden, Damon Jones, Eric Snow and Donyell Marshall and Sasha Pavlovic, and see where it gets him.
My guess is Wade wouldn't be the burgeoning superstar in Cleveland that he is in Miami. He'd be closer to a poor man's Carmelo Anthony.
Wade stepped into a well-run organization looking for talent, kind of like when Tim Duncan was drafted by the Spurs. LeBron stepped into a unmitigated disaster of an organization, and while the Cavs are far better than they were in the spring of 2003, climbing out of that muck takes years of trial and error.