Climbing the hill

Providing today's persistent cold drizzle departs, the Indians and Cavaliers will both be in action in downtown Cleveland tonight.
The Cavs will draw 20,000 for a playoff sellout. The Indians will be lucky to draw that many on what will be a cold, damp night, with or without raindrops.
Each team will have their own hill to climb. The Cavs face a Game 2 that could, in retrospect, be pivotal to the outcome of their first-round series.
They have a chance to put a half-nelson on the Wizards with a win tonight, going to Washington up 2-0 with the knowledge that Games 5 and 7 would be back at The Q if needed. With a loss, however, the series is back to even with the next two in Washington, and suddenly the Cavs could very well be fighting for their playoff lives the next time the series shifts to Cleveland.
Don't expect LeBron James to have the monster game he had in Game 1. There have been a multitude of conflicting theories on how the Wizards should try to stifle LeBron. Some say Washington should double- or triple-team him. Some say they should force LeBron to his left, his weaker side ("weaker" being a relative term).
Some say they should just man up on LeBron and concentrate on shutting down LeBron's teammates, and that's what I bet Washington tries to do. As Wizards guard Jared Jeffries said after Game 1, Washington can live with LeBron's 32 points. That's his average. What killed the Wizards were the 11 assists and 11 rebounds LeBron also provided.
The Wizards know that the Cavs are 1-2 all-time when LeBron breaks the 50-point barrier. It means he's trying to do too much. By contrast, the Cavs' record is stellar when LeBron notches a triple-double. It means he's getting his teammates involved, and making the team as a whole far more dangerous.
The battle plan for the Wizards could likely be to clog passing lanes and reduce LeBron's options to score and score some more. They will probably bet that, no matter how good LeBron is, he won't be able to singlehandedly beat them.
In turn, that means LeBron's teammates -- Flip Murray and Larry Hughes in particular -- will have to initiate the offense more and make more thinks happen for themselves and their teammates. Someone besides LeBron will have to serve as an offensive igniter. That's the only way the Wizards will be forced into focusing on something besides taking away LeBron's options.

The Indians
The eight-game homestand scheduled to begin tonight could mean the difference between a short-term losing skid and a long-term losing trend.
The Indians didn't cash in against the Mariners, Tigers, Orioles and Royals, which means they must now make up ground against the far tougher Red Sox, Rangers and White Sox.
And watch out for that first step. It's a lu-lu.
Tonight, the Indians must try to beat Curt Schilling, who is off to a start reminiscent of his Philadelphia days (4-0, 1.61 ERA). The Indians counter with Jake Westbrook, who has stumbled to a 2-2 start with an ERA just under six.
The tasks don't get any easier for the remainder of the Boston series. Wednesday, the Indians will face knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and Thursday brings Josh Beckett.
Knowing the luck the Indians have had recently, the temperature will rise to 80 degrees and high humidity tomorrow with a stiff breeze blowing out to center -- ideal conditions to keep a knuckleball dancing all the way to the plate.
If the Indians gag on this homestand, it will put them behind the eight-ball just like last season. With a 2-6 record, the Tribe would fall to 12-15 just as the White Sox appear to be heating up.
It's only April, but the Indians could very well be fighting for their season at Jacobs Field as the Cavs are fighting for their season across the street.