If there is one team among the NBA's likely four semifinalists that is flying beneath the radar, it is the Cleveland Cavaliers. That the Cavs are unbeaten is six playoff games thus far is undercut by the reality that they have yet to face even a mediocre low-post presence among Washington and New Jersey.

Is Cleveland playing stellar defense or is the competition just that bad? Obviously both. Ever since Cavs coach Mike Brown inserted Aleksander Pavlovich into the starting lineup alongside Larry Hughes, the team is 28-7. Pavlovich, Hughes and LeBron James are all lanky and athletic, an ideal trio for perimeter rotations. Underneath, Cleveland has a bona fide 7-footer in Z Ilgauskas and a banger with a bit of a nasty streak in Drew Gooden. In other words, they sport the best blend of ingredients for disrupting opposing offenses. For the playoffs they are allowing just .421 FG% and less than 90 points per game.

But Washington without Arenas and Butler may have been the worst playoff team in a decade and for a playoff-tested, supposedly veteran team, New Jersey certainly is playing stupidly. Riddle me this: Why does the team with the most poised point guard in the East, Jason Kidd, decide twice in a row that the best way to beat the Cavs on the road in crunchtime is simply to dump the ball off to Vince Carter, one of the worst on-court "leaders" this side of Antoine Walker?

On the Nets website, the lead graphic is a picture of LeBron and Vinsanity in face to face profile like the classic boxing posters. Promoting this kind of idiotic comepetitive equivalence is why the Nets deserve to get swept this series. Everyone knew they'd be roasted on the boards, and they have been. But in the first two games, they've also been tied with less than 10 minutes to go in the game, only to decide that the way to counter Cleveland letting LeBron take over their offense is to let Carter hog the ball. Bad, bad idea. Pavlovic has done a nice job on Carter, who despite shooting 35 percent has more than twice as many shots, 49, in two games, than anyone on his team--and four more than LeBron! Meanwhile, a guy by the name of Richard Jefferson is canning 61 percent of his field goals and might be the beneficiary of some nifty Kidd dishes if someone, maybe clueless Nets coach Lawrence Frank, could pry the ball out of the hands of Carter, who just happens to be playing for a new contract.

Continued advertisement

As for the other NBA playoff series, my pick of the Bulls in 5 or 6, was, eh, just a little off thus far. Mucho credit to the Pistons, who have put together two displays of absolutely superlative team basketball. I forget exactly how good shooting guard Rip Hamilton is, specifically what a tough matchup he is, being 6-7, very quick, crafty at cutting around picks and with a deadly accurate, rapid-fire release. The key to the series in my estimation has been Scott Skiles barely bothering to watch Ben Gordon get embarrassed trying to guard Hamilton, throwing his best perimeter guy, Kirk Hinrich, on him instead. But this has backfired because Hamilton is too quick and crafty and, let's face it, mentally tough for even Hinrich to have had much effect on him thus far; meanwhile Chauncey Billups is treating Gordon as his little play-toy on their matchup. The blame falls on Gordon, who simply hasn't invested the time and energy commitment necessary to become a quality defender, a fact the Bulls have been able to camouflage until running into a team with three quality scorer-passers at the 1, 2 and 3. If I'm Skiles, I put Hinrich on Billups and try to nip Detroit's offense in the bud. If Gordon is getting abused early and not exerting payback at the other end with a barrage of buckets, I'd yank him and let Sefolosha get the burn.

I'd also start small with Nocioni at the 4 instead of PJ Brown, and when Flip Saunders subs in Jason Maxiell, match him up with PJ with the instructions to get very physical. That Maxiell has been able to physically intimidate the Bulls during his stints on the court has been the most disappointing aspect of this entire series. And yes, I know Nocioni has also been a pathetic bundle of nerves is games one and two, and am not entirely sure any of this will deter Detroit rolling in 4 or 5. It just would be less aggravating for Bulls gans if their team decided to show up for a change rather than continue patting themselves on the back for their Miami sweep.

I fully expected the Suns to win last night, and turned the set off a little after halftime. I'm not sure Kurt Thomas for Boris Diaw is the magic potion Phoenix needs to overcome their nemesis. If both teams play up to their capability, the Spurs win, simply because they match up so well with the Suns. Phoenix just has to hold up their end of the bargain--Nash and Barbosa are dervishes, Bell the irritant, Stoudamire the grease in the paint and Marion as superglue--and hope that Finley and Horry miss their baseline treys, Duncan gets in early foul trouble and keeps clanging his free throws, and, most of all, that Gregg Popovich keeps thinking Jacque Vaughn has any value whatsoever.

Speaking of backup point guards, Dee Brown's quality stint after Deron Williams picked up five fouls was the hands-down difference in Utah's clutch victory over Golden State the other night. I was very impressed with the various combination double and triple teams that Don Nelson came up with to defend Carlos Boozer in the paint--it helps explain Dirk Nowitzki's woes--but they still couldn't keep Boozer off the offensive glass. Mehmet is money on big shots, the Kirilenko-Harpring combo is a dream duo at the 3, and Deron Williams is ready to take his place among the top 3 point guards in the league. Judging from the way Golden State played, they will need all of that to overcome the Warriors, especially given the home court advantage in Oakland.

With all this going on, who has time for baseball? Still, there are two things related to America's erstwhile pasttime that deserve notice. One was Twins' GM Terry Ryan's statement in the paper today that landing or promoting another power hitter is not nearly as much of a priority for his homer-starved ballclub as ensuring outs with quality pitching and defense. The way you establish and maintain an identity for your franchise is by sticking to your philosophy under the most adversarial circumstances. Do the Twins have the absolute worst offense of any MLB club from the three positions played on the left of the diamond (3B, SS, LF)? Yup. Have they trotted out a batting order in May that lists 7 of the 9 players without a homer? Yup. Is Terry Ryan going to make major moves to address this situation? Nope. Not unless it will upgrade the defense and not hurt the pitching along the way.

Another Terry Ryan dictum is not to overpay, even for quality hurlers and fielders. Instead, he trusts his scouts to find gems in the rough, and his coaches to smooth them into value-added performers. The second-guessers and critics were all clearing their throats at the beginning of the season, eager to rip Ryan's decision to go with three question marks in the starting rotation--Ramon Ortiz, Carlos Silva, and Sydney Ponson. Well, let's see how that has turned out thus far. Ortiz is 3-2 with a 3.23 ERA in 39 innings pitched. Silva is 2-2 with a 2.75 ERA in 36 innings. Ponson is 2-4 with a dreadful 6.42 ERA in 33 and 2/3 innings. So far, Ryan is two out of three on his gambles, while Matt Garza and Kevin Slowey stay down in the minors not accumulating precious MLB service that would hasten their arbitration and free agency.

Now let's look at what three of the Twins American League rivals have paid for pitching. The Red Sox shelled out $51 million for the right to pay Dice Matsuzaka $6.3 million this year. His record thus far: 3-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 38 innings. The Blue Jays are paying AJ Burnett $13.2 million this year and thus far he is 2-3 with a 5.09 ERA. And the Yankees are paying Roger Clemens $45 million in the hopes that he'll be ready to throw a pitch that counts by June. Total cost of Ryan's investment this year in Ortiz, Silva, and Ponson? $8.4 million.

All that said, the team with the best record in all of baseball is currently toiling less than 400 miles away, in Milwaukee. Ever since the Brewers finally rid themselves of the toxic, excreble Selig clan, they have been shrewdly investing in their future and it is finally beginning to pay off. In Prince Fielder (1B), Rickie Weeks (2b) and JJ Hardy (SS), the club has burgeoning stars at 3/4 of their infield positions and none of them are older than 24. When healthy, Ben Sheets is a legitimate ace, but right now he'd have to be rated the 4th best starter in the rotation, behind last year's World Series star Jeff Suppan (5-2, 2.63), underrated, speed-switching lefty Chris Capuano (5-0, 2.31) and surprising fifth starter Claudio Vargas (3-0, 2.89). Throw in innings-eating ground ball pitcher David Bush (3-3, 5.73) and that's a formidable rotation. Suppan, while long in the tooth, seems to be improving with age at 32. Vargas is 29, Sheets and Capuano 28, and Bush 27. Finally, the bullpen has fallen together beautifully, with Matt Wise and former closer Derrek Turnbow quality setup men, Carlos Villenuva a very good middle man, and closer Francisco Cordero unscored upon until his last appearance. The only flaw is that all are righties--veteran Brian Shouse is the lone southpaw in the pen.

Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino are a bad joke at third, the consequence of Corey Koskie's constant nausea and scary loss of equilibrium after a concussion. And the outfield isn't great, with the defensively challenged but power-hitting Bill Hall in center, and the very tall and promising Corey Hart and veteran Kevin Mench platooning with longtime Brewer and lefty-swinging Geoff Jenkins at the corner spots. (Although Tony Gwynn Jr. is destined to be more than just a good pinch-hitter by the end of the season.) Last but not least, the clutch-hitting Johnny Estrada was a masterful acquisition from Arizona as the everyday catcher. It's a young, exciting team currently boasting a 23-10 record in the eminently winnable NL Central. If you're interested in outdoor baseball, it's worth a day's drive to watch them.