LeBron James can laugh about it now, but at the time, it wasn't a laughing matter.
It was bad enough he took a hard foul from Paul Pierce, but then when his mom, Gloria James, went after Pierce on the baseline, James stepped in and told his mom to "sit your (expletive) down."
After Cleveland won the game, James acknowledged he said some things to her that he might regret, but he did what he had to do.
"All I could think about at that time was you have fans and even though that's my mother, at the same time, the commissioner (David Stern) doesn't care if that's your mother or your kids or anybody. Can't allow fans and players to get involved with each other. I can't afford for my mom not to be at every last one of my games. I can't afford that.
"I told her to sit down in language I shouldn't have used. (smiling). Thank God today wasn't Mother's Day (smiles and laughs from the media).
It was crazy to watch and ironically, Stern was watching. He was at the game.
Most moms wouldn't do what she did, but they might just shout about it. Get mad or something, but not try to go out and try to defend their son the way she did. After she went after Pierce. Gloria James was was trying to nudge Kevin Garnett off her as he was trying to tell her it was alright.
After the press conference, James talked with Diddy's R&B group Day 26, whom performed at halftime. They posed for pictures, and either James is really tall or Day 26 is short.
Probably a combination of both.
Anyway, back to the task at hand.
The Cavaliers are playing well right now and before I forget. That dunk James had was sick. Garnett didn't know what to do on that one. Someone asked him if that was better than the one James had on Tim Duncan.
To me, the dunk James had on Garnett was like the one he punched on Rasheed Wallace in last year's playoffs. That was nasty too.
Dunking aside, the Cavaliers got back into this series by doing what they do best when they want to do it - play defense.
They limted Boston to 38.6 percent shooting Monday. The Celtics have scored fewer than 85 points in three of the four games in this series and hasn't reached 80 in two of those games.
Other than Garnett, none of the other Celtics have been real consistent.
For a team that won 66 games, they just don't look like they're comfortable with this situation. It started with Atlanta when the the Hawks pushed Boston to seven games by winning their three home games before losing the series in seven games.
After losses, the Celtics just don't sound confident.
In this series when they lost Game 3 on Saturday, the Celtics were just down and out. Garnett and Pierce looked as low as they could get at the podium.
Then after this loss, Ray Allen was sulking. The players are talking about having more mental toughness. Listen, you're the Boston Celtics, You won 66 games and your favorite to make it to the NBA Finals.
If they don't turn their emotions around, Cleveland will win Game 5 Wednesday night in Boston. I mean, the Cavaliers weren't making shots during stretches of the game and the Celtics couldn't take advantage of it.
What the Cavaliers do that frustrates teams is they get those loose balls. Anderson Varejao is the main guy. He comes up with those long rebounds to give Cleveland extra possesions. Allen recalls two times in the fourth quarter when Cleveland did that and it led to the Cavaliers scoring.
The biggest thing Cleveland has going for them is other guys are contributing offensively and although James is shooting poorly, he's bound to turn it around.. I think the Cavaliers are going to need a big game from him to win at Boston. The Celtics may be 0-5 on the road in the playoffs, but at home, they're 6-0. They get it done there, but remember this.
Cleveland has been there. This Boston team hasn't. And again I ask, who wants to take big shots for Boston. Tell you what, the Celtics better not be looking for Sam Cassell to bail them out. In this series, he's shooting 34.7 percent from the field and he didn't make a shot in the two games in Cleveland, going 0-for-11.
Now again, Cassell has shown in his career he's a clutch player, but the guy is a gunner and again, when he's in the game, the offense stops because he does too much freestyle. If Boston is going to win the series, he's going to have to play well because as good as Rajon Rondo was in Game 4, I'm not sure Boston coach Doc Rivers will go to him when it matters.
So as we go into Game 5 on Wednesday, make mental notes on this.
The Cavaliers won at Detroit in Game 5 last year before winning the series in six games. They can do the same if they get Game 5 in Boston. To me, the Celtics have the better team and although Cleveland has the better player in James, in the end, the better team should win.
The more I watch Boston play, the more I realize this team needs the homecourt advantage. If they didn't have it, they'd really be in trouble against Cleveland.
Well, I'll see you Game 6 Friday in Cleveland. We've got a series on our hands.
- Duane Rankin