Ten thoughts from a Game 5 that could be remembered as last basketball game of significance ever played in the city of Cleveland. 

1. Strangest series of my lifetime. I'm serious about this. The third time in five games that a home team has been destroyed? All right, bizarre enough, but I guess not totally without precedent. But throw in the best basketball player in the world (and yes, a loss on Thursday and the Kobe crowd has every right to make a claim for their guy as NBA Alpha Dog) playing what could be his last game in Cleveland with all the intensity of a table read on the set of "Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" and this series turns into an all-time head scratcher. Would anyone be surprised if the Celtics lose Game 6 at home and win Game 7 in Cleveland?

2. A lot is going to be made about Paul Pierce, but to me his performance was the weakest of the Big Three* Tuesday night. And that's not a knock, he played well. Solid D on LeBron and grabbed 11 rebounds, but he was really forcing it on the offensive end. Shooting 9-of-21 from the floor isn't, for me, the kind of game that shuts up the critics and earns "Pierce is back!" headlines. Great that he was aggressive, but if I'm the Celtics it's Garnett I want shooting the ball 20-22 times a game right now. It still seems like Pierce has to labor to score, but Garnett can do whatever he wants in the post or on the perimeter.

3. And how good has KG looked in this postseason? He's not the game-changer he was on defense in 2008, but I see no difference on the offensive end. I sure didn't buy into the "Hey, a 34-year-old with 150,000 NBA miles can get healthy during the season" swill that the Celtics were trying to sell with Garnett this year, but I guess I was wrong.

4. Ray Allen is shooting 46 percent on three-pointers in the playoffs. With all the talk about Rondo and Pierce and Garnett the only sure source of offense in the postseason has been Allen. Just one flat-out stinker for the son of Jake in the playoffs (the Game 3 blowout loss.) I know he'll always get the bronze when fans rank The Big Three* but Allen has been a very, very good Celtic in his three seasons. Could've been the Finals MVP, some huge games vs. the Bulls last year and now this run.

5. If you are a Cavs fan this loss falls completely on LeBron. No one else. If he's going to get the praise for Game 3 (which he deserves) then he's gotta take the hit here. Two blowout losses on your floor in one playoff series. Quick, let me count the number of times that happened to Larry, MJ, Magic and Russell combined when they were the guys on top. It's one thing to lose -- that happens. Might even be that the Celtics are a better team. But it's the way LeBron went down Tuesday that would terrify me were I Cavs fan (or a Knick fan, actually.) Just total apathy. I thought his play in the first half was cautious, but I figured that maybe he was just letting the game come to him. Jordan did that a lot, especially at the end. But that wasn't what James was doing. He wasn't even a supporting actor in the second half, more like an extra. Standing outside the three-point line, content to pass it off to Mo Williams and Jamison. He would fire off the occasional jumper if he had to, but it almost seemed an annoyance. These guys are going to go on TV tomorrow -- the professional "have to overreact" types (see: Bayless, Skip) -- and say that Lebron James didn't seem to care in Game 5. Tough to disagree. Still time for James to right the ship, but his legacy is about to take a HUGE hit.

6. Putting all the blame on LeBron doesn't excuse Mike Brown, though. Wow. What's it going to take for J.J. Hickson to get 20 minutes? Jamison can't guard Garnett. Jamison can't guard Glen Davis, for that matter. Hickson is young and makes mistakes, but he brings it every night. Think the Cavs needed a jolt off the bench tonight? Plus he gives Garnett fits and makes him work on defense. And nice job with the halftime adjustments. The season on the line and the Cavs come out and play like that in the third quarter? Bottom line: Never trust a coach with designer glasses. 

7. When I talked about how Jordan used to let the game come to him, I could have used Rondo's Game 5 as another example. It was clear that the Cavs were hell-bent on taking Rondo out of the game in the first half. No problem. He simply stayed out of the way and let Allen, Pierce and Garnett (39 of the 50 first-half points for the Celtics) do the heavy lifting. And when the Cavs focused their attention on Pierce in the third, Rondo resumed the role of The Man without a hitch, scoring 16 points in the second half. I do think that the few times LeBron guarded him that Rondo was bothered, but the Cavs didn't seem to want to push that angle too much.

(Oh, and give Doc credit for leaving Rondo on the bench during that 16-0 run in the second quarter. Lot of coaches feel compelled to get a star back in, but it was the right move. Plus it gave Rondo some rare in-game rest that might have played a factor in his superb second half.)

8. Shelden Williams had more field goals (one) in the first half than Rondo and James combined. 

9. I'm not a "the fix is in!" kind of guy, but the NBA just announced the three referees for Game 6: Quentin Richardson, the father of the kid that Big Baby pushed in Orlando last year and Gloria James.

10. Game 6? Celtics 102, Cavs 96.