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I just read this little tidbit, and it rings so strongly that I wanted to share it. The Cavs, in passing on tying the Boston Celtics record 41-1 home standard, may have inadvertently contributed to their own demise in the playoffs. Read on:

2 things the Cavaliers have to be wondering
2. Should they have rested the starters in the final game of the regular season?

Had they won that home game — they lost in overtime to Philadelphia as LeBron James and other starters watched — the bottom half of the East draw would have been changed, matching the 76ers against Boston in the first round. The argument can be made that the Celtics might have had an easier time against the Sixers than they ultimately had against the Bulls, who took them to seven enervating games. That would have left the Celtics fresher going into the second round against Orlando. Would the Celtics have had the energy to close out their 3-2 lead against Orlando? Would Cleveland have used its home-court advantage to knock off Boston — the Cavaliers having matched up better against the Celtics than against the Magic — and would they be in the Finals as a result? This is all highly far-fetched, but these are the things that keep executives and coaches up late at night after the kind of bad loss that Cleveland suffered in the conference finals against Orlando.

1. What could they have done against Dwight Howard?

The young Magic center had 40 points in the decisive Game 6 against Cleveland, which has been out of character for his postseason as a whole. In the second round, the Celtics held him to 16.4 points on 11.7 field-goal attempts, and through four games of the Finals, the Lakers’ harassing team defense has limited him to 16.5 points on 8.5 attempts.

Against the Cavaliers’ relatively passive interior defense, however, Howard managed 25.8 points on 13.8 attempts. Was this an issue of personnel and mismatches, or was the problem in the schemes? The likely answer is that both sides must be addressed. But I don’t believe for a second that coach Mike Brown is in danger of losing his job. He was Coach of the Year for winning 66 games with a team that was viewed in the preseason as lacking firepower around James. If you fire him, who becomes his replacement? Good luck finding someone who can seamlessly improve on the foundation Brown has established. It isn’t going to happen.