Buckeye Nerd

11:12 pm - Thu, Feb 16, 2012

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The Top 5 Cleveland Wins of the Past Decade

Corey Barnes

In the hallowed and oft maligned history of Cleveland sports, emphasis is always placed on the defeats. They are legion and have nifty nicknames that I will not mention here (you know what they are). But in all that mess, among the teary nights and broken hearts, the clubs that call Northeast Ohio home have won a few games from time to time. The following is a list of the top five wins for any professional Cleveland sports team in the past decade.

Rankings were determined by the following criteria: points were assigned for playoff victories, comebacks, overtime, rivalry games, and how well I remember the contest.

Number 5 - Cavs over Wizards: 2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 6

For the first time in the LeBron James Era, the Cleveland Cavaliers had reached the playoffs. Their first opponent was the Washington Wizards and their leading scorer Gilbert Arenas. A hard-fought series favored the Cavs 3-2 entering Game Six in Washington. Regulation ended with the game tied at 107 and in overtime Cleveland was down two facing their last possession of the game. The Cavs worked the clock low with a few passes. The ball was kicked to Damon Jones (jump to the 13:18 mark) in the corner who did not hesitate in launching a three-pointer. Before Cleveland could collectively scream, “You put the potential game-winning shot in an ice-cold Damon Jones’ hands?!?” the ball fell through the cylinder. The Cavs led 114-113. The Wizards quickly inbounded the ball and crossed into the frontcourt. A buzzer-beating heave from Agent Zero struck iron and the Wine and Gold celebrated the team’s first playoff series victory since 1993.

To this day I do not know what is more confounding: the fact that such an important moment came down to the self-proclaimed best shooter in the world or the fact that he delivered in the clutch despite not having played a second the whole game. The flimsy argument can be made that we should have known then that James is allergic to the fourth quarter but it was for the most part chalked up to nerves and youth. I remember going out to my driveway the day after the game, measuring the distance to an NBA corner three and serving up airballs while yelling, “Jones for 3!” That was a great game.

Number 4 - Browns over Steelers: 2003 Week 5

If asked to pick a word to describe the 2003 Cleveland Browns I would go with “underwhelming.” Expectations were high coming off the reborn franchise’s first playoff appearance the year previous but the team struggled out of the gate, dropping three of their first four games. Fans were justifiably nervous entering the nationally televised Week 5 matchup against the hated Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Browns, however, refused to be intimidated. The Orange and Brown struck early going up 10-0 in the first. The best offensive play came just before half time when quarterback Tim Couch scrambled nine yards for a touchdown punctuated by a crowd-silencing spike and flex. The Browns, clad in their glorious orange pants, led 23-10 at the half. The signature moment of the game however was Daylon McCutcheon’s 75-yard pick six at the expense of Tommy Maddox.  Cleveland ran away for a 33-13 victory. Couch finished with 208 yards and two touchdowns. The team won only five games all year but this one certainly meant the most to Cuyahoga County. That was a great game.

Number 3 - Cavs over Magic: 2009 Eastern Conference Finals Game 2

2009 was supposed to be the year for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team finished 66-16, including a 39-2 home mark. The national media wanted to see the LeBron-led Cavs to square off against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. All the Wine and Gold had to do was roll through the Eastern Conference. They swept the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks back to back. Many Cavs fans (me) thought the team was lucky in that they could avoid the Boston Celtics and instead play against some tall chap named Dwight. Then the Orlando Magic inexplicably beat the Cavs 107-106 at the Q in Game 1. In Game 2 the Cavs came out hot and at one point led by 23 points. Yet the relentless shooting of Hedo Turkoglu and the three point shooting of Mickael (f***ing) Pietrus kept the Magic in the game. Turkoglu hit a late jumper that gave Orlando a one point edge with exactly one second to go. No time to dribble, no time to head-fake, just a simple catch and release. Mo Williams found James about three feet behind the three-point arc where he uncorked a line-drive-buzzer-beating-game-winning-series-tying-heart-stopping three pointer (at the 2:56 mark). The Cavs walked away with a 96-95 victory.

Few people believed the Cavs could pull this one off with so little time left. We had been burned before; we were snake bit by failure. “The NBA in Cleveland: Where Despair Happens,” you get the idea. I sat in my college dorm with friends hoping for the impossible. When that shot fell through the net everyone just lost their minds. We were a jumping, screaming maelstrom of joy. It didn’t matter that we were two hours from home; it felt like we were right there in Loudville basking in playoff victory. That was a great game.

Number 2 - Tribe over Yankees: 2007 American League Division Series Game 2

Home field advantage is always more pronounced in baseball than any other sport. The rules naturally favor the hosting team and players have more experience with the unique nooks and crannies of their park. This advantage was taken to new limits during Game 2 of the 2007 American League Divisional Series. The Indians led the New York Yankees one game to none entering a battle of pitching studs: New York’s Andy Pettite and Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona (at least that’s what we called him back then). The Pinstripers took a 1-0 lead on a Miguel Cabrera homerun and the Tribe was stifled most of the night by lockdown Yankee pitching. The Yankees led 1-0 entering the bottom of the 8^th with Joba Chamberlin on the bump for the visitors. Right about then the Fourth Plague of the Cuyahoga arrived. Midges swarmed the field tormenting the players, most significantly Chamberlin. The Yankees asked the Indians for some bug spray and were given what I can only assume was the last can on the retail shelf. It was not very effective. Grady Sizemore stood on third with two outs and Victor Martinez at the plate. Chamberlin continued to be pestered by the …. y’know….pests which resulted in his second wild pitch of the inning allowing Sizemore to score the equalizer. The game was tied and headed to extra innings.

Kenny Lofton walked to open the bottom of the 11^th. Franklin Gutierrez singled and the runners advanced on Casey Blake’s sac bunt. Grady Sizemore was intentionally walked and rookie supreme Asdrubal Carbera popped out. Travis Hafner stepped up to the plate and delivered a walk-off single to right for the Indians. That was a great game. Plus two games later the Indians eliminated the Yankees and led to the creation of this musical gem.

Number 1 - Cavs over Pistons: 2007 Eastern Conference Finals Game 6

The number one win should not come as a surprise to anyone as this was the victory that got a Cleveland team to the title series. Coming off LeBron James’ superhuman 48 point performance in the Palace, the Cavs knew the Detroit Pistons’ defense would focus on the guy from Akron. Someone else would have to stand up. It turns out someone else wears number one. Rookie Daniel “Boobie” Gibson went off during Game 6, scoring 31 points including a perfect five for five from range. The game was tight for the first half and the teams entered intermission tied at 48. Cleveland led by one after three periods but simply out-shot the Pistons the rest of the way outscoring the visitors 31-16 in the final period. The noise level kept increasing with every shot as the Q started to realize that there would be no infamous “The ___” phrase associated with this game except maybe “The Conference Title.” The final horn sounded and confetti fell on Cleveland’s 98-82 win.

I realize that fondly remembering this game may be difficult. I know what happened in the NBA Finals in 2007; I know what was on ESPN on July 8, 2010; and I know how many games we lost last year. But I did not know that then. When the Cavs won the conference I was a 17-year-old kid who finally got to enjoy a significant playoff win. We as a city had to wait a long time for a team that good, and we loved it and everyone on it. Everyone. The memory is perhaps more bittersweet in retrospect, but I still remember driving home to see the end of the game while listening to Joe Tait go hoarse from calling Gibson’s name all night. No matter what has happened since then, on June 2, 2007 the Cleveland Cavaliers were the toast of the sports world. That was a great game.

Was I right? Was I way off? What did I forget? Tweet at me, bro @Corey_Barnes