Please, Please, Please Don’t Go!

The Clevelanders crying it on billboards, in song, in letters, in petitions and more, whatever the format, the message from Cleveland fans is just the same: Dear LeBron James, please don't go. Please, please, please don't go.

From the hard-luck city on the shores of Lake Erie is very much trying to show its NBA superstar (LeBron James) that, with free agency threatening July 1, the best mark for him is right up the road from his hometown of Akron, Ohio, the town where he's played for seven seasons as a Cleveland Cavalier and gain two MVP awards.

And in the wake up of an inexplicable early departure from the playoffs a six-game series failure to the Boston Celtics the grass roots crusade has taken on not just a new pressure but the sense of a last chance. Without LeBron James, after all, the chances of Cleveland breaking its 46-year title less streak in major pro sports don't seem too good.

Austin Briggs of Cleveland Heights, 23-year-old and co-founder of the Web site pleasedontleave23.com said "He's a hometown guy. We definitely want to put that on his conscience.”

Yet before the playoffs, fans had assisted fund a banner near the home of the Cavs, showing James through his life with the words "Born Here. Raised Here. Plays Here. Stays Here."
However if Clevelanders think showing a little public pride will be enough to romance LeBron, they better think again.

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Eclipsing Suns Hope to Shine Again in Phoenix

The Phoenix Suns were left damaged and baffled after losing their second successive game to the rolling Los Angeles Lakers in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals series on Wednesday.

Regardless of delivering more than 100 points in each of the first two encounters in Los Angeles, the Phoenix Suns have been powerless to cope with the versatility of their bigger opponents.

"We are just having a hard time," as Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry told to the reporters after his boys were beaten 124-112 at the Staples Center in game 2. "We can't slow them down, he added.

In Monday's series opening, Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant mocked the Suns as he piled up 40 points in a sensational master class to help the NBA champions to a devastating 128-107 victory.

On Wednesday, Kobe Bryant become the catalyst, recording a playoff-high 13 assists as Spain’s pride forward Pau Gasol merged and drove his way through the Suns defense for a personal total of 29 points.

Gentry said “You do an enormous job on Kobe, and I thought we did it tonight, and then they go to Pau,". "As we double-team Pau and there's Lamar on the other side of the pocket. And we get it out of Lamar's hand; Jordan Farmar exists and makes shots.

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Lakers Squash Suns In Game 1

Yet on a troubled knee, Kobe Bryant had NP giving the Los Angeles Lakers an early opening in the Western Conference showdown.

Bryant makes 40 points, Lamar Odom added 19 points and 19 boards, and the Lakers opened the series with merciless offensive competence in a 128-107 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.

Spain cager Pau Gasol made 21 points for the top-seeded Lakers, who won their seventh straight playoff game and shattered the Suns' six-game streak with a phenomenal second half highlighted by Bryant's 21-point third quarter.

The defending NBA champions bang the third-seeded Suns at their own uptempo game when necessary, gracefully running the court to set up baskets for Bryant in his sixth straight 30-point game. Kobe Bryant then rested his tender knee for most of the fourth quarter in the 11th 40-point game of his playoff career.

Moreover, Amare Stoudemire scored 23 points and Steve Nash contributes 13 points and 13 assists for the Suns, who hadn't lost since April 24. Robin Lopez started at center and makes 14 points in his playoff debut, but Phoenix Suns couldn't keep up with the champs in its first conference finals appearance since 2006.

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Nadal Tennis Dominance Continues

Rafael Nadal gusted to a fifth Rome Masters title in six years and afterward exposed that he is losing none of the fire that has seen him dominate clay tennis since 2005.

The 23-year-old world number three in line American legend Andre Agassi's record of 17 Masters titles as he outdoes compatriot and 13th seed David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 at the Foro Italico.

Capturing his overall record on clay to 191 wins to just 17 defeats most of which were in his early career.

He has won the Monte Carlo Masters six consecutive, won Rome five times in six years, won Barcelona five years in a row before leave out it this season and will be aiming for a fifth win in six years at Roland Garros later this month.

Nadal's clay court supremacy seemed to reach its peak two weeks ago in Monte Carlo when he dropped just 14 games on road to the title.

Known how he is playing at the moment it's easy to forget that until winning in Monte Carlo, he had left more than 11 months without lifting a trophy, a period where he was overwhelmed by knee injuries.

Fernando Verdasco, the man he beat in that Monte Carlo final, believes he cannot be stopped.

"Everybody has different view but I think he is the best player ever on clay and it's amazing what he has done in the past years, he added.

Before encountering Nadal in the Rome final Ferrer was asked if he agreed with Verdasco that he would't be able to bang Nadal if he was on top of his game.

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Mayweather Beats Mosley, Remains Undefeated

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is typically satisfied to just win a fight. At the moment even if, Money Mayweather wanted to earn his money.

Fighting more assertively than usual, Mayweather rise above a near knockdown in the second round Saturday night to dominate the rest of the way and win a uneven 12-round decision over Shane Mosley in their welterweight showdown.

Boxing's biggest box office draw stayed unbeaten in 41 fights, but not before giving his fans and his corner a shock when a right hand to the side of his head misshapen his knees a minute into the second, and he had to grab Mosley to avoid going down. Mosley landed another right later in the round, but the rest of the night all belong to Mayweather.

Fighting ahead of a star-studded crowd that included Muhammad Ali, Mayweather never came close to dropping Mosley, but landed a lot of punches that the outcome wasn't in doubt past the middle rounds. He had a respond for everything Mosley tried to do, landing right hands to the head apparently at will as the fight progressed.

At the end of the night, Mayweather had placed so many rounds in the bank that the only question was whether he would stop Mosley or be at ease to win a lopsided decision. Mayweather kept back moving forward and sustained to press the issue in a fight that wasn't in doubt.

By the end of the fight, two ringside judges scored it 119-109 for Mayweather, while the third had it 118-110. He wins every round past the second.

The Associated Press had scored 117-110 for Mayweather.

The ringside punch statistics were as one-sided as the scorecards. They proved Mayweather landing 208 of 477 punches to 92 of 452 for Mosley.

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The KING Does It Again

LeBron James – the Cleveland's superstar was voted the league's MVP for the second straight year in a row, a person familiar with the announcement told The Associated Press on Friday. LeBron James will happen to the 10th player in NBA history to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player Awards when results of the nationwide voting are announced Sunday, sources told The Plain Dealer.

James, averaging 29.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.6 assists this season, will going to receive the trophy Sunday at the University of Akron. The presentation by Commissioner David Stern will come in face of Cleveland's crowd.

James hailed to be the 10th NBA player to be the MVP in consecutive seasons. The 25-year-old star LeBron James joins Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash. Russell, Chamberlain and Bird won it three times in a row.

Dwyane Wade said, “I don't think anyone deserved it over LeBron,” "LeBron could get it every year. It's his honor to lose. That's how it is with confident players. Jordan did not win it every year. Jordan could have won it each year. But the criterion was apparently a little different."

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland was the first to announce that James won the award.

For two years in a row, James will accept the honor in his hometown. A year ago, he goes back to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, his alma mater, for a ceremonial in the school's gymnasium that was attended by family, friends, former teachers and the student body.

James with center Shaquille O'Neal hand in hand to help Cleveland win its first NBA title led the Cavaliers to 61 wins in the regular season and the top seed in the playoffs. Cleveland's lineup was continually changing because of injuries, but the Cavs could constantly count on James, the first forward in league history to average more than eight assists a game.

James delivers nightly jaw-dropping highlights, many of them comes from the defensive end on chase-down blocks. His worth was never more obvious than when he sit out the Cavaliers' final four games, and they lost each one.

Even though playing with a strained and bruised right elbow, James still averaged 31.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.4 blocks and 1.2 steals as the Cavaliers eliminated Chicago in the first round of the playoffs.

"I give a lot of thanks to my teammates, the coaching staff and my family," James said last week when ask about winning a second MVP. "It solidifies a lot of hard work and commitment I was able to put in the off-season to try to get the best as an individual and bring it to this team."

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