Throw 'em a frickin' bone

 ... to quote Dr. Evil, don't you know.

His immortal line from "Austin Powers" springs readily to mind this morning, or perhaps it just springs readily to the Blob's admittedly warped mind. Anyway, it springs to mind after watching the Indiana Pacers racehorse the Cleveland Cavaliers straight to the glue factory last night, dispatching the East's top seed 114-105 in Game 5 of the conference semifinals.

So the Cavs go down in five to the Pacers, who move on to the conference finals for the second year in a row. And who once again wore down their supposed betters with their Hoosier Blur attack, grinding another 20-point deficit to dust and leaving the Cavs choking on that dust.

Relevant observation: The Pacers finished 14 games behind the Cavaliers in season standings.

Other relevant observation: They won all three games in Cleveland, where the Cavs lost just seven times during the regular season.

Other, other relevant observation: It took Indiana just five games to dispose of a team that in the first round swept the Miami Heat by a ridiculous 30.5 points per game.

Other, other, other relevant observation: In their own first-round series, the Pacers also booted the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. In three of the four wins, their margin of victory was 17.6 points.

And yet ...

And yet, virtually no one gave them prayer against the Cavaliers. And New York finishes off the Celtics as expected, and we wind up with Hicks-vs.-Knicks The Return in the East finals, who do you think the national media will pick in that one?

Thaaat's right. Because who wants to see a bunch of Hicks in the NBA Finals?

Even if they wind up deserving to be there. 

So, yeah. Come on, people. Throw 'em a frickin' bone.