Many people are crucifying LeBron James for passing up the apparent game-tying layup (video).

And yes, he commited the sin of timidity in the playoffs.

But I can't fault him. It was a great play for Cleveland. Knowing that LeBron James was cold and Zydrunas Ilgauskas was on the bench, what was the best possible thing Cleveland could have been hoping for coming out of that timeout?

Before the play happened, I was thinking they'd want to see Donyell Marshall get a clean look. And thanks to Rasheed Wallace's annual playoff crunch time defensive brain freeze, Marshall got the cleanest look any NBA player has had all season. Run the same play the same way next time, and that ball likely goes in while everybody announces that LeBron James has matured nicely. 

And did he have a layup? David Thorpe points out that Tayshaun Prince is 6-9, long-armed, and was on his shoulder. Thorpe says James's left-arm extension -- the move he had available -- is not perfect at this early stage of his career. It wasn't a sure thing.

If James had his shot altered or blocked, leaving his team's best three-point shooter wide open in the short corner as they are down two with the clock expiring, then ... wow. Youth coaches across the nation would use that video as an example of how not to play.

A couple of other thoughts about last night's game:

• Anderson Varejao owned a good chunk of this game. Making things happen at both ends of the court on play after play. He was the second-best Cavalier last night (after Eric Snow) in terms of plus/minus. Varejao sat for a good chunk of the fourth quarter, I presume due to matchups Detroit went a little smaller by taking Webber out the entire final period, but if it were me, I'd have left him in there anyway. He was making stuff happen.
• Despite his hairline, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is an elite NBA player, and has also been one of Cleveland's most reliable crunch time scorers for a long time. It killed me to see him left on the bench for the final play. (By the way, remember that crazy play in the first half where a referee, trying to be helpful, let Larry Hughes re-shoot a free throw he had made? Then he missed? You can't get tangled in these kinds of hypotheticals, they're a big waste of time, but in theory if that hadn't happened then Cleveland would have only been down one on that last play, and I bet you Ilgauskas would have ended up with a look at a 17-footer to win instead of Marshall's three from the corner.)
• Cleveland needs someone who's not timid to shoot from the outside. (Martell Webster, perhaps?) Sasha Pavlovic will shoot. It's just having them go in that was tough for him last night.
• Did you hear there was a noisy Piston fan whose voice you could hear over the broadcast? My favorite was, at one point Chris Webber was lining up a shot when you could clearly hear the guy yell: "DON'T DO IT!"
• A question for statistical experts. When looking at the numbers for a single game, how do you differentiate between good defense and bad offense?
• Good to see Flip Saunders trusting Jason Maxiell with important minutes down the stretch, and even better to see him come up with a huge rebound.
• Larry Hughes plays good defense, but he looked a little freaked out by the pressure on offense.
• With one more timeout, Cleveland could have had a real shot at overtime.