Forget "Rise Up". How about, "Just One"?

For the Cavaliers to make it to the NBA finals for the first time and then not even win a game would be an epic choke, even in Cleveland.

It's no consolation right now that Shaq was swept out of his first Finals while with the Magic. Or that Magic Johnson had to lose before he could win.

It doesn't even feel like there is a game tonight, it feels like the series is already over. I'm going to go to shootaround later this morning and see if that's how the players seem to feel too. It's possible the Game 3 loss will be too much to overcome for them. There were tears shed at the end of that loss.

Let me just say I'm no long-time Cavs fan; I have casually followed the team for three years since moving to Ohio. But I'm not a jaded journalist just yet, and I really enjoy the worst-to-first success stories in sports. It was the same thing with the Detroit Tigers last year.

To see the Cavs, who played so well against Detroit, just not have it in them this time, is heartbreaking to me.

So please. Just win one.

First Published June 14, 2007, 4:21 a.m.