Cavaliers facing steep NBA Finals climb

Tom Withers

Cleveland, U.S. (AP) - Time to bust out the

hiking boots, grab some sturdy ropes and maybe

even hire a Sherpa. The Cleveland Cavaliers have

some serious climbing to do. Right now, the San

Antonio Spurs tower over them.

Deep in the heart of the Texas, the Cavs dug

themselves a canyonesque hole. Looking like lost

tourists in their first NBA finals, they dropped

Games 1 and 2 to the playoff-polished Spurs, who

with the exception of a fourth-quarter letdown on

Sunday night, have mastered Cleveland.

The Cavs will host a finals game for the first

time in their 37-year history on Tuesday night,

and they're hoping to turn around this lopsided

series in boisterous Quicken Loans Arena, where

the ear-splitting crowd noise and fire-spewing

swords on their scoreboard will be a welcomed

sight.

"It's going to be electrifying," LeBron James

said.

Shocking the Spurs won't be so easy.

Creeping toward their fourth title, and third

championship in five years, the league's best

defensive team unleashed its offensive fury on

the Cavs in Game 2 as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and

Manu Ginobili combined for 78 points.

The awesome threesome helped the Spurs bolt to a

25-point lead after two quarters _ the third-

largest halftime lead in finals history _ and by

the end of the third it was: Big 3 68, Cavaliers

62.

Pride kicked in and Cleveland frantically rallied

in the fourth, trimming a 29-point deficit to

eight in the final minutes before the Spurs

stopped giggling, made a few more clutch plays,

and finally put the Cavs away.