Before each game of the Celtics-Cavaliers playoff series myself and Mike Peticca of the Cleveland Plain Dealer will go one-on-one on a topic. For Game 1 we discussed LeBron James's elbow injury.

Gasper: 'Bron, 'Bron has a boo-boo, boohoo, Cavaliers fans.

Funny that there were no Witnesses to this injury. Maybe James strained his elbow reaching for the back of his head to let Kevin Garnett and Co., know that he was brushing off the Celtics' win over the Cavs at TD Garden four weeks ago.

I'm sure James's elbow will be well enough to lift up that second straight MVP trophy for all to see, when commissioner David Stern presents it to him on Sunday night at the Q. Sounds like the Cleveland excuse making has started before the series with the Celtics does.

All antagonism aside, nobody in Boston is buying that LeBron James will be any less than the transcendent player who tortured the Celtics this season to the tune of 36.5 points, 8.3 assists and 6.5 rebounds. There is a better chance that the Indians (what did the Tribe ever do to you America?) really are the most hated brand in baseball, more despised than the Sox and Yankees, than there is of King James being diminished by his ailing elbow.

Strained elbow, bone bruise, it doesn't matter. He'll just slap a sleeve on his arm and be who he is -- the single most unstoppable force in the NBA and a bona fide Celtic killer.

Confession Cleveland: I enjoy watching LeBron play. It's sports karma that the Cavaliers, who were tormented by Michael Jordan and the Bulls all those years, now have an MJ-like figure of their own. He is athletic, dynamic and unselfish. He plays the right way, except for when it comes to complaining about injuries and fouls.

That is actually when he most resembles another MJ, one Earvin "Magic" Johnson, another legendary player/complainer. Still, I'll enjoy watching James work in this series, and if he wants to shoot lefthanded, well, he'll probably still score 30 and the Celtics will take it.

Because this series isn't going to be decided by LeBron James or Boston's Big Three of Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, who are as healthy as they've been all season. It's going to be decided by what Antawn Jamision and Mo Williams and Anderson "Sideshow Bob" Varejao do for the Cavaliers and what players like Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Glen "Big Baby" Davis (you guys remember him) do for the Green.

Seems like LeBron and the Cavaliers are creating some, ahem, elbow room in case they have another playoff flameout, and Cleveland goes yet another year without a major sports title. Trust me winning a major championship is pretty cool, you guys should really try it sometime.

So, if the Cavs lose Game 1 on their home floor on Saturday, James and the Cavaliers will start harping on his injured elbow. It's not easy being the favorite and having a built-in excuse softens the pressure.

Sorry, LeBron I don't need X-rays to see right through this injury.

What do you think, Mike?

Peticca:  Hi, Chris. Of course, Cavs fans are nervous. They remember the disappointments of "Red Right 88," "The Drive," "The Fumble," "The Shot," and finally, Jose Mesa's meltdown in the 1997 World Series.
 
Tommy Heinsohn was still playing for the Celtics, if I recall, back in 1964, when the Browns gave Cleveland its last major title. Ted Williams had been retired for just four years.

Hockey? Don't know -- Cleveland had an NHL team for two years in the 70's. That's it.
 
So, nobody here wants "The Elbow" to nudge its way into such infamy. There's already been "The Foot."  That was 1976, when the Cavs looked like the best team in the NBA until center Jim Chones broke his foot in the last practice before the Cavs-Celts conference finals.
 
Even though LeBron is known for milking the drama a little -- and it's probably good for the sport -- there is legitimate concern. What if it goes numb again with the series on the line in Game 7? That would be more cruel than the rats that opponents had to flee in the old Boston Garden locker room.
 
The hope is that the elbow will have little impact on LeBron's game, and the way he played in most of the Chicago series --  when it had already been ailing for a couple weeks -- provides optimism around here.