No one is saying the city of Cleveland should be panicking right now, but it does seem like hoarding canned goods and putting your life savings into mason jars would not be the worst idea in the world. All is ... not well.

LeBron James has done just about everything he can in this series—except hitting a running 35-footer to win Game 4 last night—but since he seems to be doing it all on his own, that's not quite enough. After steamrolling the league's regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs, the dream championship year destined to end his city's long and painful drought of winners is about to go up in smoke.

The problem is not with Mo Williams' guarantee, but with the assumption that it was based upon—that Cleveland was simply the better team and time would reveal that. Even after losing two games, blowing giant leads at home, and coming within one miracle three of a sweep, Williams and his team refused to believe that the Magic might be outplaying them; that they might have to adjust, find a new approach, or simply play harder. Because they had not been seriously challenged this season, they never understood how much trouble they were in—and now it's too late. NBA teams with a 3-1 lead in a series are 182-8 since the league was formed.

Meanwhile, if Dwight Howard can manage to not get thrown out of the series he's the one looking like the big superstar in this conference. His ten points in overtime were the difference in Game 4 and the Magic need just one more big performance from him to reach the Finals and crush on a city's dreams. Again.

Go to your happy place, Cleveland. And no, I don't mean Cedar Point.

Cavaliers' fans still faithful — but it's not easy [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
Mo guarantee: Cavs guard fails to deliver late [AP]
LeBron's big night undone by key turnovers, Magic [ESPN]
Howard's determination lifts Magic over Cavs [Fox Sports]
Add 'The Choke' to Cleveland's cursed sports lore [CBS Sports]

Send an email to Dashiell Bennett, the author of this post, at dashiell@deadspin.com.