Boston Garden Serenades Lebron James; Bill Simmons Takes Deserved Credit Via Twitter

The sports story here is that the Cleveland Cavaliers, the regular season Eastern Conference champions, are out of the NBA playoffs, falling 94-85 to the Boston Celtics on the road in game six. The still-sports-related subtext is that LeBron James, the #1 draft pick of the 2003 draft, reigning, two-time MVP, and the supposed savior of basketball in Ohio, will be eligible for free agency come the season’s conclusion.

And not a lot of people think – especially after his uninspired performance for the Cavs in his last two games of these 2010 playoffs – that he’ll be putting on a Cleveland uniform when the 2010-11 season starts next fall. The free agency class of 2010 has many other notable folks The prediction that has been discussed for awhile given that the “Summer of 2010” has many notable free agents, and most think that LeBron will be heading for the Big Apple. Big market team, lots of history, and they need a winner and savior. Not a bad offer for the guy many consider to be the greatest player in the game.

You can add about 18,000 to those who don’t expect LBJ back in Cleveland: the entire Boston Garden crowd. They took advantage of a great opportunity and started a wonderfully loud chant of  “New York Knicks-New York Knicks” as James was at the free throw line in the final minutes of the game six loss. See here:

Anytime an entire arena gets into a chant, it’s always kind of entertaining to watch. The interesting part about it, though, is that it may not have originated from inside the building. The idea and catalyst have at least a connection to a certain Sports Guy’s couch in Los Angeles – some 3,000 miles away. We discussed it here on Mediaite earlier this week: Bill Simmons – ESPN’s sports, pop culture and now apparently technology columnist – had a fascinating idea to try and use Twitter to corral fans and coordinate cheers on the fly through a dedicated account called CelticsChants.

That “New York Knicks” chant and idea? There’s a good chance this tweet from CelticsChants at about 9 p.m. last night on the east coast (while the game was still in the third quarter) had something to do with it:

How much credit can he take? That’s probably a little flexible – but there exists a very good possibility that he had something to do with the success of the chant (once the announcers acknowledged it, you knew it had made its mark).

Bill was even ready to throw in the towel not too soon before that tweet went out, but he may have just come across something that college and professional teams are probably already moving to figure out how to do. Who will be the first franchise to jump on board, embrace the idea and try and go on the spot? Most squads across every league have many beat writers covering the game and tweeting updates – who’s going to pay someone to cover and rally the fans?

For now? He gets to celebrate. And sports teams everywhere better figure out something fast.

Dave is cheering for the Cs and following CelticsChants on Twitter. You can follow Dave here.

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