PITTSBURGH — The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins returned home down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals, Brooks Orpik(notes) had what’s simply known as “The Shift”: when the defenseman turned into a one-man wrecking crew, sending the crowd into hysterics.

Clearly, the Penguins need to change the dynamic of this series, and a brutal physical display against the Detroit Red Wings in Game 3 could be in order. Last year, Orpik said it was his responsibility to do just that:

“This time of the year you really want to make them pay. But like I said, that’s kind of my role on the team. There’s a lot of other guys that do the same thing. It’s something we can just energize the team and crowd with.”

Is Orpik ready for an encore?

“It crosses your mind … quickly, you know?” said Orpik today at Mellon Arena after Penguins practice. “It was fun when it happened, and I don’t know if it’ll happen again. The opportunity was perfect.”

Sometimes, he said, the chances just present themselves, like during a memorable Game 1 wallop against the Wings in the 2009 Finals: “Guys were saying to me after the first game, ‘Oh, you couldn’t wait to get [Marian Hossa(notes)], could you?’ I didn’t even know who it was, to be honest. Some games you don’t even get any opportunities.”

What Orpik said he won’t do is try to create a mythic moment like the one that happened organically last postseason.

“I think if you’re a younger player, maybe you looking for that stuff again. As you get older, you learn that stuff has to come to you. If it does it does; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” he said.

“As soon as you start looking for it, that’s when you get caught out of position. And against a team like this, that’s probably not the thing you want to do.”

ORLANDO, Fla. – Head down and shoulders slumped, LeBron James(notes) headed off the court as the Orlando Magic streamers shot off above him.

Dwight Howard(notes) was hugging Hedo Turkoglu(notes), dreams of Beating L.A. dancing in their heads. James wasn’t bothering to stick around to shake hands, offer congratulations or pretend there was a bright side to the Magic ousting his Cleveland Cavaliers from the East finals with a 103-90 victory in Game 6.

James was off the floor before the confetti could hit his shoulders.

He later dressed in silence in a corner of the locker room then put on some gold, oversized headphones and headed for the door. Normally one of the last to leave, he was now one of the first. With anger and frustration evident in each step, he charged through the back halls of Amway Arena without greeting anyone, got on the team bus and soon was off to the airport.

There was no looking for his mother, Gloria. There was no talking with Nike executives. And forget addressing fans and media – Mo Williams(notes) was left to answer for the defeat.

LeBron was gone. The King was silent.

The fallout from this defeat will echo loudly all summer, though, the pressure mounting on Cavs general manager Danny Ferry.

Whether this was James’ ultra-competitiveness overwhelming his emotions or a sign of his frustration with a front office that in six seasons has failed to give him the supporting cast capable of winning a championship remains to be seen.

LeBron James, 24, is a free agent after next season and while he’s never said he would leave Cleveland, he’s never said he wouldn’t. As such, this move – his every move, actually – will be analyzed as the psyche of a championship-starved city hangs in the balance.

James doesn’t need a bigger market to be a global icon (a now-doomed Nike puppet advertising campaign is proof of that). And he doesn’t seem to possess the personality that covets the bright lights of New York or L.A. (he still lives near Akron and mostly hangs out with high school buddies or his longtime girlfriend and two young children).

He may need to leave to win a championship, though.

“Going into the playoffs we were confident that we were going to be in the NBA Finals and we were confident that we were going to win it,” Williams said. “I can understand [James’] disappointment because I’m feeling the same disappointment.”

There’s little sense in criticizing James for not speaking with the media Saturday – it’s the only thing he didn’t do in this series. He averaged 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.0 assists. He offered leadership and defense. He saved Game 2 with an all-timer of a buzzer-beater.

And it wasn’t even close to enough.

Cleveland players said James did speak to them briefly in the stunned locker room and, according to Daniel Gibson(notes), said “we just need to keep working.” It was clear to everyone, however, he was taking this defeat hard.

A 66-win regular season left the Cavs optimistic they had found the parts for a championship, but deep in the playoffs, where intensity is matched and matchups get intense, the limitations are clear.

The Cavs were swept in the 2007 Finals and now have failed to get out of the East the last two seasons.

In this game, from the time the Magic trotted out the booming voice of 7-year-old Gina Marie Incandela for the national anthem to a fourth quarter filled with chants of “MVP” and “Beat L.A.,” it wasn’t so much a contest as a 2½-hour pep rally for the Finals.

All of Cleveland’s recurring problems kept accruing. Howard had 40 points and 14 rebounds as he tore through the not-prime-time frontcourt of Anderson Varejao(notes) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes). Williams had 17 point, but showed in this series he isn’t ready to be this generation’s Scottie Pippen.

The entire bench combined for just 10 points and five rebounds. Other than James, the roster lacked the size and athletic ability to deal with perimeter threats Rashard Lewis(notes) and Rafer Alston(notes).

Cleveland had the best player in this series. Orlando had the next four.

“I think this team is right there,” Williams said. “We just have to do a little bit more.”

What they have to do is get a little bit more. Despite boasting one of the highest payrolls in the league and having a half-dozen years to put together the roster, the Cavs are still a player or two away. Where Ferry finds them is the question.

He has only the midlevel salary-cap exception to spend on free agents. The Cavs discussed acquiring Shaquille O’Neal(notes) at the trade deadline, but the Phoenix Suns balked at taking back Ben Wallace(notes). The Cavs have some pieces, but no margin for error on anything less than the perfect move.

It begins with the need for a big man because it’s not like the 23-year-old Howard is going anywhere. The Magic are no fluke, they’re more than capable of beating the Lakers.

“How many games could [Cleveland] win without LeBron James?” Jerry West asked rhetorically to Reuters. By way of comparison, when Michael Jordan skipped the 1993-94 season to play baseball, the remaining Chicago Bulls won 55. West likely doubts the non-LeBron Cavs would get to 40.

In the same interview, West declared James a superior player to Kobe Bryant(notes).

Yet it is Kobe’s team, rebuilt on the fly after a stretch of mediocrity from 2005-07 that will host Game 1 of the Finals on Thursday. The Lakers will meet the Magic, who have surrounded their young star, Howard, with the perfect complementary parts.

Meanwhile LeBron waits. He’s never publicly criticized a teammate, coach or front-office decision. And he didn’t Saturday.

Maybe Gloria James taught him that if you don’t have anything nice to say, then it’s best to say nothing at all. Just head for the bus, the booming beats of the headphones droning out the questions about the immediate past and the long-term future.

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the St. Louis Rams will soon be officially for sale, and that the sale of the team would include no preconditions. That means that if a guy wanted to buy the Rams and, say, move them back to Los Angeles, a guy could do that, as long as he had the required $939 million.

The chances of someone buying the Rams and keeping them in St. Louis? Miklasz doesn’t paint a promising picture.

Until now, [Chip] Rosenbloom, the franchise’s managing partner, has said he was open to the idea of selling the Rams as long as the new owner agreed to keep the team in St. Louis, long-term. Rosenbloom hoped that his pledge would entice a buyer from the St. Louis community.

According to a source familiar with Rosenbloom’s thinking, Rosenbloom is discouraged by the apparent lack of local ownership interest. Rosenbloom, the source said, has been waiting for more than a year for a St. Louis-area bidder to step forward, to no avail.

The source said Rosenbloom’s strong preference is to sell to St. Louis representatives. But with nothing happening on the St. Louis front, Rosenbloom has reluctantly concluded that the only way to expedite a sale is to make the Rams available to any party, near or far. And that includes Los Angeles, the Rams’ home until moving to St. Louis in 1995.

That’s rather bleak for a team that’s won a Super Bowl in the last ten years. I understand that the Rams aren’t worldbeaters at the moment, but it’s not like we’re talking about the Lions here. It’s not a franchise with a permanent stain of failure.

Their attendance numbers aren’t terrible, though they aren’t great, either. They sold 91.8% of their tickets for home games last year, which is right in line with what you’d expect from a bad NFL team.

Hopefully, someone from St. Louis can step up and keep the team in place (come on, Nelly!), but if not … well, someone’s probably going to end up in L.A. Giving them the Rams would at least make geographic sense.