If there is one lesson NBA fans should have learned by now, it’s to never underestimate what LeBron James can do.
The Boston Celtics found that out the hard way Monday night when “The Chosen One” exploded down the stretch and led the Cavaliers to an 88-77 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
James shot only 7-for-20 from the floor in the game, but he made his final two attempts, which were also the two biggest baskets of the series. He buried a 3-pointer with 3:13 left in the fourth quarter to put Cleveland up 79-73, then added a tomahawk slam over Boston superstar Kevin Garnett 90 seconds later to make it 84-75.
The poster-worthy dunk not only set the sellout crowd on fire, it took all the wind out of the Celtics’ sails — and sent them back to Boston with the series tied at two wins apiece.
“The stuff that LeBron does is amazing, but it shouldn’t surprise you because of what he has inside,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. “But sometimes I do get giddy. After that dunk, I tried to flex like he did, but I didn’t have any muscles to flex, so I just flexed my jaw and gave him a (high) five. That dunk was unbelievable. That was amazing. It was just amazing.”
All told, James collected 21 points, a career-high tying 13 assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots in 44 minutes. He also had three hockey assists (passes that immediately lead to another pass and an easy basket) and “probably forced 15 fouls,” according to Celtics coach Doc Rivers.
Those numbers more than offset his ongoing shooting struggles, which included six straight misses to start the final period before his huge hoops. As the icing on the cake, James also book-ended four assists around those baskets, meaning he either scored or set up 16 consecutive Cleveland points over a 10-minute span.
“Other than Game 1, he’s playing terrific in this series,” Rivers said. “He’s still making a lot of plays for the team. The (Daniel) Gibson threes tonight and the other threes don’t happen without him. You guys look at his shooting, but we look at everything else — and we don’t look at that as LeBron struggling.”
Though Boston benefited from James’ mid-range jumper woes, the only people who truly stopped him were officials Steve Javie, Mark Wunderlich and Bob Delaney, who forced him to the bench with three first-half fouls — one of which was an absolutely non-existent charge drawn by Boston’s P.J. Brown.
But not even they could keep James from scoring an early pair of “and one” three-point plays that set the stage for what followed: another virtuoso performance by the best player in the world.
“Our guy had the impact that he always has,” Brown said. “I’ve said all along that he’s going to impact this series in a lot of ways. Tonight, he impacted it defensively first, on the boards second, hitting key shots next, and then finding guys for wide-open looks last. He plays every facet of the game, and that’s why we got the win tonight.”
“Even when he’s not getting his shots to drop, as long as he keeps doing everything else, we’re good. He’s just got to keep being himself.”
Contact Brian Dulik at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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