CLEVELAND – Dwight Howard knocked off the shot clock, then the Orlando Magic came back and knocked the Cavaliers` block off.
Down 16 in the first half, Orlando fought back and defeated the Cavaliers 107-106 Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Cleveland`s LeBron James had a franchise playoff-record 49 points, six rebounds and eight assists, but it all went up in a puff of smoke when Rashard Lewis hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 14.7 seconds left.
The Cavaliers had a chance to win on their final possession, but as James drove against Mickael Pietrus, who fell down, Marcin Gortat came over to help out and forced the Cleveland small forward under the basket. James had no choice but to kick the ball out to Mo Williams, who swung it to Delonte West in the left corner. West, who had made the same shot moments earlier, missed the wide-open 3-pointer.
After a wild battle for the rebound, a jump ball was finally called between James and Hedo Turkoglu with one second left. James tapped the ball back to Williams, who jumped to catch it and, without landing, launched a 19-footer that bounced off the rim.
Just like that, home-court advantage was gone.
Just like that, Cleveland`s eight-game playoff winning streak, all by at least 10 points, was gone.
Just like that, the Cavaliers` 43-2 record at The Q became 43-3.
“This is the first major adversity that we have faced,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “I have confidence in our guys. I trust our guys. I believe they will bounce back and they`ll be ready to play in the next game.”
Game 2 is Friday at 8:30 p.m. at The Q. If the Cavaliers hope to even the series, they`ll have to help their superstar out a little more than they did in Game 1.
James, who left the court with a huge gash in his leg, did everything he could to carry the Cavaliers, scoring 35 of their 52 points over one stretch and 49 of their last 85 overall. He finished the game 20-of-30 from the field, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, but made just 6 of 10 free throws.
“My statistics don`t mean anything when it ends in a loss,” James said.
With 2:47 to go in the game, the Cavaliers had to call a timeout because James, who also blocked Howard`s shot on two occasions, was so tired he could not get down the floor. When the game ended, he cramped up and had to be helped off the floor.
“We would like to come out of Game 1 and say at least we found a game plan we think will work,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I can`t say I have done that. He was unbelievable.”
Anderson Varejao added 14 points for the Cavaliers and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 10 points and 10 boards, but just two points and one board came after intermission. Williams (17 points, 6-of-19 shooting) and West (11, 4-of-13) combined to go 10-of-32 from the field, including 5-of-16 from behind the arc.
Cleveland got nothing from its bench, which was outscored 25-5. Joe Smith was the only Cavaliers reserve to score.
Howard, who caused a 10-minute delay just one minute into the game when his dunk knocked down the shot clock above Orlando`s basket, led the Magic with 30 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out. The 6-foot-11, 260-pounder was 14-of-20 from the field, with four of his misses coming when Cleveland blocked his shot.
The real hero was Lewis, who repeatedly burned the Cavaliers on pick-and-pop plays in the second half, when he scored 17 of his 22 points. Turkoglu added 16 points, six rebounds and a playoff career-high 14 assists for the Magic, which also got 13 points off the bench from Pietrus.
“(Howard) was great, of course,” James said. “(Lewis) was the X-factor tonight.”
James was absolutely sensational all night, but the Cavaliers fell into the trap of standing around and watching their superstar.
The 24-year-old started slowly – he missed his first three shots – and didn`t get on the board until the 3:42 mark of the first period, but he had 10 points in the next 2:42.
Included was a resounding windmill dunk off a pass from West. Immediately after that, James came over from the weak side and blocked Howard`s shot, then went down and nailed a three to give the Cavaliers a 33-17 lead with a minute left in the opening period.
James was even better late in the second period, when he scored 16 of Cleveland`s 18 points over a 5:30 stretch. That gave him a franchise-record 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting at intermission, all of which were scored in two stretches that spanned just 8:12.
Time and time again, James walked down his defender, then pulled up and hit 18-foot jumpers. He was also a terror inside, scoring on a variety of spin moves, up-and-unders and dunks.
“(Van Gundy) told us at halftime we were all witnesses,” Howard said. “We couldn`t have that.”
Having missed three wide-open 3-pointers, Williams swished what was officially called a 67-footer – it was at least 5 feet longer – at the halftime buzzer to put the Cavaliers up 63-48. It was just the fourth shot Williams made in 12 first-half attempts.
Cleveland`s defense was also great at the outset, as Brown elected to have the 6-8, 250-pound James defend Magic point guard Rafer Alston, who gave the Cavaliers fits during the regular season, whether he was with Houston or Orlando.
With James neutralizing Alston, the 6-3 West clamping down on the 6-10 Turkoglu and the 6-1 Williams guarding 6-5 rookie Courtney Lee, the Cavaliers jumped to a 19-6 lead.
Orlando`s offense consisted primarily of Howard early on, as no one else scored for the first 7:02. Played straight up by the Cavaliers most of the night, Howard started 4-of-4, while the rest of the team was 0-of-8.
All that changed over the final three periods, when Orlando scored 88 points and shot a sizzling 63.6 percent from the field.
Despite that, it looked like James would be the hero when he drove, scored, drew Howard`s sixth personal and made the free throw to put Cleveland up 106-104 with 25.6 seconds to go.
Lewis, however, came right back with a 3-pointer from the right wing over a flat-footed Varejao.
“Rashard made that play look very, very good, just like LeBron makes (Brown`s) plays look really, really good,” Van Gundy said. “There was no big genius thing there. Rashard just made a helluva shot.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

Magic 107, Cavaliers 106

ORLANDO (107): Turkoglu 4-11 6-6 15, Lewis 9-13 1-2 22, Howard 14-20 2-2 30, Alston 4-10 1-1 11, Lee 2-7 0-0 4, Pietrus 5-10 1-2 13,
Johnson 2-3 0-0 5, Battie 1-2 1-1 3, Gortat 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 43-78 12-14 107.
CLEVELAND (106): James 20-30 6-10 49, Varejao 6-8 2-2 14, Ilgauskas 5-11 0-0 10,
M.Williams 6-19 3-3 17, West 4-13 0-0 11, Szczerbiak 0-2 0-0 0, Smith 2-4 1-2 5, Wallace 0-1 0-0 0, Gibson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 43-88 12-17 106.
Orlando       19    29    30    29    –     107
Cleveland    33    30    19    24    –     106
3-Point Goals – Orlando 9-20 (Lewis 3-4, Alston 2-4, Pietrus 2-5, Turkoglu 1-2, Johnson 1-2, Lee 0-3), Cleveland 8-25 (James 3-6, West 3-8, M.Williams 2-8, Ilgauskas 0-1, Smith 0-1, Szczerbiak 0-1). Fouled Out – Howard. Rebounds – Orlando 42 (Howard 13), Cleveland 45 (Ilgauskas 10). Assists – Orlando 32 (Turkoglu 14), Cleveland 23 (James 8). Total Fouls – Orlando 15, Cleveland 19. Technicals – Howard, Orlando defensive  three second. A – 20,562 (20,562).

NEXT UP

WHO: Cleveland vs. Orlando
WHAT: Game 2, Eastern Conference finals
WHEN: Friday, 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Q
TV/RADIO: TNT; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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