CLEVELAND – It took 20 years, but the Cavaliers now have a happy version of “The Shot.”
With one second left and his team down two, LeBron James took an inbounds pass from Mo Williams, rose up and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the circle to give the Cavaliers a thrilling 96-95 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
“It`s the biggest shot I`ve made in my career,” said James, whose team had blown a 23-point lead.
The 24-year-old`s three didn`t end a deadlocked series as Michael Jordan`s pull-up jumper did in 1989, but it qualifies as the biggest shot in Cavaliers history.
“That guy`s not in the league anymore,” James said of Jordan. “The other (No.) 23 is on the good side.”
Had James missed, the Cavaliers would have been in dire straits. Only three teams in NBA history – the Los Angeles Lakers against the San Francisco Warriors in 1969, Houston against Phoenix in `94 and Dallas against Houston in 2005 – have come back to win a seven-game series after losing the first two games at home.
“As a kid, you practice those types of moments,” said James, who finished with 35 points, four rebounds and five assists. “You could do the five, four, three, two, one, but you`d keep going even if you missed 20 in a row. As a kid, I was Michael Jordan taking that shot.”
It looked like Orlando`s Hedo Turkoglu was going to be the hero, as he dribbled left and hit a 10-footer in the lane over Sasha Pavlovic to put the Magic up 95-93 with a single tick on the clock.
Following a Cleveland timeout, James cut to the hoop for what was supposed to be a lob, but Turkoglu cut that off. Not double-teamed by Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy – the Cavaliers did not have time to throw the ball back to Williams – James then ran back to the 3-point circle.
There, the 6-foot-8, 250-pounder drained a three with the 6-10 Turkoglu leaping in vain at his right arm, setting off a wild celebration reminiscent of the 1976 “Miracle in Richfield” days at The Coliseum.
“It was unbelievable,” James said. “You couldn`t hear anything but a roar from those 20,000 fans. They deserved it.”
James had just four in the fourth period prior to his game-winner and also committed three of his game-high six turnovers in the quarter, when Cleveland appeared to be in desperate need of the Heimlich maneuver.
The Cavaliers, who blew a 16-point lead in Game 1, led this one by 23 points with 7:12 to go in the second period, but the Magic totally outplayed them in the second half and were on the brink of going up 2-0.
Instead, the teams will head to Amway Arena for Game 3 on Sunday night tied at 1.
“This one hurts,” said Van Gundy, whose team has lost four playoff games at the buzzer.
Williams, who was 6-of-19 in Game 1, added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Cavaliers. The point guard was just 7-of-21 from the field, but he scored seven of Cleveland`s nine points during a pivotal fourth-quarter stretch.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Cavaliers and also dove on the floor for several loose balls.
“Every time I looked, he was on the floor,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “It took him a long time to get down there, but he was on the ground.”
Lewis had 23 points for Orlando, while Turkoglu had 21. Neither player had a field goal at the seven-minute mark of the second quarter. The Magic also got 10 points and 18 rebounds from Dwight Howard, who was double-teamed a lot more than he was in a 30-point outing in Game 1 and attempted just eight shots.
Orlando, which didn`t lead in Game 1 until going up 85-84, took its first lead in Game 2 on a Lee drive that made it 86-84 with 5:30 to play. The struggling Williams, who was 4-of-16 from the field to that point, then hit a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer to put Cleveland up three.
Turkoglu eventually tied the game with a wide-open three with 48.7 seconds to go, and James was called for traveling with 30.9 seconds to play.
Pavlovic fouled Turkoglu with 13.6 seconds to go, giving Orlando a new shot clock. Following a timeout, Turkoglu hit what looked like a game-winner, but James answered with an even bigger shot of his own.
“I was punch drunk,” Williams said. “I was stuck. I couldn`t move. Even before the referee gave me the ball, I started praying.”
Up 12 at halftime, the Cavaliers saw that lead cut in half in the third period, which ended with Cleveland up 75-69. Lewis did most of the damage, scoring 11 points in the quarter.
For the second straight game, the Cavaliers were up 14 points after the first period, jumping to a 30-16 lead.
When James went to the bench at the start of the second quarter, the Cavaliers got huge lifts from Sasha Pavlovic and Joe Smith, who sparked a 9-0 run that put Cleveland up 43-20.
During the 4:58 James sat, the Cavaliers outscored Orlando by eight points, but there was no quit in the Magic.
“I just want to win,” said Van Gundy, who blamed himself for not double-teaming James on the final play. “We should have won tonight. I just didn`t get the job done.”
James did with his own version of “The Shot.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

CAVALIERS 96, MAGIC 95

ORLANDO (95): Turkoglu 9-17 1-2 21, Lewis 6-15 7-9 23, Howard 3-8 4-8 10, Alston 1-7 2-2 4, Lee 4-9 2-2 11, Johnson 2-4 1-2 5, Pietrus 4-5 0-0 10, Redick 3-4 0-0 7, Gortat 2-2 0-0 4, Battie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-71 17-25 95.
CLEVELAND (96): James 12-23 10-12 35, Varejao 2-5 0-1 4, Ilgauskas 5-13 2-2 12, M.Williams 7-21 4-5 19, West 4-7 3-3 12, Smith 1-1 2-2 5, Pavlovic 4-7 0-1 9, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Gibson 0-0 0-0 0, Kinsey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-77 21-26 96.
Orlando       16    28    25    26    –     95
Cleveland    30    26    19    21    –     96
3-Point Goals – Orlando 10-23 (Lewis 4-7, Pietrus 2-3, Turkoglu 2-4, Redick 1-2, Lee 1-3, Johnson 0-1, Alston 0-3), Cleveland 5-19 (Smith 1-1, James 1-3, Pavlovic 1-3, West 1-4, M.Williams 1-6, Ilgauskas 0-2). Fouled Out – None. Rebounds – Orlando 43 (Howard 18), Cleveland 49 (Ilgauskas 15). Assists – Orlando 16 (Johnson, Howard, Turkoglu 4), Cleveland 17 (James, M.Williams 5). Total Fouls – Orlando 25, Cleveland  24. Technicals – Gortat. A – 20,562 (20,562).

NEXT UP

WHO: Cleveland at Orlando
WHAT: Game 3, Eastern Conference finals
WHEN: Sunday, 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Q
TV/RADIO: TNT; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---