LeBron’s Shot Saves Cavaliers From Game Two Loss

Sat, May 23, 2009

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Icon SMI

LeBron James may have just saved the Cavaliers season.

With just one second on the clock and his team down by two, King James took an inbound pass from Mo Williams and drained a three as the clock expired. Immediate pandemonium erupted inside Quicken Loans Arena as LeBron took the Cavs from the brink of heading to Orlando down 2-0.

The shot came after Hedo Turkoglu made a 12-foot jumper on the other end to break a 93-93 tie. It seemed as if Cleveland would suffer a second-straight last minute defeat to the Magic, but with one flick of the wrist James changed the fortunes of the Cavaliers in this series.

“It’s big. It’s big. It is different going on the road down 2 or 1-1,” said Mo Williams after the game. “Especially when you are playing a good team, there is two good basketball teams playing.”

Game two began much like game one did, with the home team jumping out to an early lead. The Cavs led 30-16 after the opening quarter, thanks in large part to eight first quarter points from James. The teams played a fairly even second quarter and Cleveland headed into the half up 56-44.

The second half saw a resurgent Magic club come out firing. Rashard Lewis had 11 points in the third quarter alone, including back-to-back threes midway through the period. The Cavs finished with just 19 points in the quarter with 11 of those coming from King James himself.

With Cleveland leading just 75-69 at the start of the final period, a last-second finish seemed likely. The two teams went back-and-forth throughout the quarter. Rashard Lewis tied the game at 84-84 with 6:13 left and from then on neither team pulled away by more than three points.

Mo Williams, who shot just 7-21 for the game, came up big near the end. He made three jumpers over the final five minutes and finished with eight points in the quarter.

The final minute of the game was one for the ages. Turkoglu, who finished with 21 points, hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds remaining to tie the game at 93-93. James was subsequently called for traveling on the Cavs next possession to give the ball back to the Magic. Hedo hit another shot to give his team the lead before LeBron made the shot of the game and his career.

“Those are the moments that as kids you don’t have to be in the NBA to know what I’m talking about,” said James. “Everybody knows those types of moments. And to hit a shot like that at the buzzer at home, wow.”

Wow doesn’t even begin to describe the uproar of the fans in the arena after the most clutch shot in Cavaliers history.

“It was unbelievable,” James said. “You couldn’t hear anything but just a roar of those 20,000 plus fans. And they deserve it. They deserve it.”

Even the Cavalier players were in disbelief. As the rest of the team bombarded James, Mo Williams collapsed to his knee and pounded the floor in triumph.

“I was punch drunk. I really was. I was stuck,” said Williams. “I couldn’t move. And my reaction, I just I just fell down, fell down. Because the whole time I was walking even before he handed me the ball, I was praying.”

Before the shot it seemed as if a prayer would be all that could save the Cavaliers from a shocking 0-2 deficit to the Magic.

“To go on the road, one second from being down 0-2,” said James. “Going to Orlando and from zero seconds the shot goes in to being 1-1 going on the road, it is a good feeling for us. We can carry this momentum.”

In addition to momentum, the Cavaliers seem to have found some scoring off the bench.They got nine points from reserve Sasha Pavlovic, who played for the first time in the series. Pavlovic added some much needed scoring from a bench that was non-existent in game one.

“I just stayed ready because coach told me before the game to stay ready.” said Pavlovic. “That’s what I did.”

Even with solid games from Pavlovic and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds, the star of the night was still James. He had 35 points in the game, to go along with 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Maybe the only facet of the game in which he struggled was ball control. He had six turnovers, but thanks to his last-second heroics that stat was quickly forgotten.

The Cavaliers will now travel to Orlando for game three, which will be Sunday night at Amway Arena.

No matter what happens the rest of this series, one thing is certain. LeBron’s game-winning shot will be seen for many years to come.

3 Responses to “LeBron’s Shot Saves Cavaliers From Game Two Loss”

  1. Anthony Says:

    well put

  2. Dustin Says:

    I enjoy reading your article. Thank you for provide great information.

  3. Barry Klear Says:

    I know what you mean I totally agree. I will bookmark you :-)


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