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The Cavaliers entered the fourth quarter with a 92-84 lead on Thursday night. With the chance for a gritty road win in Miami at their fingertips, the Cavs turned to their superstar, LeBron James, to finish off Dwyane Wade and the Heat. As usual, the league’s reigning MVP came through in a big way.

James scored 10 of his 34 points in the final period to lead the Cavaliers to a 111-104 victory. He hit 16-18 from the free-throw line, including 7-8 in the final seven minutes of the contest. Although the seventh-year pro has made a living out of late-game heroics, he continues to amaze even his coach.

“The show that he put on at the end of our game today to close the game the right way was outstanding,” said Mike Brown after the game.” He closed the game for us tonight with a killer instinct in the right way on both ends of the floor. For me that was so fun to watch. It’s indescribable almost.”

James’ start was almost as impressive as his finish. He scored 15 points in the first quarter, capped by a running jumper as time expired to give the Cavaliers a two-point lead heading into the second. That quarter would prove to belong to a fellow Cavalier, Mo Williams.

Williams scored 11 points in the second period as he shot the ball well for the second-straight night. He scored a total of 25 in the game after a 28-point night on Wednesday against Orlando.

After the hot quarter by Williams, the Cavaliers headed into the half up 62-57, but finally began to pull away late in the third quarter.

After two Wade three-throws with 54 second left in the third to cut the lead to five, Daniel Gibson hit a three-pointer off an assist from James. It would be the final points of the quarter by either team, and the Cavs headed into the fourth with a nice cushion. The rest, as they say, is history, especially when you have LeBron James to close-out the game for you.

The 24-year-old scored the final eight points for the Cavaliers, a night after scoring eight of the team’s final 10 points against the Magic. Last season James averaged 7.7 points in the fourth quarter, the most in the NBA. and is on his way to topping that statistic once again.

Although James was the catalyst in the victory, he got some solid support from teammates. Four of the Cavaliers’ five starters scored in double-figures, including J.J. Hickson, who scored a career-high 18 points in his third-straight start at power forward.

“He’s getting better and better,” said James when asked about Hickson. “He has a lot of talent and it’s definitely showing these last few games. He’s getting confidence with the first unit.”

Shaquille O’Neal played just 21 minutes due to foul trouble for the Cavaliers, but still managed to score in double-digits. The 7-1 center scored 14 points on 4-8 from the floor and also added five rebounds. After winning just three of the first six games with his new club, O’Neal and the Cavaliers have won three straight.

“We started off kind of slow,” said O’Neal. ”We let a couple of games slip away, but not these last two games. I think if we continue to play like that we will be fine.”