It what will go down as one of the greatest moments in Cavs history, and maybe THE greatest moment if the Cavs can go on to win the NBA title, LeBron James hit a 3-pointer as the clock expired to give the Cavs a 96-95 victory over the Magic.
Hedo Turkoglu had just made a basket to give Orlando a 2-point lead and the Cavs called a time out with exactly 1 second left. That mean the Cavs would inbound the ball near midcourt, but with that short amount of time the only option was a quick catch-and-shoot. Mo Williams was inbounding the ball, and it was obvious the only guy he was looking for was LeBron James. Stan Van Gundy said afterwards he thought the Cavs would look to throw a lob to LeBron near the hoop (which Coach Brown confirmed) and Orlando took that away, so LeBron ran to the top of the key and shot the ball in one motion over the outstretched hand of Turkoglu. Ball went in the net -- game over!!
Once again, the Cavs got out to a big lead in the first quarter, this time leading by as much as 26 points, but again the Magic fought back in the second half and eventually tied the game with a few minutes left in the game. LeBron James was called for traveling with 30 seconds left and the game tied (so much for him getting all the calls), so Orlando got the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Sasha Pavlovic got called for a silly foul with about 15 seconds left and the shot clock running down which gave Orlando a new shot clock and a chance to play for the last shot. They did, and Turkoglu made that shot with one second left which everyone in the building thought was the game-winner. Unfortunately for Orlando, the Cavs have LeBron James and he wasn't going to let the Cavs lose this game and go down 0-2 in the series.
Sasha Pavlovic played 22 minutes off the bench, after rarely playing so far in the playoffs, and came up big with 9 points (7 in the first half) and good defense on the perimeter. The lack of bench play is still concerning, as he and Joe Smith were the only Cavs reserves to score, and so is the fact that Mo Williams still hasn't found his shooting touch. He score 19 points but only shot 7-21 from the field and 1-6 from three. Ilgauskas and West eached chipped in with 12 points.
LeBron has had better playoff games, even Game 1 on Wednesday was a much better overall performance, but this shot in a crucial moment to win a game in which the Cavs absolutely could not lose will be remembered forever by Cleveland sports fans. The inability to put the Magic away is still concerning, and Coach Brown and the staff will have much to work on over the next two days, but the whole team can feel good going to Orlando tied 1-1 and with momentum on their side. And the knowledge that the best basketball player on the planet is on their team.