LeBron James Saves Cavs From Loss To Orlando

The Cleveland Cavaliers are doing everything they can to keep the Eastern Conference Finals heart-wrenching on their fans.

After blowing a 23 point lead, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter to the Orlando Magic. This time Hedo Turkoglu made the go-ahead shot for Orlando, and left only : 01 left on the clock.

Lightning doesn’t strike twice, right?

Cleveland still had time though, even if it was only a second. Everyone knew coming out of the Cavalier’s last timeout that James was going to be the one to take the last shot.

Receiving the inbound pass from Mo Williams, James, with the 6’10” Turkoglu in his grill, sunk a 23-foot, turn-and-shoot, fadeaway three-pointer to win the game 96-95.

The three was the first one James had made all night, and only the fifth for the entire Cleveland team

Before that shot the Magic somehow found a way to give themselves a chance to win, and overcame an early double-digit deficit.

The Magic’s Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis scored 44 points combined, including six of the team’s 10 three-pointers.

Lewis’ 23 points came mostly in the second and third quarter when the Magic were beginning to make their comebacks. He hit four-of-seven from three-point range, including two three-pointers in a row in the third quarter, cutting the Cavaliers lead to just six points.It was the closest the Magic had been since they trailed 5-11 just four minutes into the game.

There are two big reasons why the Magic got back into the game.

First, the Magic are continuing to shoot a high-percentage from beyond the arc. They went 10-of-23, making nine threes after the first quarter. The Cavaliers just went 5-of-21 in threes, none bigger than the fifth one.

Secondly, the Orlando bench outscored the Cleveland bench 26-14. Orlando’s Mickael Pietrus only played 17 minutes, but he made the most he could during this time. He scored 10 points on four-of-five shooting, two-of-three from the three-point territory.

Turkoglu scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth, scoring Orlando’s final five points in the span of 47 seconds.

Orlando’s Courtney Lee had a big fourth quarter of his own. He scored six of his 11 points in the fourth. His 10-foot jump shot with 5:26 gave the Cavs an 86-84 lead, their first one of the game.

James only had seven of his game-high 35 points in the fourth.

After going 6-of-19 (two-of-eight three-pointers) in Game One, Cleveland’s Mo Williams needed to bring his shot to Game Two.

He struggled from the field again making just 7-of-21, and shot even worse from three-point range, but his only three of the game (with 4:24 left to play) brought his teammates and the Quicken Loans Arena back to life. Despite struggling again, Williams was able to rattle it home in the clutch.

James’ entire 2008-2009 season is amazing, and it just keeps getting better.