King James Saves Cavs

LeBron James never left the playground or gym as a kid without making one last shot. No matter how long it took.

Dribbling the ball, James would dart around imaginary defenders like his hero, Michael Jordan, once did. James would cut left, then right, all while keeping track of time in his head.

5 seconds left ... 4 seconds ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... he'd release the ball ahead of the buzzer.

"I wanted to be Mike when I did those things," he said.

On Friday, James became Jordan — for real.

The league MVP made a 3-pointer from the top of the key over Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu as the final horn sounded Friday night to give the Cavaliers, their special season a heartbeat from disaster, a 96-95 victory over the Magic and a 1-1 tie in the Eastern Conference finals.

From 23 feet — matching his jersey number and Jordan's — James connected on a shot that will go down as one of the defining moments in his career, and one Cleveland fans can finally call their own 20 years after Jordan's infamous shot over guard Craig Ehlo eliminated the Cavs from the playoffs.

"That guy is not in the league any more," James said of Jordan. "The other 23 is on the good side now."

Catching the inbound pass from Mo Williams, James only had time to turn his shoulders toward the rim and fire. After the high-arcing shot dropped through, James sprinted into the arms of his delirious teammates as 20,562 Cleveland fans erupted as one.

Some cried. Some danced. Some stood in silence, not sure how to act.

In Cleveland, these things don't happen for the home team.

"You couldn't hear anything but a roar," said James, overwhelmed by the moment. "Those fans deserved it. That was the biggest shot I've made in my career. A second is a long time for me, for others it's very short. To hit a shot like that at the buzzer, at home, wow."

Game 3 is Sunday night in Orlando, where the Magic, who have overcome huge deficits in both games, beat the Cavaliers twice this season and thumped them by 29 points on April 3.

One second before James' shot, Turkoglu hit a 12-footer in the lane over three defenders to give Orlando a 95-93 lead. All the Magic had to do was defend Cleveland's last attempt and they would be flying back to Florida up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.

During a timeout, the Cavaliers drew up a backdoor lob play they've used in similar situations for James. However, the Magic were prepared and Turkoglu took away James' path to the rim. So James gave the Orlando forward a jab-step fake to get separation and rushed to the ball.

Williams never thought about anything but getting it to his teammate.

"Option B was LeBron," he said. "Option C was LeBron. Option D was Big Game James."

Williams was asked if he saw center Zydrunas Ilgauskas wide open in the corner.

"You trying to start something?" Williams said, laughing. "Yes, Z was open. I'll leave it at that."

When James' only 3-pointer of the game fell through the net, Williams dropped to his knees and pounded the floor with his right hand.

"I was punch drunk," Williams said. "I was stuck. I couldn't move. Before he shot it, I was praying. I was like, 'God please, please, something, something.' It went in."

Williams scored 19 on 7-of-21 shooting and Ilgauskas added 12 points and 15 rebounds, and played Orlando center Dwight Howard to a draw.

Rashard Lewis scored 23 points and Turkoglu had 21 for the Magic, who have now lost four games at the buzzer in these playoffs. Howard scored 10 — 20 below his Game 1 performance — and added 18 rebounds but was in foul trouble for the second straight game.

Despite the crushing loss, the Magic were able to split the first two games on the road, something they also did while knocking off the defending champion Boston Celtics in the previous round.

"We got to get over it," Howard said. "The series is tied. We're going home and we know what we have to do to beat this team, but we have to do it for 48 minutes."

Afterward, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy was kicking himself for his team's defense on James' shot.

"That one obviously hurts quite a bit," he said. "I'd like to have that last one back from a coaching standpoint," he said. "I should have defended it differently. It's crushing enough to lose as a coach, but when you feel like you're the guy who could've made the difference, it hurts a lot more."

Like the hand powder James famously blows above his head before every game, Cleveland's season was on the verge of disappearing into thin air.

But James, the kid from just down Interstate-77 in Akron, has given them a shot.

"He was born to do that," guard Sasha Pavlovic said. "I kind of expected that. That's what he does."