"You ain't gonna win in my house" that's what Lebron James' play in game 5 seemed to speak to the Orlando Magic as he refused to let the Cleveland Cavaliers' season come to an end on Thursday night.
With Cleveland's sensational season on the line, LeBron had 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists, and Mo Williams, who boldly predicted his team would come back and win this series which looked one sided, finally showed up to play and added 24 points in the Cavaliers' 112-102 victory over the Orlando Magic. For Cleveland, a city banking on LeBron to deliver a championship after a 45-year drought, the MVP was again in a league of his own. LeBron scored 21 points in the second half (17 in the fourth quarter) and had a hand in 29 of Cleveland's 34 points in the final 12 minutes.
It's back to Florida for Game 6 on Saturday night at amped-up Amway Arena. The Magic overcame a 22-point deficit but missed their first opportunity to close out the Cavaliers, who are trying to become just the ninth team since 1947 to rally and win a series after being down 3-1, the Magic now have 2 more chances to end this series early, to reach the NBA finals for the first time since 1995.
Hedo Turkoglu had 29 points to lead the Magic, while Dwight Howard had 24 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 2:22 remaining when he was called for his sixth personal foul while trying to stop the LeBron on a drive.
Even Superman couldn't deny the Chosen One, and this time Mo-Will, his trusty side-kick all year finally showed up in the postseason to help out the Chosen One. As did Zydrunas Ilgauskus (16 points), Delonte West (13 points), and Daniel Gibson (11 points) who had two key momentum swinging 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
The Magic have twice ended series on the road this postseason, winning a Game 6 in Philadelphia in the first round and a Game 7 in Boston to make it to the conference finals. For a while it looked like Orlando might do it again, taking a 79-78 lead into the fourth quarter, but LeBron had other plans. He picked up his first assist of the period on a 3-pointer by Williams and his second on a 3 by Gibson. Cleveland then turned to the Chosen One every time down on offense, spreading the floor and forcing the Magic to defend him. If he wasn't backing down the lane, he was getting to the charity stripe or setting his teammates up from the perimeter. He also had four rebounds and four assists in the final quarter. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said it best, "The game is basically, all LeBron, all the time."
Peace and Much Love To Ya :)
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