How big was Lebron James game winning three-pointer yesterday over the Orlando Magic? Huge! That's what it was, huge. It's a huge shot for three reasons.
1. The Orlando Magic looked out of it in Game 1 of this series. Somewhere in the second half, the Cavs lost their edge and let the Magic back in to the game. Thanks to Rashard Lewis and his clutch three pointer, the Magic were able to steal home field advantage from the Cavs. Game 2 was a "must win" for the Cavaliers. Lebron and his teammates, again, displayed their strength, speed and skill by jumping out to a 23 point lead in the 1st half. Like in game 1, Orlando battled back into the game and got within 12 by halftime. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Orlando was right in the thick of things only trailing the Cavs by six. Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu tied the game at 93 a piece with less than a minute left. Coming up big again, Turkoglu hit a short jumper with just over a second remaining giving the Magic 95-93 lead. It's only fitting that out of a timeout, Lebron James took the inbound pass from beyond the three-point line launching the shot over the defending Turkoglu. The Cavs are now back in this series. They have found redemption and new life headed to Orlando for game 3.
2. Mentioning "The Shot" is a good way to upset Cleveland Cavaliers fan. Thanks to Lebron James, Craig Ehlo might be off the hook. Like last night, Michael Jordan took the inbound pass from half court in the first round of the 1989 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs. Jordan dribbled to the free-throw line and nailed the shot over Ehlo. (Ehlo scored second prior to give the Cavs the lead with three seconds to go.) So often Jordan and James are compared to each other. Both are number 23, both were high flying dunkers, good shooters, so on and so on. Jordan has had the ball in his hands in the closing seconds plenty of times in his career. He didn't come through every time but we don't remember those. We remember "The Shot", his jumper over Bryon Russell to beat the Jazz in the 98' Finals, and his jumper to lead North Carolina to the 82' National Championship over Georgetown. Lebron through his career so far is more known for his missed game winners. Lebron didn't make his first game winning shot until this year over the Golden State Warriors in January of this year. Fortunatley for Lebron, I think he is going to be known more for this one shot then all his misses put together. For the city of Cleveland, "The Shot" is now a memory worth having.
3. Usually a teams best player has the ball at the end of the game. Jordan, Magic, Bird, Kobe, etc. have had the ball to take the last shot as the seconds fall. It's expected to see the superstar taking the last shot. Sometimes that supestar draws two or three defenders and delivers a pass to a wide open shooter for the game winner. It seems more magical though when the star takes the shot. Lebron in recent criticism has been called too unselfish. In game 1 of this Easter Conference Final, the Cavs were down just one point when Lebron started to drive the lane. He would have probably been fouled as almost every Magic player on the floor collapsed on James. Instead of trying to put a shot he dumped the ball off to wide open Delonte West who had positioned himself in the corner for a three pointer. West had made the shot moments earlier. This time, his he wasn't so lucky. The shot rimmed out. The Cavs had a chance at getting anther shot after a jump ball but the shot was off. The criticism of Lebron of game 1 was that he shouldn't have passed the ball off and that he should have taken the shot. If West hits that three, Lebron is seen as a great teammate, a leader and smart for recognizing the open man. Instead, Lebron is being told that he should have taken that last shot. The Magic knew he was getting the ball but he should still have been the one at the end puting up the shot. In game 2, there was no question in anyone's mind who was getting the ball. Lebron had decided ahead of time that he was going to take that shot. I don't know that in previous instances, Lebron didn't have the confidence or if he truely felt that someone else had the better shot but on Friday night, Lebron put to rest the criticisms of his unselfishness. Lebron was given the the ball at the end of the game, he put of the shot and came through for his team.
With game 3 on Sunday, the Cavaliers have revitalized this series. Tied at one game a piece, each game being decided in the closing seconds, this series is living up to be a close battle. Keep a close eye for who is going to come up big. Maybe Lebron, again.
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