Everytime you think LeBron James has done it all, he does something that reminds you of how special a player he is. Last night was one of those moments when we realized that indeed, we are all witnesses. People in Cleveland have the pleasure every night to see the best basketball player in the world. A rare pleasure indeed.
All the defensive breakdowns and silly turnovers down the stretch of both regulation and overtime were erased when James was allowed to go baseline and score the winning basket with .9 seconds remaining. LBJ was not the only reason for the victory however. When LeBron was saddled with foul trouble in the third quarter, Larry Hughes and Flip Murray led the charge and actually put the wine and gold in the lead.
The much maligned Eric Snow was tremendous in overtime, taking the ball to the basket and scoring. His veteran hand was needed, and his playoff experience was appreciated. The Canton native averaged slightly under 5 ppg this year, but he can score more if the team needed it. Not that he’s a 20 point guy, but he could throw in 10 a contest in he needed to.
But in the end, it was James making a biggest shot of his still young career. He put the Cavaliers one game away from winning their first playoff series in 13 years. It’s still an uphill climb, but it would have been even more difficult being down 3-2 and heading to DC tomorrow night.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 