The Redemption of the King. Vince McKee

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СКАЧАТЬ different this time than just two short years earlier. The Pistons had aged, and the team was no longer the powerhouse it had once been. They were the eighth seed and seen as a heavy underdog against the highly favored Cavaliers.

      The Cavaliers jumped out to a quick two-game lead in the series by dominating game one and game two at home, 102–84 and 94–82. The series headed to the Palace of Auburn Hills and the Pistons’ hopes of coming back were on life support. The Cavaliers continued to roll and polished off the Pistons in Detroit by taking both games three and four, 79–68 and 99–78. Games one through three were such blowouts that by the time game four rolled around, Detroit fans didn’t even bother to show up, leaving more than half of the stands full of Cleveland fans. It was such a magical season that Cleveland fans had no problem driving the 2½ hours to the Palace to support their team. It was also a vast difference from just a few years prior, when Detroit was on top of the mountain and the Cavaliers were looking to take them down at all costs.

      LeBron continued to look amazing in the playoffs with efforts of 38, 29, 25, and 36 points. Despite the wide difference in win totals, LeBron knew better than to take Detroit lightly and made sure to bring his very best game to the court each night. The Cavaliers were on fire and ready to take on their second-round opponent, the Atlanta Hawks.

      With such stars as Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and Mike Bibby, the Atlanta Hawks were seen as a formidable opponent coming into the second-round series. Many broadcasters considered the Hawks good enough to push the Cavaliers to at least six, if not seven, games. Despite the talent and hype behind the Hawks, the Cavaliers didn’t fear Atlanta and went right out and swept the Hawks in four games with relative ease. The Hawks couldn’t compete with the high-powered Cavalier attack. The Cavaliers averaged a 16-point victory per game. The Cavaliers had won eight straight playoff games and were looking simply unstoppable. There was nothing the Atlanta Hawks could do to even keep the games close, and head coach Mike Woodson was out of answers.

      Heading into the conference semifinals, the entire league was expecting a Cleveland versus Boston rematch. The Orlando Magic had a different idea, though, and upset the Celtics in the conference semifinals. The Magic was a young and talented team, but few in the national sports media thought they would have what it would take to hang with the Cavaliers. Little did anyone know that the Cavaliers were headed for a classic series. Of the national media, only Charles Barkley had enough guts to pick against the heavily favored Cavaliers. With the way LeBron was playing, those in the media and fans alike thought it impossible for Cleveland to lose even one game on their walk to the NBA Finals and pending showdown against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

      Game one against Orlando was in Cleveland, with the Cavaliers taking the homecourt advantage and jumping out to a huge lead. The Cavaliers were beating the Magic 63–48 at halftime and didn’t appear to be cooling off anytime soon. Everything looked in control until the Orlando Magic came out in the third quarter and couldn’t miss a shot. Orlando was suddenly on a hot shooting streak and outscored the Cavaliers 30–19 in the third quarter. The Magic continued to remain hot throughout the rest of the game and took a 107–106 lead with only a few seconds to go. The Cavaliers were blindsided by the dramatic change of pace brought on by the Orlando Magic shooting inferno. A last-second desperation shot by Williams rattled in and out, and just like that, the Cavaliers had lost their first playoff game and were suddenly down in the series. Everyone in the NBA universe of fans and the media were stunned, as Cleveland had dominated the playoffs up until that point, and were now hoping this second-half collapse would be just a minor hiccup.

      The Cavaliers had wasted a 49-point masterpiece by LeBron. The problem was that, despite his incredible scoring display, the Cavaliers’ bench provided only 5 points. That was simply not acceptable and would be a major obstacle for the team to overcome if the problem continued. The best player cannot score 49 points in a losing effort—an all-around recipe for disaster for a team trying to win an NBA Championship. LeBron was playing his all-out best, but without any help from his teammates, it simply didn’t matter.

      Game two followed almost the exact same script as game one. The Cavaliers once again jumped out to a big lead of 30–16 after the first quarter. Sadly, just like in game one, the Magic came roaring back throughout the game until they held a 95–93 lead with only one second to go. Hedo Türkoğlu hit a clutch two-point shot to give the Magic the lead and take the wind out of the Cleveland crowd. Coach Brown drew up one last play for the Cavaliers to try and either tie the game or go for the win in the regulation. The next second in time will live forever in the great memories and moments of Cleveland sports history, as Williams inbounded the ball into the waiting hands of LeBron, who stood 25 feet away from the basketball goal. LeBron caught the ball, turned, and put up a shot that would go down easy, sending the fans of Cleveland into a frenzy of excitement! It was, at that time, the most defining moment in LeBron’s career. It also summed up why he was voted league MVP that season.

      The Cavaliers dropped game three in Orlando by a score of 99–89. The refereeing was horrible all night, and the Cavaliers could not stay out of foul trouble because of it. The poor officiating, combined with the Magic’s hot shooting, placed Cleveland in a deep hole. The Magic suddenly had a stranglehold on the series, and the team continued to get clutch shots and not allow anyone other than LeBron to score. Williams was having a very disappointing series and wasn’t providing the needed help for the Cavaliers to compete. If Williams didn’t improve in a hurry and the Cleveland bench didn’t wake up out of their shooting slump, the Cavaliers would be in serious trouble! Williams, quick to run his mouth as the team headed into game four, boasted an expected victory for Cleveland.

      Game four in Orlando was another classic, down-to-the-wire game. Dwight Howard continued to dominate down low, causing the Cavaliers to force a double team on him and allowing Orlando open access to three-pointers. It was a double-edged sword that resulted in Cleveland getting sliced every time. Rafer Alston was able to cash in on the openings caused by the Howard double team and scored 26 points to go along with Howard’s 27. Alston should not have been able to score 26 points on the North Olmsted High School JV team, let alone the Cavaliers in the playoffs!

      The Cavaliers hung tough all night and, with less than a minute to go, the outcome was still in doubt. The Cavaliers led 98–97 with only 6 seconds left in the game. LeBron had just hit two clutch foul shots to give Cleveland the lead, and now the team just needed one defensive stop and the series would be tied at two. Coming out of a time-out and only down one point, it was expected that the Magic would be sure to get the ball down low to Howard for the final drive for the win. Instead, it was Türkoğlu driving the lane before kicking out to a well-covered Rashard Lewis, who hit a three-pointer with a hand in his face to give Orlando a 100–98 lead with only 4.1 seconds remaining. It was that kind of series for Orlando—everything they did seemed to go just right. It was back-breaking moment for the Cavaliers, as the team had played so well all night.

      With 4.1 seconds left, the game was far from over and the Cavaliers had one last chance left to try to tie or win. Cleveland got the ball into the hands of LeBron once again, who drove the lane and was fouled putting up the shot and missed. However, because of the foul, he would have a chance to make two foul shots with only .5 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. LeBron proved he was cold-blooded, calmly nailing both foul shots to send the game into overtime. It was a big-pressure moment handled brilliantly by the game’s best player. But once again, the Cavaliers would waste an incredible effort from LeBron.

      Orlando jumped out to a quick 6-point lead in overtime. Two dunks by Howard down low, combined with a three-pointer by Mickaël Piétrus had the Cavaliers in a deep hole yet again. Until that moment, most NBA fans hadn’t even heard of Piétrus because he had never done anything of note prior to that point in his futile NBA career—and he never did anything of note after that moment either. LeBron kept the Cavaliers in the game by making another clutch three-pointer in addition to providing timely foul shooting. Orlando continued to use their dominant big man, Dwight Howard, down low and built a 4-point lead with only 6 seconds to go. LeBron nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead down СКАЧАТЬ