May

21

Magic Put Spell On Cavaliers And Pull Out 107-106 Win

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA Game Recap, NBA PLAYOFFS 

There certainly was no apparent rust on the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday night after their long wait to find out that they would play the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers looked like a finely tuned machine during the first half of game one of the series and they appeared they would be heading for their ninth straight victory in the Post Season when they walked into the locker room at the half.   

But the Magic came back with a vengeance in the third quarter taking the Cavaliers out of their rhythm and the crowd at the Q Arena out of the bliss they were experiencing during the first 24 minutes of play. The lead would volley back and forth in the closing seconds of the game as each team made clutch shot after clutch shot. However Magic forward Rashard Lewis would score the winning bucket giving Orlando a 107-106 upset victory. 

 The win gives the Magic a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series and takes away the home court advantage that Cleveland  worked all season to attain. It was the first loss of the Playoffs for the Cavaliers who had dispatched the Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks in series sweeps in the first two rounds. Orlando got the victory despite their star center Dwight Howard fouled out of the contest down the stretch. They also survived an offensive onslaught by Cavaliers All-Star LeBron James who scored a game high 49 points.

Orlando shot a red hot 55.1% (43-78) from the floor for the game as they were led by D-Howard with yet another double-double including 30 points. The key to the victory for the Magic was oustcoring Cleveland in the second half by 16 points.

This was truly a tale of two halves in the strictest sense of the word. Cleveland looked like they had during their first two series in the opening period scoring at will and shutting down the Orlando offense. The result at the end of the quarter was the Cavaliers holding a 33-19 advantage. The Magic found their shooting touch in the second quarter but Cleveland still led by a healthy margin of 63-48 when they entered the locker room at the half.

When the two opponents came back in the third the Cavaliers forgot to bring their offense with them and that double digit lead would fall by the wayside. Cleveland found themselves ahead of Orlando by just four points as the quarter concluded with the score 82-78.

Orlando took their first lead of the second half with 10:02 left in the fourth as Anthony Johnson knocked down a 24 foot trey to put his team on top 85-84. The two teams stayed on each others heels the rest of the quarter as neither club led by more than 4 points at any time for the balance of the game. It all came down to a huge bucket by Rashard Lewis with 14 seconds left in the game to take back the lead and the Magic held on for the win.

Dwight Howard recorded a double-double with 30 points, 13 boards, 2 steals and 1 assist while Rashard Lewis scored 22 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Hedo Turkoglu also had a double-double with 15 points, 14 assists and 6 rebounds while Mickael Pietrus came off the bench with 13 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, Rafer Alston added 11 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Cleveland had an incredible night out of LeBron James who had a game high 49 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals while Mo Williams scored 17 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. Delonte West added 11 points, 6 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and 1 rebound while Zydrunas Ilgauaskas had a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists. The two teams will meet again Friday at the Q Arena for game two with Orlando leading the series 1-0.

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