Cleveland rally stuns Blazers

At the end, it's too much LeBron James

By Kerry Eggers

LocalNewsDaily.com, Jan 30, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (4 Reader comments)

The Trail Blazers were cruising, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers by 11 points with the clock winding down to four minutes to play. Victory seemed in the bag.

Then a superstar spread his wings.

LeBron James knocked down three straight 3-pointers, then finished with a game-winning drive to the basket with .3 of a second remaining to lift Cleveland to a stunning 84-83 victory over Portland Wednesday night at the Rose Garden.

James’ left-handed reverse layup took the air out of a sellout crowd of 20,501 and left the Blazers – as radio play-by-play announcer Brian Wheeler might say – disappointed, dejected and demoralized.

“That was a tough loss,” said Portland’s Brandon Roy, who defended James on the final play. “We thought we had the game under control. (James) had been missing shots all game, but he made them when he needed to.”

James was only 9 for 24 from the field before making 4 of 5 shots over the final 4:03 to lift the Cavaliers (25-19) to their 11th win in 13 outings. It was the sixth loss in 10 games for Portland (26-19), but only its fifth loss in 23 home outings this season.

LaMarcus Aldridge’s 15-foot jump shot game the Blazers an 81-70 advantage with 4:39 remaining, and the Cavaliers – who had been offensively challenged the entire game – appeared dead in the water.

Enter King James, who singlehandedly turned imminent defeat into victory as Cleveland outscored Portland 14-2 down the stretch. The Cavaliers scored 11 in a row to tie the count at 81-81 before Travis Outlaw’s 20-foot jumper gave the Blazers their final lead at 83-81 with 2:03 to play.

Portland was 1 for 7 from the field over the final fatal four minutes.

“We got some good looks,” said point guard Steve Blake, who missed three of the attempts. “It just comes down to knocking down the shots.”

The Blazers led 83-82 and had the ball with 29.9 seconds remaining when Aldridge rebounded a missed driving layup by James. But Roy wound up taking a desperation 3-pointer the Cavs rebounded with 4.9 seconds to go.

During the ensuing timeout, Portland coach Nate McMillan removed 7-1 center Joel Przybilla – who had blocked four shots, including three of James’ at the basket – and inserted Aldridge as his inside defensive presence.

“We talked about (using Przybilla), but they were running mid pick-and-rolls,” McMillan said. “We felt like they’d go to a screen-and-roll with (Zydrunas) Ilgauskas and LeBron. We wanted a defense that could switch and guard the basket. I had Joel up and ended up going with LaMarcus. If they had something going to the basket, LaMarcus should be able to step up.”

Cleveland inbounded to James at the top of the key. He drove past Roy to the basket and converted the layup with his left hand with .3 on the clock as no Blazer defender stepped in to help.

“They went with an (isolation), and (James) put his head down and went to the basket,” McMillan said. “Our first thought is in containing him and keeping him in front of us, but then we have to step over and give help.”

“We were trying to force him right,” Roy said. “He avoided us, got to the rim and we didn’t step up and make it a tough shot.”

After a timeout, Blake tried a lob pass at the basket that was intercepted by James, and the game was Cleveland’s.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit