James’ buzzer-beater wins it
LeBron James hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, a crowning moment for another brilliant performance, to lift the Cavaliers to a 98-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers last night in Cleveland, putting the Cavs within one victory of advancing in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Moments after blocking Victor Oladipo’s possible go-ahead driving layup, James caught the inbounds pass, took two dribbles and dropped the winner over Thaddeus Young.
As Cleveland’s sellout crowd exploded, James hugged rookie teammate Cedi Osman before jumping on the scorer’s table to celebrate another of those moments that will define his career. James finished with 44 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and went 15-of15 from the line.
Kyle Korver added 19 points and Cleveland’s much-maligned defense tightened just in time as the Cavaliers seized their first lead in the first-round series after being down 1-0 and 2-1.
Cleveland can close out Indiana with a win tomorrow night in Indianapolis.
Domantas Sabonis scored 22 points, and Young had 16 for the Pacers, who battled back to tie it at 95 on Sabonis’ 15-foot jumper with 33 seconds left. Indiana, which held Cleveland without a field goal for more than seven minutes during their fourth-quarter rally, forced James into a turnover and had a chance to re-take the lead.
Oladipo, who shot just 2 for 15, drove the left side and was at the rim when James swooped in for the crucial block.
Raptors 108, Wizards 98 — DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 points and 10 assists and host Toronto beat Washington in Game 5 of the first-round series.
Toronto rebounded after losing Games 3 and 4 in Washington to take a 3-2 series lead back to Washington for Game 6 tomorrow night.
The only team in the NBA to avoid a threegame losing streak this season, the Raptors went 5-0 following back-to-back losses during the regular season, and have not lost three straight since last year’s second-round sweep against Cleveland. The last time Toronto lost three regular season games in a row was from Feb. 8 to 14, 2017.
Delon Wright scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth, and Jonas Valanciunas had 14 points and 13 rebounds as the Raptors improved to 5-0 in home Game 5s over the past five years.
John Wall had 26 points, and Bradley Beal added 20 for the Wizards. They went nearly four minutes without scoring down the stretch. Marcin Gortat had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Washington shot 8-for-24 in the fourth quarter, and Toronto had 15 rebounds in the final frame.
The Raptors won despite being out rebounded 50-35.
Elsewhere in the NBA — The Atlanta Hawks and coach Mike Budenholzer mutually agreed to part ways last night. Budenholzer was 213-192 in the regular season and 17-22 in the playoffs in five seasons with Atlanta. The Hawks were an Eastern Conference-worst 24-28 this season.