Jordan-like James leads Cavs to victory
Like another No. 23 before him, LeBron James saved his finest moment for the biggest one.
James muscled through traffic and dropped in a layup with 0.9 seconds left in overtime as the Cleveland Cavaliers moved closer to the second round of the NBA playoffs with a 121-120 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night at Cleveland.
With the Cavs down by one, James, who finished with 45 points, took an inbounds pass with 3 seconds to go. After sliding past Antawn Jamison, James knifed inside of Michael Ruffin, Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood.
He rose in the lane and softly dropped in his layup, sending a sellout crowd of more than 20,000 into a frenzy.
Arenas, who matched James bucket for bucket and had 44 points, was way off with a desperation heave at the buzzer.
The best-of-7 series returns to Washington for Game 6 on Friday night.
Pistons 122, Bucks 93: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Richard Hamilton and Detroit advanced without breaking a sweat.
Hamilton had a playoff career-high 40 points and the Pistons tied a franchise playoff scoring record in the first quarter in a victory over Milwaukee in Game 5.
Rasheed Wallace scored 22 points and keyed an 18-2 run after halftime for the two-time defending Eastern Conference champions, who won the best-of-7 series and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Detroit will play the winner of the Cleveland-Washington series.
Off the court
The NBA suspended Phoenix guard Raja Bell for tonight’s game for throwing Kobe Bryant to the floor in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. … The NBA fined Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki $15,000 and slapped him with a flagrant foul penalty two for a play against Memphis’ Pau Gasol midway through the second quarter of Dallas’ 102-76 victory Monday night that wrapped up a sweep of the first-round series. … The Orlando Magic promoted assistant general manager Otis Smith to GM. … Police said Los Angeles Lakers center Kwame Brown has not been interviewed about allegations that he was involved in a sexual assault. … Cavaliers forward Luke Jackson will undergo surgery on his back today, his second operation in less than two years and another setback for the former first-round draft choice.