James quiets critics
Greatness promised. Greatness delivered.
When LeBron James’ moment arrived, he was ready. Just like another No. 23.
Call it LeBronesque.
With a tour-de-force performance that was one of the best in NBA playoff history, James shook the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 on Thursday night in 50 spellbinding minutes that included two nerve-racking overtimes.
The 22-year-old superstar soared like never before. He scored 48 points – the Cavaliers’ final 25 and 29 of their last 30 – to carry Cleveland to a 3-2 series lead, one win from its first trip to the NBA Finals.
At Detroit’s suburban Palace, King James ruled.
“LeBron just wouldn’t let us lose,” Cavaliers guard Damon Jones said.
James stamped his growing reputation with all the fury of one of his thunderous slam dunks. He drove past Detroit’s defenders, elevated to shoot over the Pistons and twisted through their double and triple teams as if in a playground back home in Akron.
The 48 points were spectacular, but hardly tell the whole story. He scored them in the biggest game of his four-year career. He scored them in the most important game in Cleveland’s 37-year history. He scored them on the road, against the Pistons, one of the league’s toughest defensive teams.
James – who added nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals – scored the 48 a little more than one week after being lambasted for his late-game decisions in Games 1 and 2, a pair of three-point losses.
James became the first player to score 25 straight points in the postseason, an effort rivaling almost anything Michael Jordan did in the playoffs.
“He just did what he felt he needed to do for us to win,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. “I don’t think he was trying to set any historical mark or anything. He just did what he felt he was supposed to do to help us win. I don’t know what he can’t do.”
Physically and mentally drained following the game, James received an IV to guard against dehydration before leaving Detroit’s home arena for the short flight back to Cleveland on Friday morning.
Brown, who gave the Cavaliers the day off to rest for Game 6 tonight, remained somewhat amazed by James’ performance.
“You know,” he said, “I’m still in awe. And the whole country had a chance to see what we’ve seen as his coaches and teammates and organization on a daily basis. We know what he’s capable of doing, because we’ve seen it a lot.”
James’ 48 points were the most scored against the Pistons since Nov. 23, 2001 – a span of 590 games. It was also the highest-scoring game in Detroit by a playoff opponent since Elgin Baylor’s 61 in 1961. It was the most points against the Pistons in the postseason since Dominique Wilkins got 50 in 1986 – when James was 1 year old.
After being ridiculed for passing up the last shot in Game 1, James kept the ball in the final seconds of Game 2 but missed on a final attempt in the lane. At home for Game 3, he scored 32 points with nine assists and nine rebounds, making a tough jumper with 16 seconds left in the win.
James followed with a 13-point fourth quarter to win Game 4. That set the stage for Game 5, when he blasted through the lane for two monster dunks in the final 31 seconds of regulation, nailed impossible 3-pointers and scored all 18 points for Cleveland in the overtime sessions.
He capped his Motown masterpiece by knifing through three Pistons for a layup with 2.2 seconds left.
“We threw everything we had at him,” Chauncey Billups said. “We just couldn’t stop him. He was hitting everything. Not the dunks and layups, that was easy. But the 3s, he was shooting over double teams.”
McDyess won’t be punished further
Detroit Pistons forward Antonio McDyess will not be further penalized by the NBA for his rough foul in the first quarter on Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao in Game 5 on Thursday night.
McDyess received a flagrant-2 foul after he unexpectedly clotheslined Varejao under the basket and was ejected. League spokesman Tim Frank said McDyess will not face any more discipline.
Coliseum will be demolished
The Charlotte Coliseum helped bring a once-sleepy town into the sports mainstream. It hosted the city’s first major pro sports team and was home to the Final Four and the NBA All-Star Game.
The building won’t reach its 19th birthday.
The Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., will be demolished Sunday – five years after its lack of luxury suites and premium seating led the NBA’s Hornets to leave town and two years after it was made redundant by a glitzy replacement.
A facility that hosted 364 consecutive NBA sellouts, the 1994 Final Four, numerous concerts and even a speech by Mother Teresa will be reduced to rubble, making way for an office park.
“As nice as the building was, it was as someone said, the last of the propeller airplanes before the jets came,” said Max Muhleman of Charlotte-based Private Sports Consulting.