LeBron James buried a last-second three-point dagger at the buzzer as the Cleveland Cavaliers stunned the Orlando Magic 96-95 to tie their National Basketball Association semi-finals series at 1-1.
"That's a great shot man," James said. "We couldn't afford to go down 0-2 to Orlando. That's a great shot."
It was the only three pointer of the night for James who made the most of it and finishing with 35 points.
There was just one second remaining on the clock when James nailed his 25-foot shot as the horn sounded and he sprinted into the arms of his teammates.
In front of a sold-out crowd of 20,562, James took an inbound pass from teammate Mo Williams before turning and shooting in the same motion.
The Magic appeared to be heading to sure victory as Turkoglu hit a jumper with one second left to give them a 95-93 lead.
"Hedo hit a big shot and I had to match it," James said.
Rashard Lewis scored 23 points and Turkoglu finished with 21 for Orlando. Dwight Howard had 10 points and 18 rebounds.
Williams had 19 points and Zydrunas Ilguaskas had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers let Orlando overcome a huge deficit for the second straight game. Orlando was down by 23 points in the second quarter but rallied to cut the gap to within 12 at the half on Friday.
Game 3 is Sunday in Orlando.
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2009)
