The Official Site of JJ Redick

Wed, May 20th 2009, 21:50

MAGIC STUN CAVALIERS 107-106 IN GAME 1 OF EAST FINALS

CLEVELAND – It’s going to be kind of difficult for the Cleveland Cavaliers to sweep the Orlando Magic out of the playoffs now.

That’s because a resilient Magic team that was given little chance of even slowing down Most Valuable Player LeBron James and the rampaging Cavaliers stunned all of Cleveland and the basketball world Wednesday night with a 107-106 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Cleveland had won all eight of its playoff games by double digits, a new NBA record. But there would be no blowout Wednesday night, not against a Magic team that refused to go away several times throughout the game.

The Magic withstood a shaky beginning in which they trailed by as much as 16 points and they masterfully traded punches with James, who poured in 49 points on 20 of 30 shooting.

They won in dramatic fashion when forward Rashard Lewis drilled a go-ahead 3-pointer over Anderson Varejao with 14 seconds remaining, putting Orlando up one and needing one more stop. The Magic got that stop when they got the ball out of James’ hands and Delonte West missed a 3-pointer from the corner with five seconds to play. Mo Williams got one last heave off a jump ball tip, but it rimmed out as well to give the Magic the win.

``The one thing about our team that’s been pretty consistent all year long … is that this is a resilient team,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``We’ll just keep playing and keep fighting. I love how in the second quarter even when we couldn’t make any headway we started to fight a little bit. And in the second half we just continued to fight.’’

The Magic took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and stole away homecourt advantage from a Cleveland team that won 66 games during the regular season and went a NBA-best 39-2 at noisy Quicken Loans Arena. Game 2 is Friday night in Cleveland.

The Magic credited their experience from the Boston series, one in which they had to battle through a gritty seven-game series that involved several nail-biting finishes. Meanwhile, Cleveland breezed through the first two rounds, easily sweeping Detroit and Atlanta.

``All of our games against Boston were really tough and we learned a lot from that series,’’ said Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu, who had 15 points, 14 assists and six rebounds. ``We played the full 48 minutes and executed to the very end of the game.’’

Lewis scored 22 points on nine of 13 shooting and drilled three 3-pointers. Magic center Dwight Howard had 30 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 25 seconds remaining on a controversial call.

Trailing 63-48 at the half, the Magic refused to go away in the third quarter and put up a fight to stay within striking distance. Orlando trimmed a lead that once swelled to as much as 16 points to two before the end of the third period.

And the gritty, resilient Magic stunned the noisy home crowd early in the fourth quarter when they strung together seven straight points to take their first lead of the game. Anthony Johnson’s 3-pointer off a nifty drive-and-kick play from Hedo Turkoglu put Orlando ahead 85-84 with 10:05 to play.

Point guard Mo Williams hit a dagger of a 3-pointer at the end of the half when his three-quarter-court heave hit nothing but net and put the Cavs up 63-48 at the half. Orlando had weathered a James first-half shootout and had gotten back to within 12 points before Williams hit the momentum-swinging shot to end the half.

James put his whole game on display in the first half when he scored 26 points. He hit two 3-pointers, dunked twice on backdoor cuts of fastbreak plays, scored three times on tough post-up plays on the right block and he ended the first half with three mid-range jump shots.

The Magic seemed overwhelmed early in the game, falling behind 33-19 after one period. Orlando was a mess defensively, giving up one easy basket after another. And Cleveland jump-started its fastbreak with two blocked shots, both of them resulting in momentum-swinging 3-pointers for the Cavs.

But in the end, the Magic made all of the big plays to earn a huge Game 1 victory.

``We’re playing with so much confidence right now and we realize how good we are as a team,’’ Magic point guard Rafer Alston said. ``We believe in the guy next to us in the locker room and we’re going to keep fighting and get the job done.’’