Cavs win it in overtime

By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CLEVELAND -- LeBron James has done it many times before, but Wednesday night, King James did it big time, scoring with nine-tenths of a second in overtime to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a 121-120 victory over the Washington Wizards.
The victory gives James and the Cavaliers a 3-2 advantage over the Wizards with Game 6 slated Friday in Washington.
James found himself in a situation that he had rarely been in before during his entire basketball career.
James was in foul trouble in the third quarter, picking up his fourth foul with 6:53 remaining. While he finished the quarter on the bench, his teammates picked up his slack and carried the team through the rest of the quarter.
The Cavaliers were tied 63-63 when James went out of the game. When the quarter ended, the Cavs held an 85-81 lead.
But Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels led the Wizards to a final rally that tied the game at 107-107 and sent it to overtime.
Late lead blown
Cleveland led 107-100 with a little more than one minute remaining and were outscored 7-0, including a key turnover by James that enabled Butler to score the uncontested tying basket with 7.5 seconds remaining.
James had the final shot in regulation, but couldn't get it to drop.
Gilbert Arenas, who scored 44 points for the Wizards, had on two points in the fourth quarter, but scored six in the overtime, including two free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining to give the Wizards a 120-119 lead.
The Cavaliers inbounded the ball and got it to James on the baseline and he went right to the hoop to score the game winner.
"I can't say enough about my teammates tonight," James said. "When I went out with four fouls, they just did a tremendous job picking up the team and that's why we were still in it at the end."
Other scorers
Larry Hughes added 24 points, Eric Snow had 18 and Flip Murray added 12 to help the cause.
James started slowly, rarely touching the ball through the early minutes of the opening quarter, while Hughes and Snow carried the early scoring.
Hughes had eight points in the first eight minutes, but the Penguins couldn't keep up with Arenas and Antawn Jamison who pulled the Wizards into an early 18-14 lead.
James, who was 2-for-4 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line in the quarter helped the Cavs tie up the contest 22-22 with a pair of free throws, but Arenas and Jamison added another bucket before the buzzer and the Wizards led 27-25.
James got into the swing of the game in the se & ccedil;ond quarter. He was 4-for-6 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line as he scored 23 points in the half with five assists and three rebounds.
He brought the crowd to its feet late in the quarter when he appeared trapped, but connected on a 17-foot fall away jumper that pulled the Cavs to within one 43-42.
He also made two free throws in the finals seconds of the half to give the Cavs a 52-51 edge.
Arenas and Jamison each hit for 20 points in the half to lead the Wizards.
mollica@vindy.com