Cavs must win tonight to extend their season

By CHRIS BEAVEN

ORLANDO — None of the Cavs imagined this as possible a month ago when the playoffs began:

Four days before June and staring at a sudden end to their record-breaking season — seven wins shy of their ultimate goal.

Tonight the Cavs face elimination in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Orlando Magic at Quicken Loans Arena. After a dominant six-month run chasing an NBA title, the Cavs look to survive a do-or-die game down 3-1 in the series.

A 116-114 overtime loss Tuesday in Game 4 at Orlando that the Cavs had numerous chances to take charge of left them with a sobering return trip to Cleveland late that night.

“Well, you deal with it, move on to the next game,” Cavs forward LeBron James said. “We had our chances, and we didn’t execute. You move on to the next game. You try to get the game [tonight] back home and come back down here and try to get Game 6. We are looking forward to the challenge.”

The challenge before them is nearly impossible. Forty-seven previous teams have been down 3-1 in the conference finals. Three survived it, none since 1981.

“We’ve won a lot of games this year with the team we have, and we feel like we’re capable of doing it,” guard Daniel Gibson said.

“I’m up for the challenge, and I think my play, my leadership has spoke for that,” James said. “So I will be ready. And I think our guys will be ready also.”

Getting over Game 4 will not be easy.

“This game is a tough game to swallow,” Cavs point guard Mo Williams said.

The Cavs hit the Magic with scoring runs of 11-0 and 12-0 in the first half. They withstood a barrage of Magic 3s in the second half to force overtime.

They outscored Orlando 50-36 in the paint, 30-19 at the foul line and 22-11 in fast-break points. None of that mattered.

Led by Rafer Alston and Mickael Pietrus, the Magic buried Cleveland under an avalanche of 3s, a team playoff-record 17.

“Orlando shot the crap out of the ball,” Cavs head coach Mike Brown said. “They hit some tough ones, especially down the stretch.”

Combine that with Dwight Howard’s inside play, and the Cavs had no answers.

“We have to give up something. I mean, Dwight is playing well, and he’s a beast down the middle,” James said. “So you try to shrink the floor. We open it up to their shooters, and then Dwight continues to get dunks and layups.

“We need one stop. We haven’t got one stop to win a ball game yet.”

When Orlando’s needed a late bucket in Games 1, 2 and 4, the Magic got it each time. The only mistakes they made were leaving James enough time at the end of regulation in Games 2 and 4 to answer. He won Game 2 with a 3 at the buzzer. He sent Game 4 into overtime with two free throws with a five-tenths of a second left.

But it’s not just an inability to defend Orlando that’s hurting the Cavs.

Offensively, when crunch time arrives they go back to an old, bad habit — relying too much on James. Too many second-half possessions had to be dominated by James. While he made a number of big shots and key passes, he also had seven turnovers in the game’s final 17 minutes.

James is accounting for 41.7 percent of Cleveland’s scoring in the series, well above the 28 percent he supplied during the season.

Williams is shooting just 32.4 percent. Others have been mildly better but inconsistent. The Cavs are shooting 26.1 percent from 3-point range in the series. That makes it tough to keep up when Orlando’s 42.9 percent.

Those numbers are magnified when the fourth quarter arrives and the Cavs try to put away the Magic. Before this series, they were 63-4 when leading or tied after three quarters. This series, they are 1-2.