LEBRON SPARKS CAVS COMEBACK WIN OVER MAGIC

The Cleveland Cavaliers managed to defeat the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night thanks to a furious fourth quarter comeback led by LeBron James and aided by a couple of questionable calls from the officials.  LeBron scored five points in the final minute to ice the victory as the Cavs prevailed 97-93 and pulled ahead of the Boston Celtics by 4 ½ games atop the NBA’s Eastern Conference as they improved their NBA best home mark to 30-1.

LeBron led all scorers with 43 points, adding 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals and a blocked shot to complete an impressive all around effort.  Mo Williams added 21 and Anderson Varejao 12 for the Cavs who struggle to find their shooting range throughout until LeBron took over the game in the second half. By contrast five Magic players scored in double figures, led by Rafer Alston with 21 points and Courtney Lee with 19.  Hedo Turkoglu had a nice all around game with 16 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds while Dwight Howard posted yet another ‘double/double’ with 13 points and 15 boards.  It was Howard’s 53^rd ‘double/double’ in 65 games so far this season.

According to Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, however, the MVP of the game could have very well been wearing black and white stripes.  Van Gundy was seething after the game at several questionable—and ‘pro Cavs’ calls down the stretch and didn’t mince words:

"You won't see that call again. That, I guarantee you. You will not see, with the game on the line, a 3-second call in the last 10 seconds. That's part of the reason they're 30-1 at home. They're a very good team, and when you get calls like that [expletive], you're in pretty good shape."

Dwight Howard was more diplomatic but no less surprised at a 3 second call that took the ball out of the Magic’s hands with just ten seconds remaining in the contest:

"I was very surprised. I was in the lane and I got out. It seemed like their bench or their coaching staff got into the ref's ear about me being in the lane. Instead of letting the refs make the call, I guess the bench made the call."

The loss was the Magic’s first in four trips to Cleveland.  They’ll travel to Milwaukee for a game against the Bucks on Wednesday before returning to Orlando for the first part of a ‘home and home’ series against the New York Knicks on Saturday.  They’ll play the return engagement at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.  Cleveland will host the Portland Trailblazers on Thursday and the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday before traveling to the Meadowlands for a game against the New Jersey Nets on Sunday.