Eastern Conference:

Cleveland 114 - Orlando 116 OT

Dwight Howard powered the Magic to a 3-1 series lead over the Cavaliers. (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

Orlando leads series 3-1

• Who’s afraid of the big, bad Cavaliers? No, not Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. Howard led Orlando with 27 points, including 10 in overtime, and added 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks, in a key victory over Cleveland. Howard once again showed improvement at the free throw line, making 7 of 9 free throws. Rafer Alston provided the spark in the third quarter for the Magic, scoring 7 straight points to cut the Cleveland lead, and force them to call time-out. Alston finished with 26 points, shooting 6-12 from long range, and also provided a key steal late in overtime. They survived a last second fling by LeBron James from just across the midcourt line, and now take a 3-1 series lead. Rashard Lewis scored 17 points and added 5 rebounds, and Hedo Turkoglu had 15 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists.
• LeBron James scored 44 points and added 12 rebounds and 7 assists, but had 8 of Cleveland’s 12 turnovers, including a bad pass intercepted by Alston late in overtime. James once again settled for ton of long jumpers, including attempting 10 treys and making 4. Mo Williams, who guaranteed a Game 4 and a series win, didn’t shoot well from the field, but made 8-9 from the line to provide some additional scoring punch for the Cavs. However, he didn’t score a point after the third quarter, and finished with 18 points. Williams’ backcourt mate Delonte West finished with 17 points and 7 assists.
• It was raining threes all night long in Orlando, and those treys certainly kept the Magic in the game even when they trailed by 8 at halftime. Orlando ended up with a team record 17 three pointers made, finishing 17-38 (.447). However, even though the Magic seemed to gain the upper hand in overtime after a couple of scores from Howard, James made a trey to keep the Cavs in it. When Rashard Lewis only made 1 of 2 from the line with 3 seconds left and the Magic only up to, there was a fear that James might have a repeat of his miracle Game 2 shot. But his heave didn’t fall, and Orlando is now one win from making their first Finals appearance since 1995. James has scored 40+ in three games in this series, with the Cavs losing each one.
• Bench production was once again a key factor for the Magic. Mickael Pietrus has truly been the X-factor for Orlando; he scored 17 points (adding 5 treys) and taking on the main responsibility in guarding James. He alone outscored the entire Cavs’ bench, who combined for only 14 points. Anthony Johnson added 7 points for the Magic. On the Cleveland side, only Daniel “Boobie” Gibson had decent production, scoring 8 points (his first points of this series). Ben Wallace had a productive 16 minute run on the court, but those weren’t enough to stop the Magic.
• Cleveland now hopes to be only the 9th team to come back from being down 3-1 in a series. Teams with a 3-1 lead are 182-8 in series dating back to 1947. The next game is at Cleveland, where the Cavaliers are 43-3 this season.