LeBron James (top) of the Cleveland Cavaliers goes up for two points as Antawn Jamison of the Washington Wizards attempts to the block shot in the fourth quarter of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff game on Wednesday night. - REUTERS
NEW YORK, (Reuters):
LEBRON JAMES dropped in a layup with 0.9 seconds left to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a thrilling 121-120 overtime win over the Washington Wizards in National Basketball Association play on Wednesday night in Cleveland.
Cleveland trailed by one point with James taking an inbound pass with three seconds left in the overtime. He then worked his way to the basket and dropped in the game-winning shot for the dramatic win.
The Cavaliers now lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, with Game Six in Washington tonight.
Gilbert Arenas had one final chance to tie the game for the Wizards, but his desperation fling shot at the basket fell short.
AMAZING FIGURES
James wound up with 45 points on 14-for-23 shooting, adding seven rebounds and six assists, while making 17 of his 18 free throws.
Larry Hughes scored 24 points for the Cavaliers, who also got 18 points from Eric Snow.
Arenas led Washington with 44 points on 14-for-24 shooting, and he made all 10 of his free-throw attempts.
In Auburn Hills, Richard Hamilton scored a career playoff-high 40 points as the Detroit Pistons cruised into the second round of the playoffs with a 122-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Detroit scored a franchise record 39 points in the first quarter and never looked back as the Pistons shot 54 per cent from the field to close out the series.
The Pistons won the best-of-seven opening-round series 4-1 and will host a second-round match-up against the winner of the Cleveland-Washington series starting next week.
