Simply incredible

Just moments ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off the Milwaukee Bucks 111-103. It was one of the best games I have seen in a long time (possibly since the OT win at Detroit in the playoffs two seasons ago).

The stats speak for themselves, and they speak of a player about to get an MVP Trophy. LeBron James had 55 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds.

But there was a span of about 4 game minutes that was awe-inspiring.

With 37 seconds left in the first half, James slipped at the top of the key and watched as Milwaukee scooped up the ball and slammed it home for a 56-45 lead. LeBron was pissed off and from that moment he took charge.

With 22 seconds left, he launched a 28-footer that swished through the net.  As the buzzer sounded, he tried another deep three, this time from 33 feet away.  He banked it in to add to his hours-long highlight reel.

But halftime didn’t cool off LBJ.

Opening the second half, Mo Williams stole a pass and laid it in right away, and LeBron went back to work.  Here’s the play-by-play listing of the next few minutes;

• 11:26 – LeBron James makes 15-foot jumper
• 10:47 – LeBron James makes 27-foot three point jumper
• 10:22 – LeBron James makes 26-foot three point jumper
• 9:51 – LeBron James makes 26-foot three point jumper
• 9:29 – LeBron James makes 26-foot three point jumper
• 9:10 – LeBron James makes 15-foot jumper

James would add another 8 points in the quarter, giving him 24 for the entire 3rd period.

But for a span of 3 minutes and 12 seconds, he was literally unstoppable.  He scored 22 points in just over 3 minutes. In that time frame, Cleveland outscored Milwaukee 24-5, turning an 11-point deficit into an 8-point lead.

How the hell do you even compete with that kind of awesomeness?

Milwaukee just couldn’t slow him down.  The Bucks made a game of it, but they self-destructed down the stretch (it helped that Charlie Villanueva lost his mind, flinging Varejao to the floor by his face and then trying to strangle Ilgauskas, earning himself an ejection).

But I was witness to 3:12 of the greatest performance one could hope to see.

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One amazing stat that will likely go unnoticed is that LeBron did his damage in the third quarter, notoriously the worst quarter for this team.  Take a look at this;

LeBron James scored 24 points in the third quarter alone tonight….that is equal to or more than the ENTIRE Cavs team has scored in 28 other games this season.

Now that IS impressive.

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I’ll be attending my first Cavaliers game of the season Sunday night against the Detroit Pistons.  The Pistons have faltered heavily this season.  They are 15 games out of first place, have lost five games in a row, and if Cleveland beats them Sunday night, Detroit will be .500 on the year.  Also, they are only 3 games ahead of Chicago for the 8th and final playoff spot…and the Bulls actually worked to improve their lot, trading for C Brad Miller on Thursday.

How bad would the state of Michigan be if the Pistons miss the playoffs in 2009?

Story By The Buckeye Battle Cry