The King reigns

With a little bit more than four minutes left in last night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Cleveland Cavaliers were losing by 11, 81-70. It wasn't looking good for the defending Eastern Conference champions.

But then a heckler in the crowd on the Cavs' offensive end pissed off LeBron James.

LeBron hit a three-pointer with 4:03 to go, cutting the Portland lead to eight. After a defensive stop, Drew Gooden hit a nine-footer to cut it to six. After another defensive stop, LeBron hit another trey, and suddenly, it's 81-78. Zydrunas Ilgauskas came up big on the other end, blocking Steve Blake's five-footer, and Blake fouled Gooden going after the rebound. Playing off a pick set by Drew and Z, LeBron hit another three. And with 2:26 left, the game was tied.

Travis Outlaw responded with a long jumper to make it 83-81, and then Gooden got fouled on the other end, hitting one of two free throws with 1:39 left. Then the teams traded scoreless possessions until the Cavs finally got the ball back with 4.9 seconds left, down 83-82.

LeBron took the ball at the top of the arc, with Blazers star Brandon Roy trying to guard him.

Poor Brandon Roy. He never had a chance.

LeBron went to his right, and blew past Roy like he was standing still. The King made a couple of moves on Portland's big men, then hit a layup from the left side of the bucket. Score: 84-83, Cleveland. Time remaining: three-tenths of a second.

Fittingly, King James himself stole the Blazers' desperation inbounds pass, and the Cavs had won yet another game they had no business winning, simply because they've got the best fourth-quarter player in the NBA. LeBron scored 37 for the night, 17 of which came in the last 12 minutes.

My goodness, am I glad he plays for Cleveland.