Not even 48 hours after Derrick Rose nailed a game-winning buzzer beater, LeBron James returned the favor with a dagger of his own.
The King drilled a deep corner two off the baseline at the buzzer Sunday night in Chicago against the Bulls to even the Eastern Conference semis 2-2.
The shot came with just 1.5 seconds remaining after James had a layup blocked out of bounds and Rose sank a tough layup to tie the game at 84-84.
Now that the series heads back to Cleveland for two of the last three games (if a game seven is needed) many analysts are saying the series is over.
Here’s the shot that left Chicago hearing crickets.
Cavs 86. Bulls 84.
To make things more interesting, James told media after the game that he was supposed to take the ball out of bounds but scratched the play, overruling head coach David Blatt.
“To be honest, the play the way drawn up, I scratched. I just told coach, ‘Give me the ball.’ We’re either going to overtime or I’m winning it for us. It was that simple.
“I was supposed to take the ball out. I told coach, ‘There’s no way I’m taking the ball out, unless I can shoot it over the backboard and it goes in. I told him, ‘Have somebody else take the ball out, give me the ball, and everybody get out of the way.'”
So is this series really over?
Not only do the Bulls have a coaching edge, but they have health on their side.
Even though the Bulls have a fragile Rose, the Cavs’ Kyrie Irving is suffering from a tender ankle and they are without Kevin Love for the rest of the season.
This series will go seven games and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a last second shot to finally eliminate one of these teams, which makes this series far from over.
And in case you missed it, here were all the buzzer beaters over the weekend. All three were epic, including Rose’s which lifted up the Bulls over LeBron and the Cavs for a Game 3 win.
Josh Helmuth is the editor of CraveOnline Sports.
Photo Credit: Getty
