Moments ago at the Quicken Loans Arena the Cleveland Cavaliers staved off elimination as they defeated the Orlando Magic 112-102 in yet another entertaining, back and forth playoff affair.
 
The season was on the line for the Cavaliers and they responded accordingly, jumping out to a 32-12 lead in the first quarter. The Magic, however, didn’t fold and continued to fight back. Three point shots by Orlando and costly turnovers by Cleveland saw the score tighten up as the 2nd quarter progressed and fans in Ohio began growing concerned.
 
The Orlando Magic have shown plenty of resiliency this postseason and have always had a way of bouncing back against the first seeded Cavs. By halftime the Magic were down just one and they started strong in the 3rd quarter, building a 64-56 lead based on key shots by Hedo Turkoglu and rookie Courtney Lee.
 
With their season on the line as they entered the fourth quarter, Lebron James again put his team on his back. From fade away jumpers to key defensive stops, James was everywhere and was either scoring or racking up assists in the quarter. The Magic’s shots began failing them and when the dust had settled Cleveland walked away with a 112-102 win.
 
James had yet another monster game, as he has had all series, with 37 points, 14 rebounds, and 12 assists on 11 of 24 shooting. Mo Williams also added 24 points and the Cavs’ center Zydrunas Ilgauskas contributed 16 points and 6 rebounds. Hedo Turkoglu led the Magic with 29 points while Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis added 20 and 15, respectively.

The series now shifts back to Orlando this coming Saturday night, where the Magic are undefeated in the series. Still up three games to two, the Magic have a very realistic chance of closing the series out, but it won’t come easy. This has been a hard fought series on both ends of the floor and when all is said and done both teams will leave knowing they have been in a fight.

Side Notes

-There were 3 ties and 8 lead changes in the fast paced game 5…

-The Cavaliers shot 50% from the field and were 9 of 18 from three point range…

-Cleveland finished the game with a 23-12 run…

-So Far James is averaging an amazing 41.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game on roughly 50% shooting…