30 best shots in NBA Playoffs history
By John Buhler
24. LeBron James sinks Orlando Magic at the buzzer: 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, Game 2
LeBron James has been a star player in this league from almost the first jump in 2003 as an 18-year old. James had to leave Cleveland for four years to learn how to win championships. Now he’s back, winning championships.
Two years before James went to college in South Beach, he made his most important of his Cavaliers’ career. James did take his Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007, but his game-winner over the dangerous Orlando Magic in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals was his biggest make to date.
Before The Block, there was a series of painful moments in Cleveland sports. The Cavaliers had a middling existence before James’ arrival in 2003. Off a screen, James was able to get open and sink The Shot over Magic power forward Hedo Turkoglu to win the game at the buzzer.
James was more of a distributor, rim attacker and defender than a three-point shooter at that time. Frankly, he still is, but this was James’ big NBA Playoffs moment of his first stint in Cleveland.
His iconic moment would come a little over seven years later against the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 NBA Finals. Along with the Kyrie Irving game-winning three, those two events unseated James’ clutch three-pointer to thwart the Magic. For a while, that was the Cavaliers’ best moment on the hardwood in their history.