Los Angeles - Rashard Lewis had the magic touch when it mattered most. Lewis drilled the go-ahead three-pointer with 14.7 seconds left, and the Orlando Magic rallied to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-106 Wednesday night in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals in Cleveland.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was proud of the way his club climbed out of a hole, which had them behind by as many as 16 in the first half.
"The one thing about our team, and it's been pretty consistent all year, this is a resilient basketball team," he said. "This team will keep playing."
Although Van Gundy drew up the game-winning play, he gave Lewis all the credit for knocking down the shot.
"There was no big genius thing there," he said. "Rashard just made a hell of a shot, and we came up with a stop on the last possession."
The come-from behind victory spoiled a playoff career-high 49 points by MVP LeBron James, and handed the previously untested Cavaliers their first loss in the playoffs after eight consecutive double-digit blowouts over Detroit and Atlanta.
"My individual performance means nothing because tonight we didn't win the game," said James, who added six rebounds and eight assists, but was visibly hampered by cramps after the game. "What I did was give my team an opportunity to win."
Dwight Howard had 30 points with 13 rebounds, Lewis added 22 while Turkish native Hedo Turkoglu chipped in with 15 and a playoff career- best 14 assists for Orlando, which outscored Cleveland 63-49 in the second half to steal the home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.
"We have a lot of guys who can hit big shots and Rashard did it tonight," Howard said. "We stepped up in the second half, playing tremendous defence. We didn't let them get easy points in the paint, and we tried to keep LeBron for scoring 50."
Three days after dismissing defending champion Boston in Game Seven on Sunday, Orlando came to Cleveland as the underdogs against the top-seeded Cavaliers, but that didn't matter to the Magic.
"Everybody is always counting us out as a team, but we believe if we play Magic basketball for 48 minutes we can beat anybody," Howard said.
Mo Williams finished with 17 points and Delonte West had 11 and six assists, but both missed game-winning shots in the final seconds.
The Cavaliers showed no effects of playing their first game in nine days, racing to a 33-19 advantage after one, and 63-48 at halftime behind 26 points from James, while Mo Williams beat the buzzer with a 70-foot heave.
The Magic received a pep talk from Van Gundy that seemed to work.
"It really motivated us when he sai
