CHICAGO – 48 hours after seeing Derrick Rose bank a buzzer-beater to shock the Cleveland Cavaliers, 99-96, LeBron James responded with one of his own.
With 1.5 seconds remaining and no timeouts, James grabbed the inbound pass from Matthew Dellavedova to sink a game-winning corner jumper over Jimmy Butler to tie their best-of-seven East semis at 2-2.
For the game, James finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, while shooting 10-of-30 and 1-of-7 from three-point range.
Center Timofey Mozgov took advantage of the absence of Bulls forward/center Pau Gasol in scoring 15 points and nine rebounds, Tristan Thompson added 12 points and seven rebounds and J.R. Smith caught fire down the stretch in going 3-of-6 from three-point range in adding 13 points.
For the Bulls, Rose led Chicago with 31 points and Butler added 19 points to lead the Bulls.
In a tightly contested game that would see both teams experience shooting droughts, with no team able to gain a lead greater than 11. For the game, Cleveland was 23-of-24 from the free throw line, while Chicago was 8-of-9.
In what led to the game-winner, James attempted to drive to the hoop, only to be denied with .05 seconds remaining. After some review by the refs, Cleveland would be given a full second to execute a play—which was James’ eventual game winning shot.
Game 5 is in Cleveland Tuesday.