LeBron James wouldn't let it end.
James, showing off every dimension of his unstoppable game, had 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists, and Mo Williams, who boldly predicted the Cavs would come back and win this tight-as-can-be series, added 24 points in a 112-102 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 5 on Thursday night.
"It was win or go home," James said.
Instead, it's back to amped-up Amway Arena for Game 6 on Saturday night.
You expected anything else?
The Magic overcame a 22-point deficit but missed their first opportunity to close out the Cavaliers, who are trying to become just the ninth team since 1947 to rally and win a series after being down 3-1. Orlando will have two more tries to reach the NBA finals for the first time since 1995.
"They deserved to get this one," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said of the Cavs. "As poorly as I thought we played, we still were there with chances to win and didn't get it done. We have to get ready to go on Saturday."
For Cleveland, a city banking on James to deliver a championship after a 45-year drought, the MVP was again in a league of his own.
"His intensity and his passion are out of this world," Cavs guard Daniel Gibson said. "We will follow him. When he gets it going, there is nothing you can do."
James scored 21 points in the second half — 17 in the fourth quarter — and had a hand in Cleveland's first 29 points in the final 12 minutes. The last player to post at least 37-14-12 in a playoff game was Oscar Robertson in 1963.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 29 for Orlando, and Dwight Howard had 24 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 2:22 remaining while trying to stop James on a drive.
Not even Superman was denying James.
"I was attacking anyone in the way, no matter who it was," James said. "There's always a sense of urgency when you are on the brink of elimination."
"He got his teammates involved and then took over," Orlando's Mickael Pietrus said of James. "That's what great players do."
"The game is basically all LeBron, all the time," Van Gundy said. "If he gets in the paint, it's automatically a foul. One of the things we have to do, we can't keep putting him on the line 20 times a game. We have to find a way to stop that."
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