CLEVELAND — LeBron James now has his signature shot. Until further notice, "The Layup" defines his growing greatness.
James tiptoed along the baseline and muscled through traffic for the layup with 0.9 seconds left in overtime, giving the Cleveland Cavaliers a 121-120 victory over the Washington Wizards and a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series on Wednesday night.
With the Cavs down by one, James, who finished with 45 points, grabbed an inbounds pass from Larry Hughes with 3 seconds to go. Nearly trapped in the corner, he delicately slid past Antawn Jamison and knifed inside.
As Michael Ruffin, Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood collapsed around him, James rose in the lane and softly dropped in his game-winning layup, sending a sellout crowd of 20,562 into a frenzy.
"I had enough room on the baseline," said James, who added seven rebounds and six assists. "If I wore an 18 or 19 size shoe, I wouldn't have made it. But I wear a 16 and was able to tightrope that baseline to get a layup."
Arenas, who matched James bucket for bucket and had 44 points, was way off with a desperation heave at the buzzer. The Wizards still had two timeouts left, but failed to call one after James' basket.
The best-of-seven series, which has been bogged down by whining from both teams and some questionable officiating, returns to Washington for Game 6 on Friday night.
"If we can go to Washington and close it out, it will be one of my biggest basketball thrills," James said.
Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said the plan was not to put James on the line. If he was going to win it, he would have to earn it.
"He made something out of nothing which is what great players do," Jordan said. "A lot of normal guys miss that."
Larry Hughes scored 24 points, Eric Snow had 18, including six in overtime, and Flip Murray added 12 for the Cavaliers, who blew a seven-point lead late in regulation and nearly gave up their home-court advantage for the second time in the series.
Jamison had 32 points, Caron Butler 20 and Antonio Daniels 13 for the Wizards, who stole a Game 5 at Chicago in the first round last year in the playoffs and nearly did it again.
James, who fouled out Jared Jeffries late in regulation, gave Butler his sixth personal foul with 25 seconds left. James made both free throws — he went 17-for-18 from the line — to give the Cavaliers a 119-118 lead.
Cleveland's star, who won Game 3 with a last-second drive, had missed a jumper at the end of regulation that would have won it, but he made sure he was closer to the basket for this attempt, a layup that moves to the top of his already superlative-laden resume.
"We thought we did a great job cutting off that baseline," Arenas said. "He made an athletic move. He hit his first game-winner in the playoffs."
Arenas paused, then corrected himself.
"Second," he said.