CLEVELAND (AP) -Before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday night, LeBron James told Sasha Pavlovic to be ready.
The hunch of the league’s Most Valuable Player about the reserve guard was right.
Although James’ 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Cavaliers a 96-95 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 2 to even the series, Cleveland would not have been in that situation without Pavlovic’s contribution.
Pavlovic, who didn’t play in Game 1 and was at the end of the bench for the latter part of the regular season, scored nine points in 21 minutes.
With the Cavaliers sweeping Detroit and Atlanta in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Pavlovic saw few meaningful minutes. That changed Friday night.
The 6-foot-7 Pavlovic, taking Wally Szczerbiak’s spot as the first guard off the bench, entered the game in first quarter and helped the Cavaliers build a 43-20 lead.
Cleveland got only five points off the bench in a 107-106 loss in Game 1, all coming from forward Joe Smith.
Pavlovic was 4-of-7 from the field, including one 3-pointer.
t reached the NBA finals two years ago, was on the floor at the end of the game. He fouled Hedo Turkoglu with 13.8 seconds left to set up the Magic’s last shot. Turkoglu hit a shot in the lane over Pavlovic with one second left to put Orlando ahead 95-93.
But the first player James met for the celebration after the game-winner was Pavlovic.
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