But then LeBron James entered the game following his second-period break, and scored on consecutive driving layups.

He then added a dunk on a breakaway as Miami's Dwayne Wade sent James sprawling while trying for the block. James' teammates jumped up and celebrated as if they'd won the lottery. Wade was as high as James on the play, and had his hands above the ball. James muscled his way to the rim and slammed it down with both hands.

That play set off one of the more incredible scoring flurries between two guys a fan can see.

Wade scored 17 of the Heat's final 19 points in the first half, James scored 20 of the Cavs final 22. One would make a shot, the other would match. The crowd seemed stunned by what it was watching, because what it was watching was ultra-special.

The Heat's Michael Beasley called it "the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life … I have never seen anything like that live. It was just amazing to watch."

But it was only prelude to an amazing finish — provided by James.

It all started when an eight-foot turnaround jumper he attempted with the Cavs down one was slightly blocked by Wade. The shot went up with  about 27 seconds left, and the Cavs chose not to foul when Wade grabbed the loose ball.

Instead, they defended, with James taking Wade for the first time in the game.

When Wade tried to go behind his back on a pass off a pick and roll, James shot his hand out and knocked down the pass. He then grabbed the loose ball with about 7 seconds left and headed to the basket.

There, Quentin Richardson sent him flying, and Wade leaped, grabbed the rim and accidentally kicked James in the head.

How's this for drama? Two of the league's superstars both prone during a timeout, with a game in the balance.

But when the timeout ended James calmly strode back on the court and drained both free throws.

And he wasn't finished.

James went to the huddle and said he would guard Wade, to forget about a double-team. He did. Miami got the ball to Wade, who got a good shot off. But it hit off the back of the rim.

The ending obscured so many other amazing plays in quite an amazing game.

There was the Wade-James second quarter, when the two matched shot after shot after shot, then strode off the court smiling at each other — almost in awe at what had happened.

There was the James dunk.

There was Shaquille O'Neal knocking the ball and Jermaine O'Neal to the ground on a key block as time wound down. The block followed a play when O'Neal missed a shot and was late getting back. When he arrived, he arrived with force.

This was quite a game, closed out by one of the NBA's premier closers.

It's a game to remember.

It started slow — the Cavs played the first quarter like they were on South Beach — but picked up in intensity in the second quarter and finished with playoff-level excitement.

And it finished with James doing what he seems to do so often: Making the plays that win games.

Two defensive plays, one driving effort to win that ended in a violent collision and then taking the time to calm himself to make the free throws.

Wonder where the MVP news conference will be held this spring.

–Anderson Varejao had a very strong game with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Daniel Gibson shot well, making four-of-six threes and scoring 15 points. And O'Neal was strong inside, scoring 19 points.

–Wade missed two free throws with the Heat up 91-90 and 41 seconds left. He then had the pass to Haslem stolen by James. "We had what we wanted," he said. "A one-point lead with the ball before I turned it over. … It's just unfortunate I got careless with the ball …"

–Mike Brown on the huddle prior to Wade's last shot: "We were in the huddle and (James) said: 'Don't send him the double-team. I got him.' I said, 'OK, go get him.'"

–Said James of guarding Wade on that last possession: "Anything else would be uncivilized."

–You expected him to be sipping tea as he spoke.

–"It's like my responsibility," James said of the defensive assignment.

Wrote Frank Hughes on SI.com: “Not going to happen, Wade said. Not because he doesn't think it couldn't. But because he's not willing to take a pay cut.”

That's the latest, but this might change again by the time the Cavs play in Miami on Monday.

But then you get to thinking, and you realize that James has done nothing but talk about his impending free agency for some time. He talks about it in New York, he has conversations with Dwayne Wade about it, he talks about it in Cleveland … and he has Cavs fans wondering what will happen.

It's a little disingenuous to think it's not worth asking about, no? This is going to be the greatest glut of free agent talent in NBA history. Players could almost collude to make one team into a title team, be it in Cleveland or Miami (I don't think James and Wade would join Chris Bosh in Toronto) or elsewhere. James was asked at the team's media day how he would not let this be a distraction, and he basically said, "I just won't." Wednesday night he grew weary of questions about Wade and him and said "No mas."

Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski really took James to task.

"This has been a game to James, an exercise in self-love that finally transformed into sheer loathe at Amway Arena," he wrote. "'He can’t feed the monster, and then get pissed when the monster wants more,' a Western Conference executive said Wednesday night."

There are some pretty good points in this column, including: "Around the league, rival executives, coaches and players have considered James’ willingness to enthusiastically play out his free-agency scenarios in public as disrespectful, if not a distraction, to his Cavaliers. Around the Cavs, they mostly considered it the price of doing business with the game’s greatest young star."

And: "James’ balancing act between his coy and downright overt suggestions on a future elsewhere has been both a public and private embarrassment to the organization. But the Cavs never dared to tell James to stop with the 2010 talk. They don’t tell him anything."

Three thoughts about James:

—If he says he won't talk about it anymore, he won't talk about it. He'll be asked, for sure, and how he reacts will be interesting.

—It is understandable he'd grow weary of the questions. They come often and everywhere. But perhaps the best time to make this stance was prior  to the season. Just my opinion.

—James is going to do what he wants to do. I've kind of learned that all the guessing and speculation with him is nothing more than guessing and speculation. He's going to analyze the situation, make the decision is best for him and that will be that. In the offseason, I wrote a lot about James giving up money if he didn’t re-up with the Cavs, and that the cap might get lower … now I imagine him hearing those things and laughing. It doesn't mean squadoosh to him. He's going to do what he wants to do.

Dwayne Wade told Dan Patrick's radio show that he and LeBron James have talked about playing on the same team, and it could happen if they both become free agents in 2010. But it won't be in Cleveland.

"I don't like the weather up there," Wade said. "I've been in Miami for six years and my blood is thin."

It would be interesting to see how fast his blood would thicken if the money were right.

That series has gotten pretty heated, and Dwayne Wade talked about it yesterday. This transcript and comments come from the Miami Herald:

(On Hawks radio broadcaster Steve Holman, who berated Wade throughout Wednesday's broadcast and referred to the Heat as a bunch of "street thugs") WADE: "Us? That's why he don't work in Miami. That's why he works in Atlanta – to make them feel good."

 (On how he's dealing with soreness in his head, back and shoulder) WADE: "I'm feeling better. I'm at the point where whatever is bothering me, it doesn't really matter at this point. I'm moving on from my injuries."

(On Hawks guard Mario West celebrating after he forced Wade to miss a shot at the halftime buzzer) WADE: "His celebration for his one stop? What is this game coming to? One thing I go back to is something my high school coach always told me. Act like you've done something before. He used to hate when I used to dunk and pound my chest all the time. Win lose or draw, you have to be classy. There are some unprofessional things that (the Hawks) have to take care of. On the court, you show emotion, and that's great. But celebrating after one stop? That's funny."

(More on Hawks guard Mario West, because Wade was on a roll) WADE: "I don't know what it was a sign of. I was laughing after the fact because I've never seen that before. Tony Allen did that the other night when he stopped Ben Gordon from hitting a shot to win the game. That's what you do. But we're not here to point out every little thing they do. Who cares?"

(On his flagrant foul on Mo Evans in Game 5 that was rescinded by the league Thursday) WADE: "If anybody knows basketball and looks at the play, they'll know I didn't even come close to trying to hurt him. I'm not that guy. I'll take a hard foul. But that one, I went straight for the ball. At that time in the game, in one instant, I'm not understanding why they called it. But looking back, I can see why they called it because they thought the game was getting out of hand. But (Atlanta) got two free throws and the ball for something that didn't happen. That hurt our momentum."

(On the officiating and series becoming a physical slugfest) WADE: "Each game has been different. Some games, they let you go, they let you fight. Some games, if you breathe on a guy, it's a foul. We have to go in and play and don't worry about what the call is going to be."

(On calling out rookies Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers – or not) WADE: "Tomorrow is going to   show a lot – to see if our guys really feel it. If it seems like I'm calling them out, I'm not calling them out. But I want to see our young guys play like it's Game 6 of the playoffs. If Rio (Chalmers) says he won a national championship (at Kansas), well, I want to see him play like it. I want to see Michael (No. 2 overall draft pick), play like it. It's not about making shots. It's about your intensity, your focus."

(On his approach to an elimination game. Should he come out swinging or defer early?) WADE: "It's a tough position to be in. I don't want to come out and shoot my team out of it or shoot us into it. I want it to be a total team effort. I'm not the kind of guy that feels like I have to do everything. Success comes from team success. Hopefully, we can go out and play our normal game."

(On things getting testy between the teams) WADE: "It was one of those games, one of those playoff series. It's just about, do we have the team to come back and fight as much as (Atlanta's) going to fight? Zaza Pachulia is knocking people out. It's as simple as that. I'm not telling my teammates to knock him out. But when he comes down the paint, just make sure he feels us. We're not a team that's playing dirty. We're the team that wants to play smarter and protect ourselves as well."

(And one more good dig at Mario West, just for good measure) WADE: "First off, I have nothing simmering with Mario. He's not been a factor in the series. (He's) irrelevant to me. I have nothing brewing with him at all."