Until last night, this was a city riddled with daggers to the heart.

Until last night, Cleveland never had the knife in its hand.

Until last night, it thought it never would.

That was the case for nearly the entire second half of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals in Quicken Loans Arena.

This is Cleveland, home of the Indians, Browns and misery. John Elway lurks in every dark alley. Although the Clinic is now famous for facial transplants, the doctors make their money treating crushed hearts.

The Cavaliers went 66-16 during the regular season, 39-2 at home. They won eight playoff games in a row. Yet, last night, this city was gripped with fear.

The Cavs played a terrible second half in Game 1 Wednesday. After an eight-day layoff, they tired down the stretch and stood idle as a dehydrated LeBron James tried to carry them on cramping legs. For all of their curiously lax defense and stalled offense, the Cavs had two shots to win, and they lost by a point, 107-106.

This first setback of the playoffs induced a panic. The Cavs can't match up with the Magic, which took two of three in the regular-season series. The Cavs' defense could not catch up with the Magic's transition offense, which produced a steady stream of kick-out three-point baskets. Worst of these perceptions was classic Cleveland: The stalled, James-centric offense was a throwback to past failures.

Last night, the script was largely reproduced. The Cavs led by 23 points in the first half -- and they let it get away. They got picked apart by the pick-and-roll and the kick-out three. And it came down to this:

Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu dribbled left into the lane and drilled a 14-foot jumper in the face of Cavs reserve Sasha Pavlovic. When the shot fell, the Magic had a 95-93 lead with 1 second left.

The Cavs called a timeout and set up a lob pass -- Williams to James -- like the one they used in a game against Indiana earlier in the season. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy had watched the tape of that game. He set up to defend it, putting Turkoglu on James and telling Turkoglu, "Take away the back cut."

"(It's like) Stan was in the huddle," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "That's exactly right. We were going for the lob. Hedo took it away. And LeBron said, 'I'm going to win the game.' "

James put on the brakes, cut back to the top of the three-point arc, accepted a bullet inbounds, rose in a fadeaway ...

"He's an amazing person first and foremost," Brown said. "Obviously, he's an amazing player. Just to have that much confidence in yourself ... one second on the clock, and you're ending this right now ... to be able to take that on and take that shot, well, not that many people could do it. It was not the play we drew up."

Until James rose in a fadeaway, everyone in the building was gripped in fear. The Cavs were about to go down 2-0, with the series shifting back to Orlando. This dream season was about to be doomed to another disappointment. Here was another heartbreak.

And James rose above, fading away from Turkoglu, and launched the three-pointer just before the buzzer.

The ball nestled easily, then fell through the net. And the Cavs, and Cleveland, were winners on this night.

Michael Arace is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.

marace@dispatch.com