It actually worked so well, you almost wonder why we haven't heard it again.

You know, from Cavaliers coach Mike Brown.

Orlando beat James - and a bunch of other guys from Cleveland - 99-89 Sunday night in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead and move two victories away from its first NBA Finals since 1995.

There is a Nike ad that suggests we are all witnesses in the era of King James, and no one seems to have embraced this role more than the court jesters in Cleveland. It isn't just that James is always Cleveland's leading scorer. That's pretty much a given. But does he have to lead the team in postseason rebounds, too? And assists? And steals?

Is there no one to play Robin? Has Tonto left town? Um, Lois Lane?

"If I could clone myself," James said in a moment of levity before the game, "I'd be all right."

Think he is wrong? Here is the difference between the franchises:

Hedo Turkoglu could go the entire first half without a field goal and the Magic could still have a lead. Dwight Howard could sit on the bench for 14 of the game's first 24 minutes and the Magic could still have a lead.

But if James has an off-night, the Cavaliers are in trouble.

And now, so is their season.

I suppose in a way we should be grateful. Because this series was supposed to be a dress rehearsal, a quick run-through for LeBron on his way to a showdown with Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals.

That is, until the Magic showed what a little teamwork and a lot of spunk can accomplish. James scored 49 points in Game 1. And it didn't matter. He scored 35 in Game 2. And the Cavs needed every single one of those points. He scored 41 with nine assists in Game 3, and it still wasn't enough.

"At this level of competition, what you really hope is you don't go through long stretches at any point in the game where you don't play well," Van Gundy said. "You need four quarters of pretty good Basketball to win at this level."

Orlando began the night on a roll. The Magic had a plan, it had momentum, it had the game won.

Unfortunately, the plan began to unravel after, oh, about three minutes.

From the opening tip, the Magic was intent on pounding the ball inside to Howard. This seemed like a smart idea because the team's centerpiece player had barely been a part of the offense in Game 2.

So, on five of the first six offensive possessions, Howard was either taking shots or kicking the ball back out for a perimeter shot. Barely three minutes into the game, the Magic led 9-2 and Howard had six points, two rebounds and one assist. Simple, right?

Except over the next 20 minutes, Howard had zero points, one rebound and one assist.

That is what foul trouble will do to a game plan. Howard picked up his second foul about five minutes into the game and spent the rest of the first quarter on the bench. Seems like it would have been a good lesson, except it was apparently lost on Howard. He picked up foul No. 3 early in the second quarter and returned to the bench.

Which explains why Marcin Gortat had nearly twice as many minutes as Howard by intermission. It might also explain why the Magic was clinging to a 42-41 lead at that point.

What it does not explain is the discrepancy in fouls between the game's two best players. Through the first 10 quarters of the series, Howard had accumulated 13 fouls. James had five. Granted, they are different types of players. It probably makes sense that Howard's inside game would lead to more fouls.

But it is certainly curious that James had a grand total of 15 fouls through Cleveland's first 10 postseason games. Oh, I'm not saying the rules are different for James. Just the way they're interpreted.

"I don't have an explanation as to why a guy who is as active and as aggressive as LeBron picks up so few fouls," Van Gundy said. "I don't have an answer to that."

On Sunday night, the Magic did not need an answer.

Heck, the Magic didn't even need a witness.