All of you who decided not to watch any more playoffs after the Phoenix suspensions, you officially missed out tonight.

Cleveland won Game 5 in style, and now has to be the favorite to make it to the NBA Finals.

Way too many highlights to remember here. Two LeBron James dunks in half-court, must-score situations to cap a nice late-game comeback. Chauncey Billups with a clutch three off the dribble. Two overtimes. A Jordanesque performance by James in overtime, who scored 29 of Cleveland's last 30 points.

Thoughts:

• Antonio McDyess was tossed from most of the game. He basically clotheslined Anderson Varejao who was headed for a dunk. It seems to me this exact play has happened a thousand times before in the playoffs. This might be the first time it has resulted in an ejection.
• Early in the game it was clear that Chauncey Billups had his timing back.
• I know what Jason Maxiell will lie awake thinking about tonight. In a game that ended as a tie, he missed a wide open putback dunk in the second quarter. If he had made it the Pistons would have been up 48-42 with an insane crowd on their side. Instead LeBron James went the other way and made a three-point play, and suddenly it was a one point game and the crowd was quiet.
• At halftime, Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley seemed pretty animated that black candidates like Mark Jackson, Michael Cooper, and Terry Porter have not gotten any of the jobs that have gone to Billy Donovan, Jim O'Brien, or Marc Iavaroni. (Of course, Sam Vincent just got a job, in Charlotte.) Are they speaking for many?
• A couple of times LeBron James dribbled out the entire possession before shooting. Not a big fan of that.
• Another shot Detroit might be thinking about: Rip Hamilton drained a half court shot at the end of the third quarter, but he let it go a millisecond late.
• Nice thing Damon Jones did: when Daniel Gibson went down, Jones RAN over to pick him up. Wish we saw more of that in the NBA.
• Earlier today I wrote about supporting players and stars. It occurs to me that one of the key things you need is players who can help the team without dribbling much or at all. When you see Lindsey Hunter driving into traffic you can't help but think that you'd rather have him shoot the jumper or pass, right? Creating off the dribble is the work of stars. Helping the team without needing the dribble is the very important work of role players.
• As the game wears on, I get more and more scared of what Sasha Pavlovic will do with the ball.
• Consecutive clutch LeBron James dunks!
• Chauncey Billups nailed a three-pointer early in the shot clock, off the dribble. If you're going to call him on the shot selection in the last game, you have to call him on this too. Shot selection can not be judged after you see whether or not the shot goes in.
• Billups then shot a leaning three-pointer at the buzzer in a tie game. A high school coach somewhere is irate.
• Jason Maxiell hesitated closing on LeBron James when he drove the lane and made the game-winning layup with 2.2 seconds left in the second overtime.
• LeBron James misses some bad shots. But he makes a lot of them too.
• People have known what LeBron James is like on a regular night. Now, however, he has been facing extraordinary pressure. All the criticism after Games 1 and 2. The Conference Finals. Down 0-2. Is he the kind of guy who gets better or worse under that kind of pressure. This has been our first real chance to find out. I bet most of us thought he would wilt a little. But that would be wrong.
• If I were the Pistons, I wouldn't obsess about stopping LeBron James next time. I'd be worried about how hard it has been for the Pistons to get buckets when they need them. Cleveland's defense is looking very good.