LeBron James comes up big and silences critics

What a night it was last night for LeBron James. His (2) Miami Heat closed out the (3) Boston Celtics in the second round of the NBA Playoffs, 4 games to 1, winning Game 5, 97-87. James had 33 points, but more importantly than that, hit two huge three-pointers down the stretch to cement the win.

James has taken a lot of criticism this year, particularly for how he handled his decision to leave Cleveland last summer. He was also critiqued for not coming through in the clutch, although I don't think that was an entirely fair rap on him.

I think the doubters can be silenced for now, though, as James hit all the big shots down the stretch in a key playoff game for the Heat. He was the guy they needed him to be. I also thought it was classy that he apologized to Cleveland for how everything went down last summer. James really is a great player and we'll see if he is able to obtain that elusive first championship this year.

I was hoping the Celtics would take this series, but the Heat simply look like a better team right now, particularly looking more poised down the stretch of Games 4 and 5 of the series. The Heat now await the winner of the (1) Bulls and (5) Hawks series, which the Bulls lead 3 games to 2. Game 6 of that series is tonight in Atlanta at 6 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN.