Written by Andrew Clayman

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If an “Oscar Clip” showcases a riveting performance condensed into a matter of seconds, then Daniel-Day Lewis had nothin’ on C.J. Miles last night. Sure, C.J.’s Cavaliers fell once again to the hated Heat in South Beach, just as “Lincoln” took it on the chin against “Argo.”  But for 60 remarkable seconds of the third quarter, Cleveland’s back-up two-guard transformed himself convincingly into Reggie Miller at the Garden in ’95—erasing a Miami lead in a tidal wave of triples and silencing the King’s Court, if only for a moment. Final count: 109-105.

Up until Mr. Miles (19 points) put his method training to work, the script had been all too familiar—the young, overmatched Cavaliers (18-38) rendered helpless at the hands of their former leader, embarrassed and mocked before the imbecilic masses of Miami: Sportstown USA. Cleveland came in just 1-7 against the Heat since “The Decision,” and despite losing by just 2 points on their last visit to the American Airlines Arena back in November, the absence of Anderson Varejao in this rematch looked obvious early. LeBron greeted his old (and presumably future) team with a dunk to start the game, and a string of three-pointers from Mario Chalmers (16 pts), Ray Allen (11 pts), and effing Chris Bosh (7 pts) sent Miami off on a 14-2 run to close the first frame. It was 33-20. Fun.

The second quarter concluded in similar fashion, with three inside bunnies by James (game-high 28 pts and 8 assists) and three-pointers from Allen and Chalmers leading to a 12-1 Heat run in the final 3 minutes. It was 64-46. Might as well watch ‘dem purdy dresses on the red carpet now.

But supposing you found Jennifer Lawrence (0 pts, 0 assts) and her perpetual half-smirk surprisingly unappealing, a return to your illegal online stream of this boring basketball game would soon prove shockingly rewarding.

After the Heat (40-14) extended their lead to 22 on an LBJ jumper early in the third quarter, the young Cavs started their march back up the mountain. Kyrie Irving (17 pts, 5 assts) fired the first shot, splashing a three. Moments later, he would find Tristan Thompson (11 pts, 12 rbs) for a throwdown, and then Tyler Zeller (7 pts) for a lay-up and an And-1. All of the sudden it was 68-56. Timeout Heat.

Out of the timeout, Miami turned to the longball again to tighten their grip. Freakin’ Chalmers hit another one and Shane Battier (14 pts) plopped one in, too. Irving and Dion Waiters (team-high 26 pts) kept up the effort, but after a Kyrie drive and layup cut the lead to 8, LeBron immediately answered with a short jumper that extended the lead to 81-71 with 1:58 left in the quarter.

That’s when the great thespian—former star of the stages of Utah—C.J. Miles entered the game. His masterful performance went as such, and won him a nomination for Best Shooting Guard in a Supporting Role:

1:35: 24-foot three pointer, 81-74

1:05: Rebounds a James miss, outlets to Kyrie, gets it back, hits a 25-foot three. 81-77

0:37: After another James miss, Kyrie finds C.J. again, who drains another 25-foot 3-pointer AND gets fouled in the act by Mario Chalmers! 81-80

0:31: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is given a technical for arguing the Chalmers call. Miles hits the T and regular foul shot. 82-81 Cavs lead!

11 points in one minute! Third quarter concludes! End Scene.

Now everyone knows any good theatrical production only has three acts, so the fact they all came out for a fourth is more than a little unfortunate. At first, it looked like the final celebration scene of Return of the Jedi, with dancing Ewoks and shit, as Cleveland extended their lead to as much as 8 points—97-89—on yet another three-pointer from the Magnificent Miles with 5:16 to go. Then it started looking more like the end of the Return of the King, with unwanted additional sequences and depressing epilogues. Basically, that over-actor Dwyane Wade kind of took over (11 of his 24 points came in the last 5 minutes), with the killer score coming after LBJ missed a layup with a minute left, and it bounced back to Bosh, who set up Wade for a put-away two-hand slam.

Irving missed a few big shots down the stretch, and the transcendence of C.J. Miles and a superb game from Dion Waiters still weren’t enough to slay the dragon.

Other stuff: Marreese Speights had another nice game. 11 points on 5-of-7 and a few boards. Good job, Mo. Also, Miami has won 11 straight. That’s pretty exciting to no one anywhere.