CHICAGO -- Every one of the NBA’s historical greats had assuredly pulled the pledge that LeBron James did. A game and season on the line, 1.5 seconds on the clock, and James watched David Blatt receive his clipboard in the huddle and simply told the head coach.

No play needed.

Just give me the ball.

This wasn’t a hard sell, nor the sequence to define Blatt as the head coach. Blatt had apparently designed another play set, but he listened to the league’s best player and agreed: Your ball, your shot. Your initiative, your execution.

James has ended nights in the NBA season and even All-Star games satisfied with himself as an inbounder, when his ability to rise and shoot, his physicality to separate, allow him to be the one shooting every last crucial shot. The perception’s always been that the Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryants would never pass on shots the way James has in his career, but LeBron is cerebral, smart and precise. This Game 4 on Sunday afternoon needed to be his last shot, and finally, James told a coach: I’m no inbounder. Give me the damn ball.

Matthew Dellavedova did, and James punctuated his 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists with a fadeaway jump shot from the corner and gave the Cleveland Cavaliers an 86-84 win over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. No dribble; simply a clean, fading jumper. From overtime with the possibility of down 3-1 in this Eastern Conference semifinal to a series tied at 2-2, James delivered. For him, this was a win-win proposition: Make and become a hero. Miss and play five more minutes.

And yet, before James received the ball in the backcourt and dribbled up, his coach almost cost the Cavaliers possession. Blatt took four steps onto the court, motioning a “T” for timeout. It was 84-all. Except Cleveland had no timeouts to use. None of the referees saw Blatt’s call, but his head assistant coach, Tyronn Lue, tugged him back to the bench and out of play.

Disaster averted on the court because the rest was history, but no one seemed to allow Blatt to live down his timeout attempt. Even before everyone tied it into Blatt’s coaching acumen and Cavaliers' players were misquoted on social media, Lue knew this was coming Sunday evening. Lue approached a small circle of people in a hallway of the United Center that included James’ representative and a Cavaliers' official’s family member, who joked to Lue about his arms being just long enough to reach Blatt and ensure a fifth step was never taken onto the court.

A former championship point guard could envision the future right here as the Cavaliers' guest inquired about Lue’s tug on Blatt.

“Nah, don’t even start that,” Lue said. “Next thing you know, people will be talking and turning this into …”

Lue did his job, launched his arms, and Blatt thanked his coaching staff afterward.

“That’s why we’re a unit,” James said. “Players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes and we have to be able to cover for one another. T. Lue did that by covering for Blatt. I tried to cover my guys on the floor.”

James is calculated this way. He’ll support Blatt and Lue working in unison, but his shot? That was a legacy move, the get-out-of-my-way instinct.

Around James, Kyrie Irving’s health has faded over the past two games, Kevin Love remains out for the season and both Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith had a limp to them at one point during Game 4. They’re a battered, rugged group, but so are the Bulls. Derrick Rose had another 30-plus point game -- 31 -- and Jimmy Butler (19 points) again scored in critical moments, but these Bulls once more this season couldn’t create a passage to victory. They lost leads, blew attempts at the basket and lost a win even as James has admittedly given up on his shooting efficiency in this matchup.

The Bulls understood this was the game they had, the series-changer they needed, and allowed it to slip away. It has been a brilliant series in clutch time, and Tom Thibodeau insisted no one is stealing games. Give LeBron James the last shot, a clean catch and shoot before the closeout, and he’ll propel these Cavaliers.

“We’re banged up, but who isn’t?” Shumpert said at his locker. “It’s a war out there. Kyrie’s a warrior for us, and J.R. is our 9-1-1 emergency.”

James wanted Smith and has molded him on the roster. For the most part, Smith has been on his best behavior. There was the elbow to Jae Crowder -- and on Sunday, three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Some of the Cavaliers are beat up, but James has been the freshest of them all. In those two weeks off during the season, he needed to “just breathe,” people close to him say. Whatever the case, James now has the fitness to carry the Cavaliers, carry those limping behind out of a full season of play.

“I rolled [my ankle] pretty good, but I can’t afford to come out,” James said.

His coach came to grips on Sunday that pointing toward his near timeout is fair game, but the sport’s best player should know that he indeed must take the responsibility of requesting the last pass for the final shot. The take down of David Blatt had already begun, the photos and videos and errant quotes.

James demanded the play call to Blatt, and the two embraced seconds later. He stepped off the podium and slid out of the United Center as someone presumed to be taking shots at the coach about changing the play to call his own number, when that move is likely a folk tale of every other NBA legend before him. This was LeBron James’ moment, his game and his team.