The kid came up big. LeBron James did, too.
And the Cleveland Cavaliers are as close as they've ever been to
an NBA title.
James scored 25 points -- 13 in the fourth quarter -- and rookie
Daniel Gibson added a season-high 21 as the Cavaliers evened the
Eastern Conference finals with a 91-87 victory over the Detroit
Pistons in Game 4 last night, according to The Associated
Press.
Cleveland Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao,
right, from Brazil, and LeBron James celebrate late in the
Cavaliers' 91-87 win over the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 of the NBA
Eastern Conference basketball finals yesterday in
Cleveland.
The 21-year-old Gibson made 12 of 12 free throws; Drew Gooden
added 19 points and Eric Snow hit a crucial free throw in the final
seconds as the Cavaliers moved within two victories of their first
trip to the finals.
They'll have to win at least once in Detroit to get there.
James, criticized for his fourth-quarter failures in Games 1 and
2 at Detroit, had a virtuoso-like performance in the final 12
minutes. He went 4-of-6 from the field, 5-of-5 from the line and
added four rebounds and three assists.
"I told my teammates, 'Get me to the fourth and it's close, and
I'll try my best to win,"' James said.
He made good on his word.
Game 5 is tomorrow night in Auburn Hills, Mich, with Game 6 back
at Quicken Loans on Saturday.
The Cavaliers, who lost a seven-game series to Detroit last
year, are making just their third visit to the conference finals
and each time they've been tied 2-2 before losing in six games.
When he was drafted, James promised to bring the
championship-starved city its first title since 1964, and he's
closing in on one quicker than anyone expected.
"The series is a lot better being 2-2 than 3-1 and going back to
Detroit," James said. "I had to be aggressive in the fourth quarter
and step up."
Chauncey Billups scored 23 points, Rip Hamilton 19 and Tayshaun
Prince 15 for the Pistons, who needed last-second wins to go up 2-0
in the best-of-seven series and are suddenly the team looking for
answers.
Their frustration boiled over in the fourth when Rasheed Wallace
was whistled for a technical during Cleveland's 9-0 run.
In the final minutes, it was the more-experienced Pistons who
couldn't come up with the big play. With Detroit down 88-85,
Wallace blocked a shot in the lane, but Billups rushed a 3-pointer
that missed. On Cleveland's next possession, Snow, who only played
1:05, got fouled following a scramble for a loose ball.
Snow's free throw put the Cavaliers ahead by four before Antonio
McDyess' tip-in got the Pistons within 89-87 with 4.7 seconds
left.
James was fouled, and Cleveland's superstar -- whose poor
free-throw shooting has been one of his only flaws -- calmly
knocked down both foul shots to make it 91-87 with four seconds
remaining.
As James was preparing to shoot, Hamilton walked up and tried to
rattle him with a few words -- just as James had done to
Washington's Gilbert Arenas in the playoffs last season.
"I invented that," James joked. "No, Scottie Pippen invented
that with Karl Malone. He (Hamilton) tried to mess with me and I
had to stay focused."
Wallace missed a 3-pointer, James hauled in his seventh rebound
to go with 11 assists and Cleveland had one of the biggest wins in
its 37-year history.
After a three-point play by James, Wallace's jumper put the
Pistons up 77-74 with 7:29 left, but the Cavs responded with six
straight points, capped by Sasha Pavlovic's run-out lay-up that
forced the Pistons to call time.
As he stormed off the floor, Wallace was called for a technical
foul -- his fifth of these playoffs -- by referee Joe Forte for
throwing his headband in frustration as Cleveland fans sensed a
change in momentum.
Pistons coach Flip Saunders didn't think Wallace deserved the
"T," saying the forward was mad at Hamilton.
"I thought it was a terrible call," Saunders said.
Gooden hit two jumpers and James knocked down a step-back
20-footer to make it 87-79 with 3:21 remaining. The Pistons,
though, drew on the experience up and down their vast playoff
resumes and nearly came back.
The Cavs got an emotional lift from Larry Hughes, who played 17
minutes despite a painful foot sprain. But it was Gibson who helped
them tie up the tighter-than-tight series.
Gibson, who was expected to start if Hughes couldn't, came off
the bench and scored 11 points as the Cavs built a 50-43 at the
break.
"We couldn't keep in front of him," Saunders said. "Gibson
played unbelievable."
Gibson spent hours in his Houston backyard practicing Billups'
trademark fade away jumper, and in the second quarter, he stuck one
just like one of his NBA heroes. Moments after feeding James for a
two-handed dunk, Gibson hit his Billupsesque shot in the lane.
"I just tried to step up and do some of those things he
(Billups) does," Gibson said.
On Monday, Hughes didn't seem confident about getting to play in
Game 4.
He partially tore the plantar fascia in his left foot while
making a lay-up in Game 3, an injury he described "as painful as
anything I've dealt with." But he wanted to play, and after being
cleared by Cavs doctors an hour before tip-off, he started and
played 10 minutes in the first quarter.
James admired Hughes for doing what he could.
"Him being on the court and saying, 'Who cares about the injury?
It's about this team,"' James said. "It don't get no bigger than
that."
(Shanghai Daily May 30, 2007)
