Print

Mail

wiki links

James leads Cavs past Pistons

LeBron James decided to play more aggressively and the Detroit Pistons could only watch him speed past them to lift Cleveland back into their NBA playoff series.

James scored 32 points and the Cavaliers defeated Detroit 88-82 here on Sunday, trimming the Pistons' lead in the NBA best-of-seven semi-final to 2-1 with Game 4 in Cleveland today and Game 5 in Detroit on Thursday.

James made 12-of-21 shots from the field, grabbed nine rebounds and made nine assists after being criticized in the Eastern Conference final earlier for passing up drives to the basket in favor of passes to unguarded teammates.

James scored 19 points in the first half, with 12 points in both the second and fourth quarters, and sank a key driving jump shot to put Cleveland ahead 86-82 after Detroit went on a 6-0 run to trim an 84-76 deficit.

"I wanted to be aggressive. I kept the ball and made a big shot," James said. "I just wanted to be aggressive. They were keeping the offense off balance. In order for us to win I have to be aggressive like this."

In Game 1, James passed off to Donyell Marshall, who missed an open 3-pointer. In game two, James was tightly guarded and missed a key shot late.

Lithuanian center Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 16 points for Cleveland while Rasheed Wallace scored 16 points and Chris Webber added 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Detroit as Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton struggled.

"We have to continue to win, hold down home court and match their intensity," James said.

"If we do that we will continue to have a chance to win," he said.

The Cavaliers, 5-1 at home in the playoffs, trailed Detroit 2-0 in last year's playoffs but won all three home games and pushed the Pistons to the brink of elimination before falling in a seventh-game showdown.

Either Cleveland or Detroit will play in next month's NBA finals against the winner of the Western Conference. The San Antonio Spurs lead Utah 2-1 in that series.

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown praised James and his entire team for their ability to seize momentum from the Pistons, who typically set the pace in key moments in the first two games.

"We played aggressive. At the end of the game, we did a solid job attacking. LeBron picked us up on his shoulders and gave us a ride," Brown said.

"If they are going to pay that much attention to LeBron we will have someone else open and we can get them the ball," he said. "If we keep making plays and making shots we can continue to win."

Supporting players Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden and Sasha Pavlovic combined for 41 points on 17-of-33 shooting for the Cavaliers.

"When we are able to just play basketball when your first and second options are taken away, then you become a very good basketball team," Brown said.

The Pistons had only 13 points of 4-of-14 shooting from Billups while Hamilton had only seven points.

Detroit hit only 45 percent from the field, making just 30-of-67 from the field, including 5-of-15 from 3-point range.

"At home they run a lot more," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said.
This story has been viewed 1227 times.