LeBron James scored 25 points, including 13 in the decisive fourth quarter, to lift Cleveland to a 91-87 win over Detroit on Tuesday in Game Four of their semi-final playoff series.
Cleveland rookie Daniel Gibson scored a career-high 21 points and Drew Gooden added 19 in the win, which knotted the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. The series shifts back to Detroit for game five tomorrow.
"My team looks to me to go up there and make those plays," James said. "I was happy to get that monkey off my back. This series is a lot better being 2-2 than being down 3-1 going back to Detroit."
James was four-for-six shooting in the fourth, provided a key jumpshot to give Cleveland a 87-79 lead with 3:21 to play and sank a pair of free throws to ice the win with four seconds to play.
"We been in worse situations in the past," Gooden said. "We know it's not over until that horn goes. We are going to fight to the end."
Gooden also had a big fourth with seven points and a steal with just over a minute to play that helped preserve the lead.
Trailing, 77-74, in the fourth, the Cavaliers went on 9-0 which was capped on Sasha Pavlovic's layup to make it 83-77 with 5:23 to play.
Chauncey Billups lead the Pistons with 22 points but missed some key shots down the stretch.
The fourth quarter went far better for Cleveland than the third.
"Cleveland made the right plays and LeBron made those free throws down the stretch," Detroit's Tayshaun Prince said. "We have got to go home and regroup and take care of business."
Cleveland's third quarter woes in the series continued as the Pistons opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take a 51-50 lead.
The Cavaliers, who had been outscored 63-43 in the third over the first three games of the series, were held scoreless in the quarter until Zydrunas Ilgauskas hit a free throw at the seven-minute mark to tie the game at 51-51.
After Gibson scored six consecutive points to give Cleveland the lead, the Pistons went on their second 8-0 run of the quarter to regain the advantage.
Led by Richard Hamilton's nine points, Detroit outscored Cleveland 24-15 in the third and carried a 67-65 advantage into the fourth.
James was zero-for-six shooting in the session and has just five third-quarter points total during the first four games of the series.
Gibson and Donyell Marshall combined for 14 of the teams 15 points in the third.
While James was the star, Gibson wasn't far behind.
With James taking a breather on the bench in the second quarter, the 21-year-old turned in an impressive individual run, scoring nine consecutive points to lead the Cavaliers to their biggest lead of the game.
Detroit trailed 50-38 with just over a minute to play in the half, but trimmed the lead to seven going into halftime on a bucket by Rasheed Wallace and three-pointer from Lindsey Hunter.
As is often the case, four of James' points came via highlight-reel dunks. The 22-year-old superstar came through the paint untouched for a one-handed jam in the first quarter and followed that up in the second quarter with a high-flying dunk off an alley-oop pass.
RSS