LeBron James had 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Cleveland moved one victory from its first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 15 years by beating New Jersey 87-85 in Game 4 on Monday night
Larry Hughes added 19 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who can wrap up the best-of-seven series at home tonight.
Vince Carter had 25 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Nets, but was 6-for-23 from the field. Jason Kidd wasted his career playoff-high 17-rebound performance by shooting 2-for-13 and scoring five points, while Richard Jefferson had 15 points but was only 3-of-12 from the field.
New Jersey had only three field goals in the fourth quarter. Carter lost the ball out of bounds with 1.9 seconds left and the Nets trailing by two.
Mikki Moore had a career playoff-best 25 points for the Nets, who will try to become the ninth NBA team to erase a 3-1 deficit.
Suns 104, Spurs 98
At San Antonio, Texas, the Suns closed Game 4 with a 12-1 run to even the Western Conference semi-finals against San Antonio.
The Suns, who trailed by as many as 11 points, took the lead for the first time in the second half on consecutive behind-the-back feeds from Steve Nash to Amare Stoudemire that made it 100-97 with 32 seconds to play.
With 18 seconds left, San Antonio's Robert Horry hit Nash with a straight forearm that knocked him into the scorers' table. Phoenix's Raja Bell tried to get at Horry as did Nash after he got to his feet.
Horry was given a flagrant foul and was ejected. Bell was given a technical foul. A free throw by each team made it 101-98. The Suns kept possession and Nash added another free throw with 16 seconds to go.
Stoudemire led the Suns with 26 points, while Nash had 24 points and 15 assists.
Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 points and Tim Duncan had 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Game 5 is tonight in Phoenix.
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