James carries Cavaliers to series victory

Cleveland defeated New Jersey, 88-72, to win the series 4 games to 2.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — LeBron James came back just in time to make sure the New Jersey Nets couldn’t.

James, who had a long stint on the bench with foul trouble, scored 23 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 15 years by beating the Nets 88-72 Friday night.

Cleveland won the series 4-2 and heads to Detroit Monday night for its third appearance in a conference finals and the first since 1992. James, who had eight rebounds and eight assists, needed only four years to get the Cavs into the NBA’s final four.

He got plenty of help in the clincher from reserves Donyell Marshall and Daniel Gibson, and the Cavs needed it because James spent most of the third quarter on the bench in foul trouble and Cleveland managed just eight points. New Jersey cut what had been a 22-point deficit to one, but with James back for the fourth quarter, the Nets never could take the lead.

James was asked what he was thinking as the Nets got within one point.

“Would the third quarter please end so I could get back in the game?” he said.

Help off the bench

Marshall scored 18 points and Gibson had eight. They had combined for 26 points total in the first five games of the series.

Jason Kidd had 19 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for the Nets, who stayed alive with a victory at Cleveland in Game 5 and were hoping to become the ninth NBA team to come back from 3-1 deficit to win a series.

Instead, they stalled in the conference semifinals for the second straight year.

Richard Jefferson scored 16 points and Mikki Moore added 14, but leading scorer Vince Carter had only 11 and heard boos in what could have been his last game for the Nets. He can become a free agent this summer.

Cleveland led by 15 points early in the third quarter, but the Nets stormed back when James went to the bench with his fourth foul with the Cavs up 59-46 a little more than four minutes into the period.

Kidd scored the next two baskets, triggering a 14-2 run to end the period. The Nets outscored the Cavs 22-8 in the quarter — Cleveland just missed the worst third quarter in NBA playoff history — and closed to 61-60 heading to the fourth.

Back-to-back 3s

The Nets were down only one after Moore’s three-point play with 9:38 to play, but Gibson and Marshall made consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead to 70-63 with 7:45 left. James made a jumper less than a minute later for his first points since the first quarter, and Marshall — 0-for-7 in Game 5 — buried another 3 to make it 75-66 with 5:47 remaining.

With that, Cleveland prevented another second-round heartbreak. The Cavs led Detroit 3-2 last year before dropping the final two games.

“This is a big win for our franchise and a big win for us individually and a birthday present for Donyell Marshall,” James said of his teammate who went 6-for-10 from 3-point range on the day he turned 34.

“We wanted to be aggressive and we did a great job of spreading the floor for our shooters,” James said of the Cavs’ strategy at the start of the fourth quarter. “Donyell and Daniel did a great job.”