Cavs clinch fourth seed

Devin Brown’s late free throws sent Cleveland past Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The 76ers saw Devin Brown’s shot fall short, heard the buzzer and darted toward the locker room for an apparent victory celebration.

Game over? Not so fast.

Officials reviewed the final sequence for several minutes before deciding that Sixers center Samuel Dalembert fouled Brown with 0.2 seconds left and brought Philadelphia back to the court for the free throws.

Minutes after the game was seemingly over, Brown sank the pressure-packed free throws to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 91-90 win over the Sixers Monday night and clinch the fourth seed in the East.

“I heard a whistle,” Brown said. “It was just a matter of the officials going back and changing the other official’s opinion. But I did hear a whistle.”

While the Sixers ran off the court, the refs huddled at midcourt to look at the replay. The Cavaliers stayed on the bench, with some peeking over and hoping to hear the decision.

Because field goal attempts and fouls at the end of each quarter are reviewable, the refs took their time to make sure the right call was made. Dalembert was whistled for his sixth foul for making contact on Brown’s drive to the hoop.

“There’s contact on the play by Dalembert,” referee Greg Willard told a pool reporter.

Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks argued with the refs and guard Andre Miller punted the ball in frustration.

The Sixers appeared to have won after Lou Williams hit a fadeaway jumper with 5.1 seconds left — his second go-ahead basket in the final minute.

LeBron James had his shot blocked by Dalembert with 0.9 seconds left and the ball went straight to Brown. Brown went up for the basket and Dalembert came at him from his right side and the pair collided for the foul.

“You feel like you just got seriously slapped in the face,” Sixers forward Andre Iguodala said. “ It was like we had the ‘W’ and it was marked off.”

James scored 27 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 22 and the Cavaliers clinched home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Brown smiled while he explained why didn’t think he’d get the foul call.

“Because I wear 33, not 23,” he said, making a reference to James’ number

The defending Eastern Conference champs and No. 4 seed Cavaliers get to start their title defense at home against the Washington Wizards. The Cavs and Wizards will play in the first round for the third straight year.

“This is what we set out to do,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “We kind of took the long way, but we have it.”

Brown said he planned to rest James and Ben Wallace Wednesday against Detroit. They’ll join guard Sasha Pavlovic, who left with a sprained left ankle in the third quarter.