Cavaliers’ run ends in Boston

Paul Pierce outdueled LeBron James in the Celtics’ 97-92 victory.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — Paul Pierce hit a shot. Then LeBron James answered. Pierce hit another and so did James.

It was like that all game long, two of the NBA’s best trying to carry their teams to the next round. Pierce and the Boston Celtics succeeded, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 97-92 Sunday.

Twenty years earlier there was another thrilling shootout in another seventh game of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Boston — Larry Bird vs. Dominique Wilkins.

And the result was the same: a narrow Celtics victory that sent them to the conference finals against Detroit.

Pierce scored 41 points, James had 45 and Boston remained unbeaten in the playoffs at home, where the first two games against the Pistons will be played Tuesday and Thursday night.

In a seven-game series in which the road team never won, the Celtics had many green-clad fans on their side. Lucky the Mascot held up a sign reading “ROCK THE GARDEN!” and the crowd roared. Pierce got the loudest ovation when he was introduced with his nickname, “The Truth.”

It wasn’t Wilkins’ day on May 22, 1988, even though he outscored Bird in Boston’s 118-116 win over Atlanta at the old Boston Garden. Wilkins finished with 47 points, 16 in the fourth quarter, and Bird had 34, with 20 in the final period.

“I’m very aware of the game,” Pierce said. “They don’t ever let you forget it when you look up to the jumbotron.”

James has seen plenty of highlights of that mano-a-mano tussle.

“We both tried to will our team to victory and, just like Dominique Wilkins, I ended up on the short end and the Celtics won again,” he said.

After struggling through the first four games, shooting 20-for-78, James finally broke through with 35 points in Game 5 in Boston and followed that with 32 in Game 6.

“When I lost four straight games in the finals [to the Spurs last season], I knew I had to get extremely better,” James said. “Now I don’t need to reinvent anything, just fine tune my game.”

Pierce hit two free throws with 7.9 seconds left for the final points, then James missed a 3-pointer on the last shot of the game with 4.4 seconds to go.

“I had it going, LeBron had it going and we just didn’t let up,” Pierce said. “Neither one of us wanted our teams to lose.”

Sasha Pavlovic’s 3-pointer made it 95-92 with 8.6 seconds left and the Cavaliers immediately fouled Pierce. His first shot hit the rim, hung in the air, then fell through as the crowd roared. Pierce said team patriarch Red Auerbach, who died in October 2006 at age 89, had something to do with that.

“The ghost of Red just looking over us,” Pierce said. “I think he kind of tapped it in the right direction. It sort of put a smile on my face.”

Pierce’s second free throw was much smoother, making it 97-92.

Cleveland raced downcourt and James hoisted a 3-pointer that missed with 4.4 seconds to go. The Cavaliers got the rebound and James waved for the ball from the same spot he had just missed from.