The Cavaliers’ reign as the Eastern Conference champions isn’t over just yet. It may happen this weekend — history says it almost certainly will — but it was not going to occur Friday night. Not on their home floor and not in front of a rabid sellout crowd that wasn’t ready for the party to end.
Cleveland rode a wave of energy provided by its fans, then let LeBron James do the rest, as it fought off the Boston Celtics 74-69 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
To outsiders, it was an ugly, physical and plodding game. But to the Cavaliers, it was a thing of beauty that earned them what they desperately wanted: a decisive seventh game Sunday at TD Banknorth Garden.
“We just gutted it out. We were not going to lose this game,” said Cleveland guard Wally Szczerbiak, who delivered the dagger by making a long 3-pointer with 2:09 left. “Game 6 on your home floor against the best team in the regular season in the NBA is just a lot of fun.
“We did whatever it took. We got every big rebound. Now, we’ve pushed it to Game 7.”
If the Cavaliers defend, hit the offensive glass and make free throws like they did Friday, their next stop will be Detroit for a rematch in the East finals.
Cleveland held the Celtics to a franchise-record-low 69 points, grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and shot a sparkling .840 from the foul line. Scratching and clawing on every possession was the only way the Cavaliers were going to win — and they did it in textbook fashion.
“They got long rebounds and loose balls and they made some plays. I give them credit,” said Boston coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers, whose postgame remarks were filled with enough sour grapes to stock a winery. “We couldn’t allow them to, one, get offensive rebounds and, two, to live at the foul line — and we did both.”
To show just how hard James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace were working down low, consider that Cleveland was shooting 28 percent from the field and had just three assists with 3:30 remaining in the second quarter, but only trailed 31-30.
By the time intermission arrived, the Cavaliers had taken a 42-33 lead because they turned their 10 offensive boards into 10 second-chance points.
“My guys are tough, they’re resilient and they understand what it takes to win,” said Cleveland coach Mike Brown, whose team shot below 36 percent in all four quarters and finished with its second-worst shooting percentage ever at .329. “They’ve been through so much adversity this season, they’ve had to learn how to keep fighting. We want to be the aggressors, starting with the defensive end of the floor.”
After softening up the Celtics in the first half, James delivered the knockout blow in the second with 19 points, six rebounds and three big-time assists. He finished his best performance of the series with game highs of 32 points, 12 boards and six assists, along with eight largely harmless turnovers.
James had emphatically told his teammates in the pregame huddle, “We’re not ready to go home. No way!” He repeated those remarks to the media after the final buzzer, but in much calmer tones.
“It was either win or go home, and I wasn’t ready to go home,” he said flatly.
If this did turn out to be Cleveland’s 2008 home playoff finale, James and his teammates went out the way they deserved — with their heads held high and their fans on their feet.
Sunday will arrive soon enough, which is why Friday was all about celebrating the Cavaliers’ season. That mission was accomplished with flying colors.
“Our poise was great, and on plays that didn’t go well, we handled the adversity and we stayed with it,” Brown said. “Our guys just found a way to get a win. Now, we’ve put ourselves in position for this thing to be a one-game series. We’re looking forward to going to Boston.”
Contact Brian Dulik at sports@ohio.net.
 

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.