BOSTON — LeBron James has seen tapes of the famous 1988 Game 7 shootout between Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins and Boston Celtics great Larry Bird.
The personal battle he staged with current Boston small forward Paul Pierce wasn’t nearly as dramatic, especially down the stretch, but there was one similarity that can’t be denied: The Celtics won again.
This time, it was Boston 97, Cleveland 92 in Game 7 Sunday at TD Banknorth Garden, sending the Celtics into the Eastern Conference finals and ending the Cavaliers’ season.
James finished with 45 points, five rebounds and six assists — the Cavs were outscored 5-0 in the 1:12 he was on the bench — and Pierce had 41 points, four rebounds and five assists.
“I love going against the best, and Paul Pierce is one of the best,” James said. “We both were trying to will our team to victory. Just like Dominique, I ended up on the short end. The Celtics won again.”
The scoring totals of James and Pierce were similar to the 47-point effort of Wilkins and 34-point outing by Bird in Boston’s 118-116 victory on May 22, 1988, but there was one glaring difference: Larry Legend had 20 points in the fourth quarter of that game 20 years ago, while Pierce had six Sunday.
James did have 13 points for the Cavs in the final period — Wilkins had 16 for the Hawks back in the day — but his team came up short. That was fine with Boston coach Doc Rivers, who had 18 assists while playing for Atlanta in that classic game against the Celtics.
“I was on the right team this time,” Rivers said. “Clearly, if you’re going to be in a great game in Boston, it’s probably better to be wearing green.”
It certainly was Sunday, largely because the other guys wearing red didn’t do a whole lot to help James. Delonte West had 15 points, but no other Cleveland player had more than eight. Even West offset some of his positive contributions with six turnovers.
Wally Szczerbiak, who was 0-of-3 from the field, was so bad coach Mike Brown took him out with 10:46 to go in the third period and never put him back in. Szczerbiak’s replacement, Sasha Pavlovic, had seven points in 36 mostly invisible, timid minutes, while Zydrunas Ilgauskas managed eight points after a scoreless first half but was just 2-of-8 from the field.
Despite all that, the Cavs, who trailed by as many as 13 and didn’t lead the entire afternoon, still had a chance to win down the stretch. For that, they can thank No. 23, who was 14-of-29 from the field and 14-of-19 at the line despite facing constant double- and triple-teaming.
“Unfortunately, LeBron’s not human,” Rivers said.
On this day, neither was Pierce. He had 26 points in the first half and 33 at the five-minute mark of the third period, at which time he and James had combined to score 66 of the game’s 117 points.
“Tonight was get the ball to Paul Pierce and get the hell out of the way,” Boston forward Kevin Garnett said. “That’s all it was.”
Added James: “He’s one of the best players in our league. He was overdue for a breakout game.”
Pierce wound up making 13 of 23 from the field — including four of six from behind the arc — and 11 of 12 free throws. Time after time, he dribbled just to the right of the top of the circle, jab-stepped, then hit a fadeaway jumper over James’ extended arm.
“You could just see his rhythm,” said Garnett, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds. “When we needed buckets, he hit them. When plays broke down, he made shots.”
So did the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James, who had 23 of his team’s 40 first-half points and 30 of the Cavs’ first 56.
“It was just one of those games when I had it going and LeBron had it going,” Pierce said. “We didn’t let up. Neither one of us wanted our team to lose.”
Like the ’88 Hawks, James’ team lost, but it had its chances down the stretch.
The Cavs, who fell behind 16-4 at the outset, were within 89-88 after James stole the ball from Pierce and dunked with 2:21 to go. They had a chance to take the lead on their next possession, but a James 3-point attempt rimmed out — he finished 3-of-11 from long range — with 1:41 on the clock.
Boston’s P.J. Brown, a 38-year-old who wasn’t even in the league at the beginning of February, then hit a jumper from the left elbow to give the Celtics a three-point lead with 1:21 left.
West missed a 3-pointer for Cleveland, but the Cavs got another chance when the 7-3 Ilgauskas and Boston’s 6-8 James Posey were involved in a jump ball with a minute to go. Ilgauskas won the tap, but Pierce anticipated where it was going, poked the ball loose and dove on the floor to recover it.
That Boston possession ended with Garnett missing a 20-footer, but James didn’t even draw iron on a right-handed floater while driving left. The Celtics then made six straight free throws in the final 18.8 seconds to hold on for the win.
“I can’t say enough about my team,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “I’m extremely proud of every single guy.
“It’s tough to lose any time in the playoffs or regular season, but especially when you know your season is done.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

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

Need help? Email Us.