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CLEVELAND, Ohio: LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers made the
most of the comforts of home Saturday, routing the Boston Celtics
108-84 in the National Basketball Association playoffs.
James scored 21 points as the Cavaliers bounced
back from two defeats in Boston to narrow the gap in their best-of-7
Eastern Conference second-round series to 2-1.
While the Cavaliers avoided falling into a 3-0
hole, and will now have a chance to even the series at home, the
Detroit Pistons squeaked out a 90-89 victory in Orlando to take a
3-1 lead over the Magic in their series.
Tayshaun Prince’s hook shot with 8.9 seconds
to play lifted the Pistons, who can advance with a game-five victory
in Detroit on Tuesday.
In Cleveland, James again put up lackluster
scoring numbers, shooting just 5-of-16 from the field. But he added
eight assists, five rebounds, four steals and three blocks.
Delonte West scored 21 points and Wally
Szczerbiak added 16 for the Cavaliers, who shot 54 percent from the
field including 10-of-19 from 3-point range.
The Celtics were feeling the heat early. James
whipped up the crowd with a soaring dunk after a steal by West to
give the Cavaliers an early 8-point lead.
His 3-pointer made it 27-8 with 1:52 left in the
quarter en route to a 32-13 lead at the end of one period.
In Orlando, Prince and Richard Hamilton took up
the slack for a Pistons team whose All-Star point guard Chauncey
Billups was sidelined by a strained right hamstring suffered in game
three.
Hamilton scored 32 points for the Pistons, while
Prince had 17 including his game winner.
Jameer Nelson had made 1-of-2 free throws to
give Orlando an 89-88 lead with 44.8 seconds left.
The Pistons then went to Rasheed Wallace, who
missed a turnaround jump shot off the rim.
Detroit’s Antonio McDyess ran down the
rebound, the Pistons swung the ball to the right, and Prince drove
across the lane from there.
On the ensuing possession, Magic forward Hedo
Turkoglu missed a layup as time expired.
The Pistons had erased a 15-point, third-quarter
deficit en route to the victory.
-- AFP
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