CLEVELAND CAVALIERS - EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS!
(Image taken from NBA.com)
To use a cliche, the West had been won - by the Spurs! The East however, was looking very interesting indeed! Sure, the Pistons had won Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, but even then they had the Cavs on their heels and when the series switched to Cleveland, the Cavs were quick to level things by winning Games 3 and 4. So it was back to Detroit with the Pistons in a must win situation only for the Cavs to pull off what has to be the greatest game in their history in double overtime! So back to Cleveland for Game 6 and the place must have felt unreal as the home side closed in on glory!
The Pistons got straight to work going 6-0 up in just over a minute only for the Cavs to pull level from there. However the road team still had the edge for the opening chunk of the 1st quarter and continued to maintain a lead untill there were less then six mins left. Even then the Cavs kept fighting and it was the Pistons who caved, a late Anderson Varejo burst to give the Cavs clear air! Cavs lead 27-21 at the end of the quarter, and were sniffing glory.
The Cavs extended their lead to 30-21 first thing in the second but it wasn't long before the Pistons were cutting into that deficit though the Cavs were able to keep their lead ticking over for a while, even maining clear air till mid-quarter. With less than four minutes left on the clock though, the Pistons tied the game and turned it round for good with less than three left. The Cavs never stoped fighting though and though Tayshaun Prince gave the Pistons a 48-46 lead with 24 seconds on the clock, LeBron James went on to tie the game at 48 with two free throws.
The Pistons had the early running in the third, leading 56-52 with less than nine mins on the clock. The Cavs were never far away through, making this quarter the tightest of the game! The Pistons tried their usual trick of just shutting out the opposition while holding on to a narrow lead but that didn't work because Daniel Gibson was happy to take over and hammer the number 1 seed, the Pistons narrowing the gap with a late three pointed but still the Cavs lead 67-66 with a quarter to go.
Now what do you do when you smell history? You show that you deserve it. The Pistons found themselves blown away for the first time in this series barely maintaining a three point deficit a minute into the fourth. The Cavs lead became double digits early on, and the on-court action turned into the LeBron and Gibson show with only two points from Damon Jones providing even the briefest of interruptions to the double act! This was already the best season in Cavs history, it has just become even better! Cavs win the game 98-82 and the series 4-2.