USA - James steals shows in Cavaliers win

CLEVELAND (NBA) - LeBron James scored 25 points, including 13 in the decisive fourth quarter, to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 91-87 victory over the Detroit Pistons in Game Four of the Eastern Conference finals.

Cleveland rookie Daniel Gibson scored a career-high 21 points and Drew Gooden added 19 in the win, which levelled the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

The series shifts back to Detroit for Game Five on Thursday.

James was 4-for-6 shooting in the fourth, provided a key jumpshot to give Cleveland an 87-79 lead with 3:21 remaining and sank a pair of free throws to ice the win with four seconds to play.

"I live for the fourth quarter," James said.

"I love the fourth quarter, especially when the game is tight. And I told my team-mates, just get me to the fourth and it's close, and I'll try my best to win the game and I was able to do that."

Gooden also had a big fourth with seven points and a steal with just over a minute to play that helped preserve the lead.

Trailing, 77-74, in the fourth, the Cavaliers went on 9-0 which was capped on Sasha Pavlovic's lay-up to make it 83-77 with 5:23 to play.

The fourth quarter went far better for Cleveland than the third.

Cleveland's third quarter woes in the series continued as the Pistons opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take a 51-50 lead.

The Cavaliers, who had been outscored 63-43 in the third over the first three games of the series, were held scoreless in the quarter until Zydrunas Ilgauskas hit a free throw at the seven-minute mark to tie the game at 51-51.

After Gibson scored six consecutive points to give Cleveland the lead, the Pistons went on their second 8-0 run of the quarter to regain the lead.

Led by Richard Hamilton's nine points, Detroit outscored Cleveland 24-15 in the third and carried a 67-65 advantage into the fourth.

James was 0-for-6 shooting in the session and has just five third-quarter points total during the first four games of the series.

Gibson and Donyell Marshall combined for 14 of the teams 15 points in the third.

While James was the star, Gibson wasn't far behind.

With James taking a breather on the bench in the second quarter, the 21-year-old turned in an impressive individual run, scoring nine consecutive points to lead the Cavaliers to their biggest lead of the game.

The rookie hit a tough fade-away jumper to give the Cavaliers a 34-30 lead and in his next trip down the floor hit another fade-away from the top of the key while drawing a foul by Hamilton.

He converted the three-point play to give Cleveland a 37-30 lead. The 21-year-old got to the the free-throw line twice more in the following minutes and went 4-for-4 to give the Cavaliers a 41-33 lead.

Back-to-back baskets in the paint from Ilgauskas gave Cleveland their biggest lead of the game at 45-33.

Detroit trailed 50-38 with just over a minute to play in the half, but trimmed the lead to seven going into half-time on a bucket by Rasheed Wallace and three-pointer from Lindsey Hunter.

Gibson, who scored 11 points in the first half, has seen significant playing in the last two games after Larry Hughes went down with a sprained left foot in the first quarter of the Cavaliers' 88-82 win in Game Three.

After receiving an injection of cortisone, Hughes started Game Four but the hobbled guard was limited to just 16 minutes in the game.

As is often the case, four of James' points came via highlight-reel dunks. The 22-year-old superstar came through the paint untouched for a one-handed jam in the first quarter and followed that up in the second quarter with a high-flying dunk off an alley-oop pass from Gibson.

Chauncey Billups lead the Pistons with 22 points while Hamilton finished with 15.

FIBA