Rookie Daniel Gibson poured 25 of his career high 31 in a splendid second half including a perfect five-of-five from downtown to help LeBron James (20, 14 and and Co. take their fourth straight from the Pistons to win the Eastern Conference.

We’ll have much more later today on the Cavs’ 98-82 Game Six home win in front of a pumped up crowd to make their first ever NBA Finals where the three-time champion Spurs await.

It’s a day later and the Cavaliers have a lot to be proud about. The way they cameback and defeated a veteran-laden Detroit club who had been through the playoff grind and pulled out an exact series like this last year. But this time, the younger Cavs didn’t allow the Pistons to come into their house and force a deciding Game 7 at the Palace.

Maybe last year’s experience of losing a hard fought seven-game series to them helped LeBron and teammates in closing this year’s ECF out to win the conference for the first time in franchise history. Also having a chance to reach the NBA Finals gave them plenty of extra incentive to deliver for their fans who have waited patiently. They went through some tough years before LeBron was delivered to them. And after having their hearts broken by Michael Jordan and the Bulls, it had to be especially hardening.

Between the Cavs, Indians and Browns, the city of Cleveland hasn’t seen a team win a championship in 43 years when the Browns won the NFL title back in 1964. The Indians came close to finally winning their first World Series since 1948 twice a decade prior but fell to Atlanta in 1995 and Florida two years later. Hopefully, their NBA team can go one better and pull a huge upset.
Now, their team gets a shot at the NBA’s best in San Antonio. A team who will be aiming for their fourth NBA title and third in six years with the terrific trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. A modern day dynasty in the making if Gregg Popovich’s club can win another.
The good news for Mike Brown’s Cavs is that they’ll have a few days to prepare for Game One which is set for Thursday night in San Antonio at 9 ET/6 PT on ABC. This will give the ex-assistant under Popovich some time to prepare his team for San Antonio’s defensive oriented halfcourt game. What should be most encouraging is they just got through a similar team. The only difference is the Spurs don’t just go through the motions during stretches of games. So the task should prove to be much more difficult.

What they’ll take with them is what NBA legend and 11-time champion and Hall of Famer Bill Russell said to LeBron as he presented them with the Eastern Conference trophy:

“You’re not only representing the city of Cleveland but also the Eastern Conference. Make me proud”

And like Brown told TNT’s Ernie Johnson during the on-court postgame celebration, “We’re in it to win it.”

If they can’t draw motivation from that to give the Spurs all they can handle, then San Antonio’s just too good. We’ll see. One interesting note is that the Cavs swept their worthy opponents during the regular season series. Not that that means anything now because the Spurs know how to turn it up and have looked like a well oiled machine in dispatching of the Nuggets in 5, Suns in 6 and Jazz in 5. They’ll take a 12-4 record into this match-up while the Cavaliers got here by sweeping the Wizards and beating the Nets and Pistons in 6 to post a 12-5 mark.

So can Cleveland do better than our five-game San Antonio prediction? Why the heck not? We’ve gotten everything else wrong.

How was I supposed to know that Dallas would roll over against Golden State? At least the Pistons got to the Conference Finals. I also had the Cavs losing to Toronto in the Conference Semis. They would’ve had to have gotten there in order for that to have happened. I’ll bet the Pistons wish they did.

The one thing the Cavs have which should help in this match-up is size. The trio of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden and Anderson Varejao all are formidable inside and can crash the glass. Combine that with the versatile 22 year-old superstar James and they have enough athleticism to counter Duncan and Fabricio Oberto underneath.

The time off should help guard Larry Hughes recover from his injury. He was more effective Saturday night playing 28 minutes and scoring nine including two open treys along with four assists and three rebounds. Expect him to draw the tough assignment of the ultra quick Parker.

Obviously, they’ll be looking for their emerging rookie Gibson to continue his clutch shooting which destroyed the Pistons. The ex-Texas standout who was selected in last year’s second round scored 19 of Cleveland’s 31 in the final quarter as they outscored Detroit by 15 to put a close game away.

All five of his three’s were wide open due to Detroit predictably giving all sorts of attention to LeBron after his Game 5 heroics. This left Gibson and other teammates wide open and also opened up the lane where he went 12-for-15 to go with a crisp seven-of-nine from the floor.

Meanwhile, James who only attempted two field goals in the first half (career playoff low) was still able to get to the rim and even converted a driving layup in transition as part of a three-point play during the Cavs’ fourth quarter run when they put it away. He only made three buckets but got to the line 19 times converting on 14 of them for 20 points. Adding a game high 14 boards and eight assists plus three steals, it was plenty on what was a special night.

James’ reaction:

“This is like a dream. This is probably the best feeling that I’ve ever had in my life. … This is the best thing that ever happened to me, man. But look here, look here. It doesn’t stop.”

With a wide eyed ear to ear grin, who could blame him? He took a lot of heat early in the series for passing up a potential winning shot in Game 1 and not scoring enough in Game 2. But the superstar never let the frustration show instead opting to say that they were a “no excuse team” after not getting a late call which made it identical 79-76 defeats. Instead, he rose up for a big 32 in Game 3 and continued to dominate the way a player of his calibre should meeting every challenge. Nobody will ever forget that unbelievable Game 5 performance in which he carried his team on his back scoring an NBA playoff record 25 straight and 29 of the final 30 to pull out that game in two overtimes. It was truly a special game by a star who wanted it badly.

As it turned out, that was the one which broke Detroit’s back. Sure. They were right there for three quarters in Game Six. But you just never got the feeling they’d ever get that game against an inspired Cavs’ team in that environment. Gibson would allow it and neither would all those screaming fans.

As was said here in this space last week and repeated again last night by Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller, the Pistons were outplayed the whole series and very easily could’ve been swept. They were beaten by a younger and hungrier team. End of story.

Chauncey Billups struggled throughout this series. Despite making a few big shots late in games, the former 2004 Finals MVP never got into a rhythm. This was due in large part to Hughes and an aggressive Cleveland D which made it difficult for the Pistons’ floor leader to get to the basket. Maybe it was fitting that in 43 minutes, the guard whose status is up in the air this summer only scored nine points on just seven shots and handed out one assist. That’s how tough this series was on him.

The only player who really showed up last night was Richard Hamilton, who finished with 29 on an efficient 10-of-20 from the field and a perfect eight-for-eight from the charity stripe. The ex-Uconn star also added four rebounds, three assists and three steals doing a little bit of everything to keep his team competitive in 36 minutes.

Ticking time bomb Rasheed Wallace finally lost it midway through the fourth quarter after fouling out. The always emotional big man finally snapped and got t’d up twice and ejected. It was a symbol of Detroit’s frustration. It was two games earlier where he took off his No.36 jersey and tossed it over his head in disgust accidentally landing in someone’s face like a towel after Cleveland had rallied to tie the series at two apiece.

Wallace definitely cares. But too often he allows the officials’ calls to get to him and it sometimes takes a very talented player out of the game. Eleven points, two rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes wasn’t enough from the center who also may or may not return to Detroit.

The Cavs became only the third team to rally from an 0-2 deficit to win a series in the Conference Finals joining the 1971 Baltimore Bullets and 1993 Chicago Bulls, who both accomplished it against the Knicks.

They’ll now try to deliver the first ever NBA championship to Cleveland. Best of luck!