EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., May 18 (UPI) -- Daniel Gibson and Donyell Marshall keyed a fourth-quarter outburst Friday that put Cleveland in the Eastern finals with an 88-72 win over New Jersey.
The Cavaliers wrapped up the conference semifinal series 4-2 and will now take on Detroit for the right to play for the NBA championship.
New Jersey, having extended the series Wednesday night on Cleveland's home court, fell behind by 15 points at halftime only to battle back to within one going into the fourth quarter.
But the Cavaliers dominated the closing period and began to take the air out of New Jersey's hopes with back-to-back three-pointers from Gibson and Marshall. Gibson's shot came with 8:53 to play and Marshall made his 50 seconds later to give Cleveland a 70-63 advantage.
With the Nets trailing by six, New Jersey's Jason Kidd missed a layup at the six-minute mark and Marshall hit another three-pointer moments later to make it 75-66. New Jersey could not recover.
LeBron James scored 23 for Cleveland, most of them coming early, and Kidd led the Nets with 19.
