Gibson carries the day

CLEVELAND -- Mike Brown, the coach of the Cavaliers, called the performance "LeBron-esque." He paused for a second and then added, "if that makes sense." Given what he and everyone else had just witnessed Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena, it made perfect sense.

Brown was referring to the 31-point, 6-rebound submission of rookie guard Daniel Gibson. That unforeseen explosion helped the Cavaliers rout the Pistons, 98-82, and take their Eastern Conference final series, four games to two. The victory put the Cavaliers into the NBA Finals for the first time; Game 1 is Thursday night in San Antonio against the vaunted Spurs.

Gibson's eruption turned the game around and sent the Pistons reeling back to Michigan, having blown a 2-0 series lead and having dropped four in a row for the first time this season. In a stretch of about 7 1/2 minutes in the third and fourth quarters, Gibson scored 20 points, turning a tight game into a runaway. In the fourth quarter alone, the rookie whose nickname is "Boobie" outscored the Pistons all by himself, 19-16, and had two more baskets ( five) than the entire Pistons' team.

As Brown put it, "Daniel Gibson, wow. I was wowing Daniel like I was [wowing] LeBron."

While Gibson had had his moments in the series -- he scored 21 points in Game 4 -- his performance in Game 6 was off the charts. The Pistons, overpowered singlehandedly by James in Game 5, vowed to make someone else beat them in Game 6. That someone turned out to be Gibson. The 31 points ranked as the second-highest-scoring game by a Cavalier in the postseason and the highest by any Cav not named LeBron James.

There were five 3-pointers (in five attempts) and there were 15 free throw attempts. Gibson is not afraid to put the ball on the floor and take it to the basket, a trait that comes in handy after he's knocked down a trey or two. As his playing time has increased, he has shown an affinity for driving with the ball. In the 2006-07 season, over 60 games, he had 39 free throw attempts. Against the Pistons, in six games, he had 37. And unlike most of his teammates, he makes them.

But it will be the 3-point shooting folks will take from Game 6 because it broke the Pistons' backs and led to their total unraveling in the fourth quarter. Gibson scored the final 5 points of the third quarter, helping Cleveland to a 67-66 lead entering the fourth. He then scored 12 of its first 15 points in the fourth (the others coming on a LeBron 3-point play off a steal) and, by that time, the lead was in double figures. Detroit never recovered.

The Pistons had forced James to be deferential (3-for-11 shooting, 20 points) and then watched in horror as Gibson dropped trey after trey after trey.

"Gibson had a phenomenal series for them," lauded Detroit coach Flip Saunders. "LeBron kills you one game and you don't want to let him get off. Daniel made every big shot."

Added the Cavaliers' Larry Hughes, who gallantly played despite plantar fasciitis, "[Gibson] took what the defense was giving him. They were trying to double LeBron. He stepped into some shots and did what he did. Way to step up!"

James had scored 48 in Game 5, including the last 25 and 29 of the last 30, an eye-opener of historic proportions. Game 6 was Gibson's jaw-dropper. James said he told the rookie before the game that Gibson was going to get a lot of open shots and that the kid should fire away with impunity.

"When a guy tells you that, you step to [the shot] with a lot of confidence and knock it down for him," Gibson said.

Gibson averaged 13.5 points a game against the Pistons, all of his 81 points coming in the final five games. This was a far cry from what he did in the first round against Washington (4.3 ppg) and in the next round against the Nets (4.0.) He had more points in Game 6 against Cleveland than he did in all six games against New Jersey (24).

Not bad for the 42d overall pick in last year's draft out of the University of Texas, who missed 22 games during the regular season, 15 on the inactive list and 7 more as a DNP-coach's decision. But he has been a playoff fixture in Brown's rotation and that doesn't figure to change when the Finals start.

James in all likelihood will continue to draw a crowd (although the Spurs don't like to double-team) and that should give the kid more chances.

Based on what he did Saturday night, it may be the ultimate game of pick your poison.

Peter May can be reached at P_May@globe.com.