(The Sports Xchange) - Kyrie Irving scored 31 points, and LeBron James added 22 and 11 rebounds to help the Cleveland Cavaliers complete a four-game sweep of the Detroit Pistons in a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series with a 100-98 victory on Sunday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The Cavaliers advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, where they will await the winner of the series between the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics. That series is tied at two games apiece.
Just as in Games 1 and 3, Detroit hung with Cleveland for the entire game, but the Cavaliers had too much firepower and experience in the fourth to be denied.
After Detroit cut a nine-point Cleveland lead to 97-96 with 1:08 remaining on a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Irving buried a 3-pointer from the wing with 42.6 seconds left to put the Cavaliers up by four.
Pistons guard Reggie Jackson shaved the Cleveland lead to 100-98 on a dunk with 32.8 seconds remaining, and then Detroit had a chance to tie or win after rebounding an Irving miss with under 10 seconds remaining.
Proceeding down the court without a timeout, Jackson could not convert a contested 3-point shot from the top of the key as time expired.
Cleveland took an 81-78 lead into the fourth quarter after Irving hit a shot from half-court just before the buzzer sounded to end the third. Irving then scored the first five points of the fourth to give Cleveland an 86-78 lead with 11:15 remaining.
Detroit answered with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 86-85 with 8:35 left, but Cleveland took a 95-86 lead with 4:54 remaining on a deep 3-pointer by J.R. Smith.
A 3-pointer from Tobias Harris and a Marcus Morris basket pulled Detroit back within 95-91 with 3:44 remaining, and then after a basket by James, Jackson hit a basket with 2:31 left to bring Detroit within 97-93.
Morris scored 24 points and Harris had 23 points and 13 rebounds to lead Detroit, who saw their first playoff appearance since 2009 end quickly at the hand of the top-seeded Cavaliers.
Detroit center Andre Drummond added 17 points and 11 rebounds, Jackson finished with 13 points and 12 assists.
Smith scored 15, Cleveland forward Kevin Love contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds, and reserve guard Matthew Dellavedova also had 11 points.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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