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James leads Cavaliers into conference finals vs. Pistons

May 21, 2007 - 1:38 PM Cleveland at Detroit 8:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference finals Game One

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- LeBron James has never been this far before. But the Detroit Pistons sure have.

James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will visit the Pistons in Game One of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Monday.

James collected 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as the Cavaliers advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 1992 with an 88-72 victory over the New Jersey Nets in Game Six on Friday.

Donyell Marshall scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter for Cleveland, which lost to Detroit in seven games in their conference-semifinal matchup last season. But this time around, a trip the NBA Finals will be up for grabs in a meeting between the East's top two seeds.

"It's a great feeling, I'm not going to lie," James said. "This is one of the best feelings I've ever had. We've been talking about championship all year and now we're closer to what we want to accomplish."

Marshall, who celebrated his 34th birthday Friday, admitted that his role in Cleveland's win may have been the highlight of his career to this point.

"It was very rewarding," Marshall said. "After the last game, I actually went home and laughed. With today (Friday) being my birthday, LeBron told me they were going to get it done for me today. To actually go out there and be part of it, it's awesome. It's probably the best feeling I've had in my career."

For all of Cleveland's excitement, Detroit has been here before. The Pistons are making their fifth consecutive trip the Eastern finals, including berths in the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2005 - hoisting the trophy the first time around.

As a result, Detroit takes a more business-like approach into the contest.

"Going to the conference finals doesn't mean nothing because we have only one championship," Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace said. "We want to win the big trophy."

Wallace had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Richard Hamilton scored 23 as Detroit closed out the Chicago Bulls, 95-85, in Game Six on Thursday.