CHICAGO (AP) - LeBron James struggled to score 15 points, Kyrie Irving limped off the court and Cleveland still beat Chicago 94-73 on Thursday night to clinch their Eastern Conference semifinal series in six games.
Matthew Dellavedova scored 19 points and Tristan Thompson added 13 points and 17 rebounds to help the Cavaliers advance to the conference final for the first time since 2009.
Cleveland is right where it expected to be after James decided to come home from Miami and return to his first team. The Cavaliers didn't expect to get there like this, though - with Kevin Love suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in the opening round and Irving trying to gut through problems with both legs.
Irving scored six points in 12 minutes before he came down on Thompson's foot early in the second quarter with the score 35-35 and did not return.
James, who is making his fifth straight conference finals appearance, had 11 assists and nine rebounds.
The Cavaliers will face the winner of the Atlanta-Washington series.
Jimmy Butler led Chicago with 20 points and Derrick Rose finished with 14.
ROCKETS 119, CLIPPERS 107
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Corey Brewer scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and Houston erased a 19-point, second-half deficit to stun Los Angeles and force a Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinals.
James Harden, who played less than a minute in the fourth quarter, scored 23 points and Dwight Howard added 20 points and 21 rebounds for the Rockets, who have won two straight games.
Game 7 is Sunday in Houston.
The Rockets scored nine straight points to get within 13 heading into the fourth.
Houston hit seven 3-pointers in the fourth.
Blake Griffin, who finished with 28 points for the Clippers, didn't score in the final quarter.
The Rockets went on a 23-2 run to take a 111-102 lead with 1:44 left.
Chris Paul had 31 points and 11 assists for the Clippers, who were held to seven points over the final 7½ minutes.