With a helping hand from a teammate even younger than him, LeBron James pushed the Cavaliers as close as they've ever been to an NBA title.

James scored 25 points -- 13 in the fourth quarter -- and rookie Daniel Gibson added a season-high 21 as the Cavaliers evened the Eastern Conference finals with a 91-87 victory over the Pistons in Game 4 Tuesday night.

The 21-year-old Gibson made 12 free throws, Drew Gooden added 19 points and Eric Snow hit a crucial free throw in the final seconds for the Cavaliers, who have never played in the finals, and now need two victories to get there.

Game 5 is Thursday night in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Larry Hughes was in the starting lineup for Game 4 against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night despite a painful foot injury.

Hughes sustained a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his foot while making a layup in the first quarter of Game 3. He played only 22 minutes and sat the entire fourth quarter of Cleveland's 88-82 win.

After testing the foot on the practice court, Hughes was cleared to play by Cleveland's medical staff.

"I'm going to try it out," said Hughes, who didn't favor the foot as he walked around the building. "From my side, I have to give it a shot. You can limp and walk on the court once your adrenaline gets going."

Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes suffered a strain of the left foot plantar fascia during the first quarter of the Cavaliers game vs. the Detroit Pistons last night in Cleveland.

He was re-evaluated by team physician Dr. Richard Parker at The Cleveland Clinic this morning. An MRI was performed with the result being consistent with the plantar fascia strain.

He is currently listed as Doubtful for tomorrow night?s Game 4 in Cleveland.

LeBron James scored 32 points with nine rebounds and nine assists in the most important 48 minutes of his blossoming NBA career, helping Cleveland to an 88-82 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night that pulled the Cavaliers within 2-1 in the Eastern Conference finals.

"LeBron stepped up and put us on his shoulders," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "He said, 'Come along for the ride.' And we all hopped on."

James, rising to the occasion with a hometown crowd hanging on his every dribble, scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and rookie Daniel Gibson came up with several key plays down the stretch to help his more celebrated teammate.

"You learn from mistakes, you learn from losses, but this game doesn't put something on me where it's, 'Hey, I've finally done it,"' James said. "This was a big game. We won it and we have to move on."

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 16 points, Sasha Pavlovic 13 and Drew Gooden 12 for the Cavs, who can even the series with a win in Game 4 on Tuesday night.

Rasheed Wallace had 16 points and Chris Webber 15 to pace the Pistons, who were just 5-of-14 in the fourth and scored 19 points -- only seven more than James.

LeBron James didn't wait for the last play. He did all he needed to do before the clock got anywhere near zero.

James had 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in the most important game of his young NBA career, helping Cleveland to an 88-82 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night to pull the Cavaliers within 2-1 in the Eastern Conference finals.

James, rising to the occasion with a hometown crowd hanging on his every move, scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and rookie Daniel Gibson came up with several key plays down the stretch to help his more celebrated teammate.

Coming off two heartbreaking losses in Detroit, LeBron James and his teammates hope they can repeat their performance of a year ago when they face the Pistons in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night.

"We've been here before," James said. "That's the best thing that could happen to us. We've been in this situation, so we know how to react to it. We should know what to do and how to capture Game 3."

Kobe Bryant and Jerry Stackhouse had to shake their heads over this one.

In the third quarter of Game 1, LeBron James knocked Chris Webber to the floor with a flailing right arm upon the release of an errant shot. No foul was called, but Wednesday, after reviewing the tape of the play, NBA senior vice president Stu Jackson decided to slap James with a Flagrant-2 foul -- which carries a $5,000 fine and, in some cases (as Bryant and Stackhouse would attest) a suspension.

James, though, was not suspended.

"I didn't think it warranted a suspension," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said Friday. "There was some contact, but I don't think he should have been suspended."

LeBron James missed a shot with 7.9 seconds left, allowing Detroit to escape again with a 79-76 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

On the previous possession, Rasheed Wallace made a fadeaway jumper on the baseline over James to put Detroit ahead.

James, who passed up a shot in the final seconds of the series opener, dribbled into the lane and missed a spinning shot in the lane with Richard Hamilton draped on him.

"I believe there was some contact, but there's been a lot of contact throughout this series," James said. "We're a no-excuse team and we can't look at the last play as why we lost. We just have to get better."

Larry Hughes grabbed the offensive rebound after James missed, couldn't make a 10-footer and Anderson Varejao was just off on a tip. After Wallace grabbed the rebound, Cavs coach Mike Brown was called for a technical foul after arguing that James was fouled on his shot attempt.

"I'm sure we feel lucky and they feel unlucky," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said.

LeBron James may be facing national scrutiny about his decision to pass rather than shoot in the closing seconds of Game 1, but he won't hear that kind of criticism from the Pistons.

James dished to Donyell Marshall, whose three-point try missed the mark, and the Pistons hung on for a 79-76 victory in the Eastern Conference finals opener Monday.

"I'm just glad they missed it," Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups said Tuesday.

But the Pistons also backed James and said the Cavaliers star made the right play to pass instead of attempt a lay-up.

"I thought it was a great play," Billups said. "It was horrible defense by us, but it was a great play. It had been an ugly game, and you've got one of your best three-point shooters wide open. He just had six or seven (threes) in the last game. So I thought it was an excellent play."

LeBron James drove and dished to Donyell Marshall who missed a wide-open a 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds left that allowed the Detroit Pistons to escape with a 79-76 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Chauncey Billups chased down the long rebound of Marshall's miss from the corner, and he later made one of two free throws with 2.4 seconds left.

James was scoreless in the first quarter and finished with a playoff-low 10 points, on 5-of-15 shooting, 10 rebounds and fell just short of a triple-double with nine assists.

Game 2 is Thursday night at The Palace before the series shifts to Cleveland.