The Boston Celtics advanced to the NBA Eastern Conference finals with a 94-85 victory over Cleveland in Game 6 Thursday, sending LeBron James and the Cavaliers to an early offseason. Kevin Garnett scored 22 points and added 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 21 points and 12 assists to reach the East finals against the Orlando Magic, who are unbeaten in the playoffs after sweeping Charlotte and Atlanta in the opening rounds. “Winning is gratifying. You're playing the best team in basketball; the challenge is there; you don't have to dress it up,” Garnett said. “One thing we don't lack is confidence. We're a veteran team and we understand when it's time to lock in as a group. We did just that.” Despite his sixth career playoff triple-double, James is headed for another premature offseason after winning a second MVP award and leading the Cavs to an NBA-best 61 wins in the regular season. “The regular season is a lot different than the postseason,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. “We knew that they were going to be a different team. We hoped that we were. Boston stepped up, and we didn't.” This offseason is destined to define the future of the franchise – and the rest of the NBA, too. James is eligible to opt out of his contract this summer, a move that would make the two-time MVP a free agent and set off a scramble for his services from New York to Miami to Los Angeles and, of course, back in Cleveland. “I just told him, ‘Keep your head up, man. I've been there,”' said Garnett, who was a star without a title in Minnesota for more than a decade before joining the Celtics and leading them to their NBA-record 17th championship in 2008. “You have a very, very, very bright future. Continue to work and make decisions based on you and your family. Best advice I can give him.” James scored 27 points with 10 assists, and his 19 rebounds matched a career-high and were the most he's ever had in a playoff game. But he also had nine turnovers. Mo Williams scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half for the Cavaliers. The Celtics had missed their first eight 3-point attempts when Paul Pierce hit a 3 that gave them a 65-58 lead with 4:06 left in the third. James hadn't made an outside shot before hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it to 78-74 early in the fourth quarter. But Rondo's layup, a pair of 3s for Pierce and Wallace and then Tony Allen's steal, leading to a Garnett dunk at the other end, sent the Cavaliers into a timeout to regroup, down 88-74 with 5:53 left in their season. It was the second straight year Cleveland has finished the regular-season with the No. 1 overall seed, and the second in a row that they have failed to get out of the East.
