AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – There’s not much more that can be said about LeBron James.

He scored 48 points Thursday night, including the last five for Cleveland, as the Cavaliers outlasted the Detroit Pistons, 109-107, in double overtime to take a three games to two lead in the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals.

His heroics outdid Chauncey Billups, who hit a big three-pointer with 22 seconds left in regulation to hold off a brilliant James finish in regulation and then two free throws with 3.1 seconds in the first overtime to tie the game 100-100 and send it into a second overtime. That was after James dunked twice at the end of regulation against a packed Pistons defense to tie the game and threw in a big, off-balance jumper with 33.7 seconds left for a four-point lead before Rasheed Wallace and Billups each made two free throws.

There’s a Jimmy Buffet song, “Gypsies in the Palace,” about invited visitors who wreck a home. It’s a lively, cavalier song, just like the way the visiting Cavaliers played in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

They were hoping it would get them to Margaritaville in a series in which every game has been decided on the last possession.

That’s because the Cavs, with a transcendent finish from James, who had 20 of the Cavs’ last 21 points through the first overtime.

Richard Hamilton led the Pistons with 26 points and Billups added 21.

It looked for a while that a Western Conference game had broken out with the Pistons taking a 29-23 lead after one quarter.

The conventional wisdom of Pistons basketball is they slow the pace because they execute on offense and play defense so well. But in the first four games, the Pistons were having difficulty scoring against a team that had trouble scoring against them during the season. Their overall strategy appeared to be benefiting the Cavaliers.

“We need to get out of the mud a little bit,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said before the game. “Get some easy shots and open shots, and the best way to do that is out of your defense. Create some open floor opportunities, steals, turnovers and force them into low shot clocks. We are going to need to get some easier buckets and not be in a total grind because we haven’t shot the ball well in that situation.”

So the Pistons came out picking up in the backcourt and running on turnovers and long rebounds instead of setting up and challenging the Cavs at the rim.

The result was 16-0 on inside points as Detroit built a six-point first quarter lead, amazingly its biggest in the series.

But late in the first quarter it was the Cavs who benefited from the physical play as Antonio McDyess took down Anderson Varajao on a cut to the basket and was ejected for the hard foul. James rushed over to the scene, though not from off the bench, and was assessed a technical foul.

The Cavs had been having success against the Pistons’ guards loading up the strong side where the ball was, though this time Detroit moved the ball better and shot 53 percent in the first half to take a 52-51 lead at the break.

The Pistons also kept James relatively in control. He had 13 first-half points but it took him 13 shots.

The book on James is to force him left. When he goes left, he almost always shoots a jumper. When he goes right, he almost always finishes at the basket or gets fouled. It’s probably why when James made that much debated pass at the end of Game 1 here it was because he was coming down the left side and perhaps not confident of a strong finish. But James was a two-handed gun slinger in Game 5 in fighting off the Pistons.

When he went out for a long stretch in the second quarter, the Pistons couldn’t take advantage as a small Cavs lineup gained the advantage and got to the free throw line. Daniel Gibson had six free throws.

But Cavs coach Mike Brown must give the worst halftime talks.

Once again the Cavs came out flat to open the second half as the Pistons pushed out to a 35-27 lead behind Hamilton and Chris Webber drives. The Pistons’ hope also was to put the Cavs in a hole, especially on the road, believing the relatively untested team could not respond.

“We have not put any pressure on them,” Saunders said. “We haven’t gotten into a situation where they are down nine, 10, 11 points. You have to get a stranglehold on the game.”

But this game, the air didn’t come out of the Cavs.

They got a three from Sasha Pavlovic, James hit a pair of free throws and a basket and made a quick pass to Varajeo for a layup to tie the game 65-65. The Pistons continued to work Tayshaun Prince at James and Prince highlighted a 5-0 run with a baseline drive and reverse slam. But James found Gibson for a three-pointer to tie the game after three quarters at 70, the first third quarter of the series in which the Cavs outscored the Pistons.

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(c) 2007, Chicago Tribune.

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CAVALIERS

AP-NY-06-01-07 0014EDT