Nowitzki keeps Mavs alive, Cavs off to final

Agence France-Presse

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The victory by the Mavericks denied Denver a sweep of the second round best-of-seven Western Conference series, although the Nuggets could still advance by capturing game five at home tonight.

"We're not done yet. We played for one more chance," said Nowitzki, who scored 19 of his 44 points in the fourth quarter. "We've still got our hands full. We will let it rip one more time and see what happens."

Josh Howard added 21 points and 11 rebounds and Jason Kidd contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas, while Carmelo Anthony scored 41 points to pace the Nuggets.

No celebrations

Meanwhile, LeBron James sparked the Cleveland Cavaliers to an 84-74 victory over Atlanta but was in no mood to celebrate reaching the Eastern Conference finals.

"Why should we celebrate? We're playing for a championship," James said. "An advance is an advance. It doesn't matter if you win in four games or you win game seven."

James scored 27 points as the Cavaliers, who swept Detroit in a first round best-of-seven series, completed a sweep of the Hawks to remain unbeaten in the playoffs, the first team since the 2005 Miami heat to start a playoff run 8-0.

"We're happy that we're playing great basketball," James said. "But we're not taking for granted what we're doing right now."

Cleveland advances to face the winner between Boston and Orlando for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

"We're glad to finish this series off," Cavs’ Wally Szcerbiak said. "It's time to go get our rest and get ready for the next series. We have some bumps and bruises to heal from."

James added eight rebounds and eight assists while Delonte West added 21 points. "Delonte was awesome. He's our glue," James said. "When he gets into attack mode, when he gets into the lane, he's one of those guys who's sort of unguardable."