James carried the Cavs in the first half, scoring 21 points and outscoring the rest of his teammates, but Cleveland struggled to find open spots after halftime.

The Pistons held the Cavs to a franchise playoff-low 10 points in the third quarter, and James didn’t make a field goal in the second half until his three-point play with 4:42 left in the game. By then, it was too late.

James’ teammates didn’t help much, with the only double-figures scorer being Larry Hughes, who scored 10 points in his first action since his 20-year-old brother’s funeral.

Meanwhile, the Pistons had their usual balance on offense, with Prince’s 20 points followed by Richard Hamilton (15), Rasheed Wallace (13) and Chauncey Billups (12).

The previous 12 times the Pistons had a chance to win a series, dating to the 2003 playoffs with four of their current starters, they lost only once — last year in Game 7 at San Antonio, where they fell just short of repeating as champions.

Detroit’s current nucleus is 4-1 in Game 7s, with that lone setback last year motivating them to win a league- and franchise-best 64 victories during the regular season.

The Cavs are 2-1 in Game 7s, with the last decisive game coming in 1992 when James was a 7-year-old kid.

Detroit started and closed the series strong. In between, the teams had one of the tightest matchups in NBA history.

The Pistons won Game 1 by 27 and the next game by six points. After the Cavs won Game 3, they took the next two by two points each and the Pistons avoided a playoff flop with a two-point victory at Cleveland on Friday night.

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Boston and Philadelphia, in the 1981 Eastern Conference finals, were the only teams to have more than three straight games decided by two or fewer points, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

James shot 10-of-15 in the first half, while his teammates combined for just 17 points and missed 19 of 24 shots.

James wasn’t outscored by the rest of the Cavs until Drew Gooden made two free throws in the middle of the third quarter to pull Cleveland to 46-45. Detroit responded by building its first comfortable cushion since the opening minutes, scoring 10 of the last 12 points of the third quarter to go ahead 58-48.

“They took it up to another level in the second half,” Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. “We got real stagnant on offense and they showed us a level we hadn’t seen in these playoffs.”

Notes: NBA teams are 77-17 at home in Game 7s.. ... Rasheed Wallace was at the arena more than three hours before the game to get treatment on his right ankle, which he injured in Game 4. ... Until Prince came out of the game in the final minute of Game 7, the last time he had a break was in the third quarter of Game 4.