Cleveland, OH -- (Sports Network) - LeBron James' game-highs of 32 points, 12 rebounds and six assists overcame Cleveland's poor shooting performance, as the Cavaliers held off the Celtics, 74-69, in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at Quicken Loans Arena.

Boston connected on a mere 39.7 percent from the field, but will have the ever-so-important home-court advantage for Sunday's deciding Game 7 at TD Banknorth Garden. The host has won all six games in the series.

"We're looking forward to going to Boston and having the opportunity to play there again and get a win on the road," Cavs coach Mike Brown said.

The winner will go on to face the second-seeded Detroit Pistons in the East's finals beginning on Tuesday.

Delonte West chipped in 10 points for Cleveland, which ended a three-game losing streak when facing playoff elimination even though the club shot just 32.9 percent from the floor.

The Cavs did, however, remedy their free-throw shooting woes by hitting 21- of-25 from the stripe.

The Cavs played without backup point guard Daniel Gibson, who missed the game with a left shoulder injury sustained in Game 5. He will also miss Game 7, when the Cavs hope to get a better performance from their only other legitimate three-point threat, Wally Szczerbiak, who went 2-for-11 from the field and hit just 1-of-6 from behind the arc.

Kevin Garnett established himself as the Celtics' best offensive option, finishing with team-highs of 25 points and eight rebounds. Paul Pierce was held to 5-of-15 shooting for 16 points, and Ray Allen was once again silenced with a nine-point effort for Boston, which has dropped all six of its away games in the postseason.

Boston committed 17 turnovers in the setback.

"Both teams are playing hard," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I thought we got some good looks...it's just a tough series. It's two very good defensive basketball teams."

Cleveland survived a Celtics' flurry in the third quarter to lead by nine heading to the fourth. Garnett then bookended an 8-0 run with two field goals, as the away team trailed 65-60 with under five minutes to play.

James would answer with two huge field goals to push the lead to nine, while the Celtics' Eddie House and Szczerbiak drained offsetting three-pointers.

After a Kendrick Perkins dunk and a pair of Pierce free throws made a 72-67 game with under a minute left in regulation, Pierce was called for a questionable charge, but Cleveland couldn't add to its cushion on the other end.

Allen was then fouled driving to the hoop on the next possession. West blocked the guard's attempted shot after it touched the backboard, but the referees did not whistle for goaltending. Allen hit the two freebies to make it a three-point difference, but Joe Smith's two hits from the free throw line sealed the victory and a winner-take-all finale in the back-and-forth series.

"Just knowing the importance of those free throws when they have shooters out there like Ray Allen, Eddie House and Paul Pierce, guys who can knock down a three-pointer at any time...you want to obviously make it a two-possession game and it was just key for me to go out there and knock those down," Smith said.

The first quarter, which featured almost as many turnovers (11) as field goals (15), was appropriately concluded with an 18-18 tie.

The sloppy play didn't improve much in the second quarter with both teams continuing to struggle from the floor.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas finally swung the momentum in Cleveland's favor with two deep field goals in the final 2 1/2 minutes, helping the Cavs finish an otherwise lackluster half with a 17-2 run. The Cavs led at the break, 42-33 despite the team's 12-of-37 (32.4 percent) shooting effort from the floor.

James came out of the break and drilled a three-pointer and an 18-footer from the top of the key, as the Cavs looked posed to take over from there.

"I'm not ready to go home," James said. "I just wanted to come out and be aggressive. I thought about Game 5, how un-aggressive I was coming out in the third quarter. They took advantage of that. I wanted to come out aggressive and I did that in the third quarter."

But Garnett woke up the Celtics anemic offense with three field goals during a 13-0 run that began and ended with a Pierce three-pointer. The spurt made it a 51-48 affair with just under four minutes left in the quarter, but the Cavs withstood the rally to lead 59-50 headed to the fourth.

Game Notes:

Szczerbiak tallied nine points, while Ilgauskas logged seven points and 10 rebounds in the win...House finished with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting in 18 minutes...Cleveland owned a 45-37 rebounding edge...The Celtics shot 11- of-13 from the foul line...Cleveland has won four straight Game 6s in the postseason. The Cavaliers are 5-1 at home in this year's playoffs...Boston was a league-best 31-10 on the road in the regular season...Boston's Sam Cassell did not play in the loss...Allen 's lay-in at the 8:51 mark of the third quarter ended a streak of 16 straight missed field goals for the East's top seed...Cleveland shot 28-of-41 (68.9 percent) from the foul line in Game 5.