CLEVELAND -- The kid had never been this good. He'd never been close to this good. It's possible he'll never be this good again.

During the most pivotal eight-minute stretch of basketball in Cleveland Cavaliers history, LeBron James and Daniel Gibson combined for all 26 of their team's points. By the time they were finished, a close game with Detroit had become a blowout that gave Cleveland a 98-82 victory and the Eastern Conference title in six games.

The man they call Boobie has the biggest night. You read that right. (Getty Images)

Of those 26 points in that eight-minute stretch, LeBron James scored four.

Which means Daniel Gibson had the other 22. In eight minutes. Of the biggest game in Cleveland history.

LeBron James? You just became a footnote.

Daniel Gibson? You just became a legend.

If Gibson has to buy another meal in this city, and I mean ever, then Cleveland isn't half the sports town it thinks it is. After what happened Saturday night, Daniel Gibson ought to be set for life.

Gibson, who averaged 4.6 points per game during his rookie season, scored 31 in Game 6. Cleveland needed them all on a night when James suffered from some sort of hangover from Game 5, when he scored the Cavaliers' final 25 points and ended with 48 in a double-overtime victory at Detroit.

After Game 5 James had to be replenished with IV drips, and it's possible that two days later he still hadn't fully recovered. Like a pitcher who has thrown too many pitches in his previous start, James had nothing left. He finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, and if that doesn't tell you how good LeBron James is, nothing ever will. Because James almost had a triple-double ... and he was awful.

Awful.

James didn't have a single field goal in the first half. He finished 3-for-11 from the floor and needed 19 free throws to make 14. He drove for a fast-break dunk and clanged it off the front of the rim. He bobbled passes out of bounds. He had the ball pulled away from him, like candy from a baby, at the top of the key. He threw passes away, missed open shots, didn't look like himself at all.

But it was a crazy game. LeBron puts up 20, 14 and eight and still manages to look terrible. Gibson scores 31 off the bench. An "inadvertent whistle" was called on a Rasheed Wallace shot, the officials giving him the basket even though it wasn't contested because of the whistle. Dumbfounding.

The second quarter was delayed 21 minutes by a clock malfunction, giving TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager and his pimp suit way too much TV time. Every time I think Sager couldn't possibly sink any lower sartorially, he pulls out another abused swatch of fabric. Do I sound angry? I'm angry. The second quarter was delayed by 21 minutes and I had to stare at Sager.

After the delay the second quarter was played under bizarre circumstances: no shot clock, no score on the scoreboard. After every basket the P.A. announcer would call out the score. The 24-second clock was kept at the scorer's table, and the P.A. guy would call out "10 seconds" and then "five seconds, four, three, two, one ..."

The P.A. guy never had to make a fake horn sound. Both teams were so freaked out by the sound of God counting down the shot clock that no shot was taken with less than three seconds to go.

Outside, thousands of fans hung around after the Indians' baseball game next door at Jacobs Field -- a 9-5 loss to Detroit, of all teams -- to listen to the radio feed of Game 6. Downtown Cleveland was a zoo after the final horn, 20,000 cars stuck hopelessly but happily in the two parking decks that handle most of the game traffic.

Inside, Daniel Gibson was hitting 3-pointers from all over the arc, and women were holding up signs like, "We want more Boobie," and, "Show us your Boobie."

That's Gibson's nickname: Boobie. Comes from his mother. Couldn't tell you why.

Wallace, who fouled out and then got ejected for picking up two quick technical fouls midway through the fourth quarter, can be "Boobie Prize" -- though he has plenty of competition from teammates and even coach Flip Saunders. Saunders, whose coaching acumen has never been debated because nobody thinks he can coach a lick, proved it by leaving Gibson alone in the midst of his 22-point barrage. Time after time Gibson's defender would leave him on a switch, even to guard Cleveland players not named LeBron, and Gibson would bury 3 after 3 after 3. So Saunders is a dummy.

But Tayshaun Prince was bad, going 1-for-10 from the field. Chauncey Billups, Mr. Missed Shot, had nine points to conclude an abysmal postseason that will cost him money this offseason. And Chris Webber was a jerk from the opening tap, shoving Sasha Pavlovic in the opening minute, getting a technical for pushing away Anderson Varejao during a dead ball and later clubbing Varejao to the ground on a shot. Webber was looking for some rough stuff, so it was karma when Pavlovic drove into him with an upraised knee, leaving Webber writhing on the ground, holding a nationally televised handful of ... groin.

Strange game. Crazy game. Cleveland's going to the NBA Finals, and if I'd told you Saturday afternoon that the star of Game 6 would be Daniel Gibson, you know what you'd have called me?

Nuts.