Cleveland hopes for one more chance.

Kevin Garnett had 26 points and 16 rebounds, Rajon Rondo added 20 points and 13 assists, and the Celtics beat the visiting Cavaliers, 96-89, last night to move within a win of the Eastern Conference finals.

Paul Pierce scored 29 and helped shut down LeBron James for much of the second half to give Boston a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven conference semifinal. James scored 23 of his 35 points in the first half and was mostly quiet in the second before scoring six in the final 3:26 after Boston was well in the lead.

Game 6 is tomorrow night in Cleveland, with the deciding game in Boston on Sunday - if necessary.

James was 12-for-25 from the field, but only 4-for-11 in the second half and missed all five three-pointers.

The Celtics have yet to win on the road in these playoffs, allowing the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks to go the distance before advancing from the first round. But Boston, which had an NBA-best 66-16 record in the regular season, doesn't have to win on the road to win the title.

No team has ever won a title without winning an away game.

Noteworthy

Williams, whose 9-year career included two seasons with the Sixers (1990-92), was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter in 2004 but convicted on four counts of trying to cover up the 2002 shooting of hired driver Costas Christofi. The jury deadlocked on a reckless manslaughter count.

Appellate Judge Howard H. Kestin suggested that the slur incident could cast doubt on Williams' retrial even before it gets under way.

"If the defendant can establish that there was no basis for the indictment on this particular charge and it was motivated by some kind of bias, then the defendant will have gone part of the way toward dismissal of the indictment," he said.

* Danny Ainge, the Boston Celtics executive director of basketball operations, was named the Sporting News NBA Executive of the Year. *