|| April 5, 2006 || @ New York | | LeBron James (36) | Drew Gooden, Anderson Varejão (12) | LeBron James (7) | Madison Square Garden19,763 | 45–30 |- style="background:#cfc;" | 76 || April 8, 2006 || @ New Jersey | | LeBron James (37) | Drew Gooden (9) | LeBron James (7) | Continental Airlines Arena19,048 | 46–30 |- style="background:#cfc;" | 77 || April 10, 2006 || @ New Orleans/Oklahoma City | | LeBron James (32) | Anderson Varejão (8) | LeBron James (6) | Ford Center19,187 | 47–30 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 78 || April 12, 2006 || @ Detroit | | LeBron James (22) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (8) | Damon Jones (4) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 47–31 |- style="background:#cfc;" | 79 || April 13, 2006 || New York | | Larry Hughes (26) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (14) | Larry Hughes (6) | Gund Arena20,562 | 48–31 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 80 || April 16, 2006 || @ Washington | | LeBron James (17) | Anderson Varejão, Drew Gooden (9) | LeBron James, Ronald Murray (4) | MCI Center18,405 | 48–32 |- style="background:#cfc;" | 81 || April 17, 2006 || @ Boston | | Larry Hughes (21) | Larry Hughes (5) | Eric Snow (9) | TD Garden18,624 | 49–32 |- style="background:#cfc;" | 82 || April 19, 2006 || Atlanta | | Ronald Murray (19) | Anderson Varejão (18) | Ronald Murray (6) | Gund Arena20,562 | 50–32 Player stats Regular Season Playoffs Playoffs 2006 marked the first time LeBron James made the playoffs in his career, and the first time the Cavaliers had made the playoffs since 1998 with Shawn Kemp. They came off a playoff series win vs the Wizards, while the Pistons came in off a 4–1 win vs the 8th seeded Bucks. Detroit was expected to win the series, and took a commanding two games to none lead with two wins at the Palace of Auburn Hills. James and the Cavaliers would not be intimidated however, and won their two games at home to tie the series 2–2. Coming into game 5, both teams were confident, but the Pistons were expected to pull out the win easily. The game was low scoring throughout as usual in this series, with Cleveland holding a 68 to 66 lead throughout 3 quarters. With the game tied at 84 with 26 seconds left in regulation, Drew