ORLANDO - The Orlando Magic will battle the Los Angeles Lakers for the National Basketball Association title after defeating Cleveland 103-90 on Saturday in game six of the Eastern Conference finals.

Dwight Howard poured in 40 points for Orlando, who are returning to the NBA finals championship series for the first time in 14 years.

They downed Cleveland - the team with the best regular-season record in the league and Most Valuable Player LeBron James - four-games-to-two in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.

The Magic will be making their first finals appearance since 1995, one year before Shaquille O'Neal departed as a free agent for Los Angeles.

Rashard Lewis added 18 points for the Magic, who hit 12 3-pointers in the victory.

The Cavaliers had won 66 regular-season games and won both of their opening playoff series in four-game sweeps.

But Orlando pushed them to the brink of defeat with a 116-114 overtime victory on Tuesday that gave the Magic a 3-1 series lead.

Cleveland had responded with a victory on Thursday to force Saturday's game, but could get no further.

Orlando will travel to Los Angeles for game one against the Lakers on Thursday.