Overshadowed as the Golden State Warriors shot down history during the regular season, the Cavaliers are making this post-season their own.
LeBron James recorded a triple-double and Cleveland improved to 10-0 in the playoffs with a 108-89 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
James had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as the Cavs became the fourth team to start the post-season with 10 straight wins, joining the Los Angeles Lakers (1989, 2001) and San Antonio Spurs (2012). Playing at a different level than the rest of the field, the Cavs are now two wins from appearing in their second straight NBA Finals and trying to end Cleveland’s 52-year sports championship drought.
Photo: David Richard - USA TODAY
Kyrie Irving scored 26 and Kevin Love 19 for Cleveland, who swept Detroit and Atlanta and have beaten Toronto by a combined 50 points in two games.
“I don’t think it feels like a streak,” James said of the Cavs’ rampage through the playoffs. “It feels like we won one game, we won the next game. We’ve taken one step at a time. We’ve tried to take care of business.”
The Raptors managed to hang around longer than in Game 1, when they were blown out by 31. However, Toronto lack the necessary firepower to stay with a Cleveland team playing their best basketball this season, one that James likened to a football team.
“We play offense, we play defense and we’re great at special teams as well,” he said.
Game 3 is slated for today in Toronto, where Raptors All-Star guard Kyle Lowry can only hope the rims at the Air Canada Centre are kinder than the ones in the Quicken Loans Arena.
Lowry scored 10 points and is shooting 8-of-28 from the field, including 1-of-15 on three-pointers in the series. However, he is not hanging his head.
“I’m super confident,” he said. “I missed countless threes that I thought were good and that I made last series. That’s why I’m not down on myself. We’ve got a game on Saturday [today], and I know I’m going to be much more effective. Simple as that.”
DeMar DeRozan scored 22 for the Raptors, who have had a disastrous debut in the conference finals to this point.
“We’re not quitting,” coach Dwane Casey said. “Everybody can bury us, but we’re not quitting. I refuse to believe that.”
James moved past Shaquille O’Neal into fourth place on the career post-season scoring list, with 5,255 points. Next on the list are Kobe Bryant (5,640), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5,762) and Michael Jordan (5,987).
It was James’ 15th playoff triple-double, secured when he ran down rebound No. 10 with 8 minutes, 1 second left. He scored on Cleveland’s next possession, and while sitting on the bench during a subsequent timeout, he saluted applauding Cavs fans by pressing his fingers to his lips and touching his heart.
By then, the Cavs, who closed the first half with a decisive 16-2 run, were up 20 and coasting to another easy win.
Earlier in the day, James was asked if the Cavs might need a loss to get them ready for the finals.
“We don’t want to lose,” he said.
And the Cavs are playing like it under coach Tyronn Lue, also a perfect 10 in the playoffs.
“It’s not easy,” said Lue, who took over when the Cavs fired David Blatt in January.
The Cavaliers, though, are making it look easy — too easy — during their pristine post-season.
Cleveland’s Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova tweaked his ankle in the second half, but Lue said he should be OK.
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