The Cleveland Cavaliers, fueled by another milestone night for LeBron James, on Thursday powered into a third straight NBA Finals meeting against the Golden State Warriors with a dominant 135-102 win over the Celtics in Boston.
“King” James surpassed NBA icon Michael Jordan as the league’s all-time leading playoff scorer.
He finished the game with 35 points, booking his seventh straight finals appearance as reigning champions the Cavaliers wrapped up a 4-1 win over the Celtics in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals.
For the third straight year they are to face the Warriors for the crown.
“We all need to soak this up. This is a great moment, and this is not promised,” James said.
The Warriors, who beat Cleveland for the title in 2015, swept the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals and host Game 1 of the championship series in Oakland, California, on Thursday next week.
Cleveland jumped to a quick 14-5 lead and were up by 43-27 after the first quarter — posting a franchise record for points in a quarter of a playoff game.
Cleveland’s 75 first-half points were the most in an NBA playoff game half since 2003 and gave them an 18-point cushion.
James had entered the contest needing 28 points to pass Jordan — winner of six titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s — for first on the post-season scoring list.
He did it with a three-pointer late in the third quarter — the first of a string of three straight from beyond the arc.
In addition to leading all scorers, James had eight assists and eight rebounds. He had taken his post-season career points total to 5,995 by the time he took a seat for the entire fourth quarter — along with the rest of Cleveland’s starters.
Kyrie Irving — who scored 42 points in Cleveland’s Game 4 victory — added 24 points and Kevin Love contributed 15.
The Cavs’ “Big Three” were strongly backed by their reserves. Deron Williams added 14 off the bench for Cleveland, who led by as many as 39.
As Cleveland faltered in the regular season, the Celtics had seized the top seed in the East. However, it meant little, as Boston never led in any of their home games in the series.
James, Irving and Love took command from the opening tip-off on Thursday.
Love scored Cleveland’s first eight points, and finished the opening frame with 10 points and five rebounds.
James scored 11 points with six assists in the period and Irving, showing no sign of the twisted left ankle he suffered in the third quarter of Game 4, scored nine as Cleveland shot 64 percent from the field in the first quarter.
Boston’s Avery Bradley tried to fight back with 14 points in the second quarter. He finished the game with 23, but the Celtics never came close to mounting a rally.
The Cavaliers, who rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Warriors in last year’s NBA Finals, set an NBA record in winning their 13th straight playoff series potential closeout game.
The Los Angeles Lakers had set the previous record of 12 straight wins in potential elimination games from 2000-2004.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and