Reigning NBA champions the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday powered into the Eastern Conference Finals, downing the Toronto Raptors 109-102 to complete a four-game sweep of their playoff series.
LeBron James scored 35 points with nine rebounds and six assists as the Cavaliers subdued the desperate Raptors to remain unbeaten in eight games in the playoffs.
They are the first team to win eight games in a row over consecutive post-season runs.
Photo: AP
“It’s never easy, especially in a closeout game,” said Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, who scored 11 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and added nine assists. “There’s desperation at their end and desperation at our end.”
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers play either the Boston Celtics or the Washington Wizards for a place in the NBA Finals.
John Wall tallied 27 points and 12 assists as the Wizards defeated the Celtics 121-102 to level their series at 2-2.
Kyle Korver scored 18 off the bench as his 16 first-half points helped the Cavaliers erase an 11-point first-quarter deficit and take a 61-49 halftime lead.
With their backs against the wall, down 16 points early in the third quarter, the Raptors responded, taking a 93-92 lead with 6 minutes, 38 seconds to play.
“The closeout game is always tough,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “They came out and competed, took an early lead, went up 11. It was a tough game for us. We knew it would be, coming into a hostile environment.”
It marked the second straight year that the Cavs eliminated the Raptors from the playoffs on their home floor. They beat them in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
Serge Ibaka scored 23 points for the Raptors, while DeMar DeRozan added 22 with eight assists, but with Kyle Lowry on the bench for a second straight game with a sprained ankle, the Raptors could not match the Cavs’ firepower.
Irving put Cleveland in front with a three-pointer with 5:34 to play and made two free throws.
His layup with four minutes left had Cleveland up by eight.
The Cavs outscored the Raptors 17-9 over the final 6:15, Irving producing all 11 points in one key 11-2 Cavs run.
James played the entire fourth quarter — but he will have plenty of time to rest since the conference finals do not start before Monday next week.
In a closeout game, Lue said, “he tries to go as far as we need him in that fourth quarter.”
“I tried to get him out for a couple of minutes, but he said: ‘No, I’m fine,’” said Lue, who did make sure that James got a bit of a breather by calling a timeout on the heels of a Toronto 20-second timeout.
James will be making a seventh consecutive NBA Finals appearance, having had four in a row with Miami and the past two with Cleveland, and his eighth overall.
James is 3-4 in his trips to the championship series.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
RSS