LeBron James Leads Cavaliers to Dominant Game 2 Win vs. Raptors

A year ago, the Toronto Raptors went down 2-0 to the Cleveland Cavaliers before winning their first two home games and making it a series. They'll have to hope history repeats itself in 2017.

LeBron James scored 39 points and the Cavaliers were red-hot from three-point range, as they earned a 125-103 statement win over the Raptors on Wednesday to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference Semifinals. The two teams will reconvene in Toronto on Friday.

James, who passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for second on the all-time playoff scoring list, has scored 74 points on 62.2 percent shooting through the first two games of the series. He was at peak efficiency in Game 2, making 10 of his 14 shots, getting to the free-throw line 21 times and working to collapse the entire Raptors defense.  

As is typically the case when James is good, people took a moment to bask in his brilliance:

The Cavaliers made 18 threes for the game and shot a sterling 54.7 percent overall. Their 125 points are a franchise playoff record, and they've scored 110-plus points in four of their six wins this postseason. 

That came despite an off night from Kyrie Irving, whose 22 points came on an inefficient 6-of-19 shooting. Irving impressively added 11 assists and made consistent dribble-drive headway after Kyle Lowry went down with an injury, but with Kevin Love (nine points, seven rebounds) also struggling, it was essentially James and the role players stealing the show.

ESPN Stats & Info provided context on the play of Irving:

Tristan Thompson did his typical work on the interior on his way to a nine-point, nine-rebound near-double-double. He's averaging a double-double for the series after failing to record one the entire first round. 

Channing Frye was also hot from beyond the arc, knocking down his first five threes on his way to 18 points in 18 minutes. Nicholas A. Kovach of FoxNews8 offered a look at how Frye's night compared to others:

The Raptors, meanwhile, looked like a team on a completely different talent stratosphere.

Despite the ankle injury to Lowry, who gritted his way to 20 points in 30 minutes, almost no one else on the Toronto roster showed up. DeMar DeRozan finished with five points on 2-of-11 shooting in his second major egg of the postseason. To DeRozan's credit, he returned from his 0-of-8 performance against the Milwaukee Bucks with 33 in the following game.

The Raptors will have to hope a return to Toronto brings DeRozan back to his borderline All-NBA form. Twitter understandably let DeRozan have it for his struggles:

On the promising side of things, the Raptors might be able to build on the success of their bench. Jonas Valanciunas (23 points, five rebounds) and Cory Joseph (22 points, six rebounds) were both stellar and found success against Cleveland's second unit. The Cavs know their best-case scenario without LeBron is treading water, but the Valanciunas-Joseph combo could wind up swinging a game in Toronto.

The Raptors' bench (51) finished with one fewer point than the starters (52). 

Even with their depth, this mostly feels like Toronto is hoping to simply steal one on its home court. Love hasn't made an impact through two games and Irving's shot hasn't been consistent, and Cleveland's still rampaged to two double-digit wins.

LeBron jokingly faked a swig of a beer in Game 1 and was seen mugging to Cleveland fans in Game 2. This isn't the demeanor of someone who's at all worried about an upset.