LeBron James, Cavaliers Advance to Conference Finals with Sweep vs. Raptors
The Toronto Raptors should offer to pay for LeBron James' plane ticket if he's interested in joining a Western Conference team this offseason when deciding on his player option.
James and the Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated the Raptors for the third straight postseason Monday with a 128-93 victory in Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena to complete the second-round sweep. The win extended Cleveland's playoff winning streak over Toronto to 10 and clinched its spot in the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth straight year.
James led the way with 29 points, 11 assists and eight boards, but his showing was part of a balanced Cleveland effort. Kevin Love finished with 23 points and six rebounds, and all five Cavaliers starters scored in double figures.
Toronto didn't have the firepower to stay within striking distance in the second half, and it watched the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed and a franchise-best 59-23 regular-season record lose all meaning against the same foe in yet another playoff matchup.
As if that wasn't enough, All-Star DeMar DeRozan was ejected for a hard flagrant-2 foul on Jordan Clarkson in the third quarter.
James toyed with the Raptors throughout the series, mixing in a buzzer-beater in Game 3, a triple-double in Game 1, and 43 points and 14 assists in Game 2. He knows he is capable of taking over against Toronto at a moment's notice, but he was focused on getting his teammates involved early in Monday's matchup.
The four-time MVP scored just two points in the first quarter, but the Cavaliers still built a double-digit lead with George Hill attacking the lane and throwing down rim-rattling dunks and JR Smith taking advantage of the additional attention No. 23 was drawing by connecting on outside shots.
It's a testament to James' overall ability that he recognizes the flow of a game and adjusts accordingly, and Toronto was so focused on stopping him that Smith, Kyle Korver and Love were running free. The Raptors were consistently a step late on the defensive side, and the Cavaliers' supporting cast wasted little time burying them.
It was fitting the performance happened after Saturday Night Live turned heads with a skit this past weekend poking fun at the "other Cavs" outside of James.
The team seemed to notice:
After he dazzled as a facilitator early on—especially with a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Love—James went into scoring mode in the third quarter to push his team's advantage to as many as 28. He poured in 15 points in the third alone, ending any chance at a comeback.
It was the cherry on top of a dominant Cavaliers blowout that featured 16 points from Korver (4-of-5 from three), 15 points from Smith (3-of-3 from three), and 12 points and five assists from Hill.
From Toronto's side, Monday's contest was another referendum on the franchise as a legitimate championship contender with James in the way.
All the regular-season success becomes worthless if a team can't deliver on the postseason stage, and this series featured a missed tip-in from Jonas Valanciunas that would have won Game 1, DeRozan being benched for the entire fourth quarter in Game 3 and ejected in Game 4, and an overall abysmal showing with the season on the line Monday.
No team in NBA history has overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, and the Raptors needed more than 13 points from DeRozan and five points from Kyle Lowry if they were to become the first.
Valanciunas kept Toronto's fledgling hopes on life support in the first half by establishing himself in the post on his way to 18 points off the bench, but the production was all for naught.
The Cavaliers now turn their attention to the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals, where they will play either the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers. They won't own home-court advantage against either, but that was far from a problem against Toronto.
