Cavs cruise, complete sweep of top-seeded Raptors to reach finals
76ers dump Celtics in Game 4, avoid sweep
LeBron James recorded 29 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers completed a four-game Eastern Conference semifinal sweep of Toronto by rolling to a 12893 victory over the visiting Raptors on Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
Kevin Love scored 23 points to help fourth-seeded Cleveland reach the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth straight campaign. Kyle Korver scored 16 points, JR Smith added 15 on 6-of-6 shooting, and George Hill had 12 points as the Cavaliers dominated top-seeded Toronto over the final 31 minutes.
Cleveland recorded its 10th straight postseason triumph over Toronto. The Cavaliers eliminated the Raptors for the third straight season.
“It was a great series for us,” James said in a postgame television interview on TNT. “We had a lot of challenges before the series knowing the domination they had in the regular season. So we had a great game plan and we just tried to execute it as close to 48 minutes as possible.”
Toronto star DeMar DeRozan scored 13 points before being ejected late in the third quarter. Backcourt partner Kyle Lowry had just five points to go with 10 assists.
Jonas Valanciunas scored a team-best 18 points for the Raptors. CJ Miles notched 13 points, Serge Ibaka added 12 and Delon Wright tallied 10.
The Cavaliers will face either the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers in the East finals. Boston leads that series 3-1.
The Raptors became the third NBA team to be swept in a series before the conference-final stage. The 1969 Baltimore Bullets dropped four in a row to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Division semifinals, and the 1951 Philadelphia Warriors fell 2-0 to the Syracuse Nationals in the Eastern Division semifinals.
The only other No. 1 seed to be swept at any point over the past 15 years was the 2015 Atlanta Hawks, who fell 4-0 to James and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.
“They happened to run into LeBron,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said of the Raptors. “They haven’t lost to any other team the past three years but us. I think we have a good team, and having LeBron to get through, it’s tough.”
Toronto coach Dwane Casey agreed that James was a big part of his team’s problem.
“You’re looking at one of the guys that is going to go down as one of the greatest ever,” Casey said. “It’s a matchup nightmare for anybody.”
Cleveland shot 59.5 percent from the field, including 12 of 26 from 3-point range. The Raptors shot 45.6 percent and were 4 of 15 from behind the arc. DARIO SARIC had a playoff-career-high 25 points, and T.J. McConnell contributed a career-best 19 points and seven assists as the host Philadelphia 76ers staved off elimination with a 103-92 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 on Monday night.
Ben Simmons totaled 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, and Joel Embiid finished with 15 points and 13 boards for the 76ers, who trail the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series 3-1.
Jayson Tatum had 20 points and Marcus Morris 17 for the Celtics. Boston won the first two games of the series at home before earning a 101-98 overtime victory in Game 3 on Saturday. The Celtics are 1-4 on the road in the playoffs.
No team in NBA history has won a series after trailing 3-0.
“We have nothing to lose,” McConnell told TNT after the game. “Our coach told us ... the team that’s winning (3-0) is 129-0, so we really have nothing to lose. We’re playing our hearts out and just trying to be that one team.”
Game 5 is Wednesday night in Boston.
The 76ers shot 40.4% (38 of 94) from the floor and outrebounded the visitors 53-43. The Celtics made 41.3% (31 of 75) of their field-goal attempts.
“After you’re down 3-0 (in the series), you come on the court and fight and try to follow the game plan. We did it,” Saric said. “We deserved this win.”
Philadelphia led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter and was up 76-65 after three. Boston couldn’t trim its deficit below 10 in the fourth.
Terry Rozier’s driving layup with 3:34 left in the third had the Celtics within 66-62 before an Ersan Ilyasova finger-roll layup sparked a game-turning 10-0 run for the 76ers.
Philadelphia led 47-43 at halftime.