James’ 35 help Cavaliers beat Celtics in Game 7

LeBron James scored 35 points with 15 rebounds and nine assists on Sunday night to earn an eighth straight trip to the NBA Finals, leading the Cavaliers to an 87-79 victory over the host Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

In the first close game of the series — and the lowestscoring — James played all 48 minutes for his sixth straight Game 7 win.

The NBA Finals begin Thursday at either Houston or Golden State. The Rockets host the seventh game of the West finals on tonight.

Jayson Tatum scored 24 for Boston, which was looking to return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.

Warriors guard Klay Thompson flashed back to a night he left the arena still in uniform, furious about his forgettable performance against the Nuggets.

It used to be he struggled to shake off a bad night, or even a bad start to a game.

Now, he just keeps shooting. Whenever he feels like it, from wherever. No conscience. A hand or two in his face, no matter.

“I was not always like this. I used to be so hard on myself, especially early in my career,” Thompson said. “I learned, as I get older, if you play with passion, you play hard, and you leave the game saying I gave everything I have tonight in those 48 minutes, you can live with the result.”

Thompson came through with the defending champions’ season on the line in another do-or-die Game 6, just as he did two years ago at Oklahoma City. This time he scored 35 points with nine 3-pointers as the Warriors rallied with a huge second half to beat the Rockets 115-86 on Saturday night to force a deciding game in the Western Conference finals.

The Warriors have to defeat the Rockets in Houston on Monday night to play in their fourth straight NBA Finals.

The Rockets are holding out hope that Chris Paul’s strained right hamstring will allow him to suit up for Game 7. He sat out Game 6, and that didn’t help the efforts to contain Thompson.

Thompson’s defense shined, too.

Thompson has long been content to be the understated All-Star among the four in the Warriors starting lineup.

“I just wanted to play with as much passion as I could tonight. Probably sounded more vocal than I usually am,” Thompson said. “When your back’s against the wall, if your shot’s not falling, you can always control your passion and how hard you play. Usually when I do that, it trickles over to other aspects of my game.”