James scores 35, Cavs take 3-0 lead
TORONTO >> Last year, LeBron James and the Cavaliers had their postseason win streak end in Canada.
This time, Cleveland came across the border and kept right on rolling.
James scored 35 points, Kevin Love had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Cavaliers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Toronto Raptors 115-94 on Friday night and take a 3-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.
“We knew we were coming to a hostile environment, we knew they were going to give us everything they had, no matter who was in the lineup,” James said. “We just had to weather the storm.”
DeMar DeRozan scored 37 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 19 for the Raptors, who were without three-time All-Star Kyle Lowry. They trailed by only two after three quarters before the Cavaliers quickly blew open the game. Game 4 is Sunday in Toronto. “We don’t need to be thinking about a sweep or getting rest, we need to be thinking about what we need to do to execute defensively and offensively coming into Sunday,” James said.
With his team on the brink of elimination, Raptors coach Dwane Casey looked at Game 4 a little differently.
“Sunday’s game is about pride,” Casey said. “You don’t want to get swept, especially in your home building.”
That won’t be easy against the Cavaliers, the first team since the Minneapolis Lakers in 1949 and 1950 to win their first seven playoff games in consecutive seasons.
Cleveland won 10 straight to begin the playoffs last year, a streak that ended when Toronto beat the Cavs in Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.
“We came in here (last year) and weren’t prepared,” Kyrie Irving said. “This year we understood what mindset we had to come in, especially in a rowdy arena like this.”
Irving scored 16 points and Kyle Korver had 14 for the Cavaliers, who have posted three straight double-digit wins over Toronto. James had eight rebounds and seven assists.
“We were not giving up but they were better than us,” Valanciunas said. SPURS 103, ROCKETS 92 >> Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points apiece to help San Antonio, now without Tony Parker, beat Houston to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Aldridge had managed just 19 points combined in the first two games, but stepped up in the wake of Parker’s season-ending leg injury, scoring nine points in the fourth quarter to help the Spurs pull away.
Game 4 Houston.
James Harden led the Rockets with 43 points after scoring just 13 in Game 2. But he had just five assists and complained about the officiating all night long.
The Spurs were playing in the postseason without Parker for the first time since 2001, ending an NBA record of 221 straight playoff appearances for the Frenchman. The 34-year-old was injured in the fourth quarter of Game 2. is Sunday night
Hawks’ Wilcox out as GM
in ATLANTA >> The Atlanta Hawks’ next general manager will have total authority of personnel decisions following moves on Friday which dismantled the twotier management team of Mike Budenholzer and Wes Wilcox.
Budenholzer resigned as the Hawks’ president of basketball operations and will remain as coach, and Wilcox resigned as general manager and “will become an adviser to ownership.”
Budenholzer will remain involved in personnel decisions, but principal owner Tony Ressler stressed the new general manager will be in charge.
“I think we as a franchise need more firepower to get to the next level,” Ressler said Friday.
Ressler said he hopes to have a new general manager before the June 22 NBA draft and free agency.
After saying two weeks ago he had confidence in the team’s leadership with Budenholzer and Wilcox, Ressler said “it became painfully obvious” changes were needed after meeting with each of the two.