King in pain: Hurting James gets Cavs into second round
CLEVELAND — Lebron James wasn’t ready to go home or to Philadelphia or Los Angeles.
He’s heading to Toronto, bringing a Cavaliers team that isn’t done yet.
Unwilling to sit despite battling leg cramps in the second half, James scored 45 points and got some much-needed help from his teammates in Game 7 to stay unbeaten in the opening round of the NBA playoffs, leading the Cavaliers to a 105101 win on Sunday over the Indiana Pacers, who pushed the game’s best player to the breaking point.
After the game, an exhausted James said the series took a physical toll.
“I’m burnt right now,” he said. “I’m not thinking about Toronto right now until tomorrow. I’m ready to go home. Can we? I’m tired. I want to go home.”
James added nine rebounds, seven assists and played over 43 minutes while improving to 13-0 in the first round. He kept Cleveland’s strange season alive — for the time being — but it took everything the 33-yearold and the Cavs had to hold off the Pacers, who came in confident after a 34-point win in Game 6.
But James, who at times seemed to be playing the Pacers by himself in the series, pulled the Cavs back from
NBA
the brink of elimination and at least delayed any more talk about impending free agency.
“Amazing,” Indiana’s Victor Oladipo said of James. “He did what he always does. It’s not really shocking. He’s the best in the world, and that’s what the best does and now I gotta work to get on that level.”
The Cavs will open the conference semifinals on Tuesday at top-seeded Toronto.
Early in the game, James looked at agent Rich Paul sitting courtside and told him he wasn’t coming out. James then played the first 35 minutes before heading to the locker room with one minute left in the third to be treated for what he said was “a little minor injury.” James said he was urged to get IV fluids but turned them down.
Nothing was going to keep James off the floor in what some Cleveland fans feared could have been his last game with the franchise.
He fought through the fatigue. He had no choice.
“It felt like a Game 7,” he said. “It was like, your mind is thinking like, ‘OK, besides the two I played in the Finals, you start thinking like, is this it? Could this be it?’ That’s just human nature. And then the other side of my brain was like, ‘Let’s go make something happen. Let’s go, that’s what you here for. You’re here to make plays, you’re the leader.’ ”
The Cavs got a huge lift from Findlay Prep product Tristan Thompson, who played just 24 minutes in the first six games but made a rare start as Cavs coach Tyronn Lue used his 34th different starting lineup this season. Thompson added 15 points and 10 rebounds, Kevin Love made four 3-pointers, and George Hill
returned after missing three games with back spasms to score 11 in 19 second-half minutes.
“Five guys in double figures,” said Lue, who has taken heat for some decisions in the series. “But I’m just happy Tristan, because he’s been here with us for so long and been through all of the things we’ve been through over the course of the last four years, and to step in and play the way he did, I’m just so happy for him.”
Oladipo scored 30 and Darren Collison had 23 for the Pacers, who were still within four in the final minute before a cutting James scored on a bullet pass from Kyle Korver with 30 seconds left.
“Best receiver in the NBA,” Korver said of James. “Just got to put it up there for him.”
Oladipo hit a 3 at the horn and was immediately embraced by James, who had never played a first-round Game 7 and was in jeopardy of seeing an eighth trip to the Finals end quickly.
Rockets 110, Jazz 96
At Houston, James Harden scored 41 points and the Rockets raced out to a huge lead and cruised to victory in the opening game of a Western Conference semifinal series with Utah.
Houston was up by 25 at halftime behind 34 points combined from Harden and Chris Paul. The Jazz, who didn’t wrap up their first-round series with Oklahoma City until late Friday night, looked sluggish and struggled to keep pace with the energy of the top-seeded Rockets, who hadn’t played since eliminating Minnesota on Wednesday.
It was Houston’s fourth straight win by 10 or more points this postseason.
The Jazz got 21 points each from rookie Donovan Mitchell and Jae Crowder. Rhame have been two of the most affected, going back and forth between Las Vegas and the big leagues.
The Mets called up Hansel Robles from Las Vegas before the Triple-a season began and sent him down in the middle of the month, called up and sent down Oswalt twice, called up Rhame and sent him down on back-to-back days and have called up Gerson Bautista and sent him back to Double-a Binghamton.
“Teams are paying more attention to trying to have more optionable relievers on their team,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway told Newsday. “In the past, if you had everybody on a guaranteed major-league deal, you can (run) into a problem. You had to get rid of somebody and that somebody might’ve ended up being a pretty good pitcher.”
Oswalt and Rhame will both need to be added back to the 51s roster after being sent down by the Mets this week. Oswalt will make just his third start of the season for the 51s on Monday, though he did throw 4⅔ innings of relief for the Mets on April 25.
Buddy Baumann, who the Mets claimed off waivers, could be another option for the Mets’ bullpen at some point as the only lefty in the Las Vegas bullpen who is on the 40-man roster.
The Mets currently are carrying