How sweep it is: Cavaliers vanquish Raptors … again
CLEVELAND — Order has been restored for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Four games with Toronto straightened them out.
Lebron James sent the Raptors into summer vacation for the third straight season as the Cavs completed another series sweep over the East’s top team with a 128-93 win in Game 4 on Monday to advance to the conference finals for the fourth consecutive year.
James had 29 points and 11 assists and spent some of the final 7:38 dancing near the bench during Cleveland’s 10th straight playoff win over Toronto, which changed its system, its roster and its approach but still can’t beat the game’s best player.
Pushed to the max for seven games by Indiana in the first round, the Cavs took care of Toronto quickly.
“It was a great series for us,” James said. “We had a lot of challenges to start the series knowing the domination they had in the regular season. We had a great game plan, and we just tried to execute it.”
Kevin Love added 23 points and J.R. Smith 15 for the Cavs, who can rest while waiting for the Boston-philadelphia semifinal series to end.
Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and Kyle Lowry 10 assists to lead the exasperated Raptors. Toronto’s frustration hit its peak late in the third when All-star Demar Derozan was ejected for a flagrant foul.
There will be no historic comeback. Of the 130 teams to take a 3-0, all of them have won the series.
Cleveland will be appearing in its fourth straight conference final despite a turbulent regular season and a bumpy start to the playoffs.
At Philadelphia, T.J. Mcconnell had a career-high 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists in his second start of the season for Philadelphia, which cut its series deficit to 3-1.
Dario Saric had 25 points, Ben Simmons 19 points and 13 rebounds and Joel Embiid 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Sixers, with Embiid closing the first half with a rim-rattling dunk that put Philadelphia up 47-43.
Jayson Tatum scored 20 points and Marcus Morris 17 for the Celtics.
76ers 103, Celtics 92 —