James pours in 44 as Cavs even series
CLEVELAND – LeBron James scored 44 points, surpassed Kareem AbdulJabbar atop a postseason list and helped the Cleveland Cavaliers even the Eastern Conference finals at 2-2 on Monday night with a 111-102 victory over the Boston Celtics, who are looking forward to getting home.
Pushed by a raucous crowd that wasn’t so confident a few days ago, the Cavs held off Boston’s comeback in the fourth quarter and squared a series that is now a best of three.
“It’s the best two out of three to the NBA Finals. It doesn’t get any better than that,” said Boston coach Brad Stevens.
Cleveland is trying to become the 20th team – out of 300 – to overcome a 2-0 deficit and James, who has already orchestrated two such rallies, is a step closer to a third.
But to do it again the Cavs will have to win in Boston, where the Celtics are 9-0 this postseason.
Game 5 is Wednesday night at TD Center.
“There’s no love in there,” said James. “It’s a hostile environment. We don’t wear green. If you don’t bleed green, they’ve got no love for you.”
Kyle Korver added 14 points with several hustle plays, and Tristan Thompson had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland.
Jaylen Brown scored 25 and Boston had all five scorers in double figures, but the Celtics fell behind by 19 in the first half and didn’t have enough to catch Cleveland.
And, of course, they didn’t have James, who moved past Jabbar (2,356) for the most field goals in playoff history. James also recorded his 25th career playoff game with at least 40 points.