NBA: Cavs and James sweep out Raptors in dominating fashion
CLEVELAND — Once the sweeping was done, LeBron James headed toward the locker room. He stopped on the way to share a moment with his two sons, who held basketballs while patiently waiting to take some shots.
James hugged his kids and rubbed their heads. He treated the Toronto Raptors the same way: child’s play.
James ended Toronto’s season for the third straight year with a second consecutive four-game sweep as the Cavs advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth year in a row with a 128-93 romp in Game 4 on Monday night.
James finished with 29 points, eight rebounds 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 — again.
“They were a well-balanced, puttogether team this year,” James said, praising a team he has tormented. “They’ve built a very good team that can succeed in the postseason. I felt coming into the series this would be a tough challenge for us.”
Turns out, the Raptors still weren’t good enough.
Kevin Love added 23 points and J.R. Smith 15 for the Cavs, who can rest while waiting for the Philadelphia-Boston series to end.
Jonas Valanciunas scored 18 and Kyle Lowry had 10 assists to lead the exasperated Raptors. Toronto’s frustration hit its peak late in the third when DeMar DeRozan was ejected for a flagrant foul.
There will be no historic comeback. Of the 130 NBA teams to take a 3-0 lead, all of them have won the series.
“They wanted it more than us,” Valanciunas said. “That’s about it. It was the mental stuff, not the basketball stuff, that hurt us the most. It’s not like we didn’t want to (win). We wanted to, but I think it was the frustration. We just lost our head.”
James arrived at Quicken Loans Arena three hours before tip-off wearing a baseball cap that said: “Don’t Trip.” If the message was directed at his teammates, they got it.
The Cavs didn’t stumble and had one of their best all-around games of these playoffs. They won Games 1 and 3 over Toronto by a combined three points, needing a buzzer-beater to outlast the Raptors on Saturday night.
There was no need for such dramatics and for a change, James, who came into Monday averaging 41.7 minutes per game in the postseason, had plenty of help. All five Cleveland starters scored in double figures.
“They were wonderful,” James said of his teammates. “I was horrible in Game 1 and they picked it up for me. So I tried to follow their lead going into Game 2 and all the way through Game 4.”
Toronto head coach Dwane Casey, looking for a spark to save the season, switched starting lineups for the second straight game. He gave C.J. Miles his first start, but Miles picked up two quick fouls and the Cavs were in gear from the start as Cleveland opened 12-for-15 from the floor while building a 26-17 lead.
After James dropped a fadeaway baseline jumper to give Cleveland a 27-point lead with a minute left in the third, the 33-year-old stared at Toronto’s bench as he ran back on defense.
The Raptors had the league’s secondbest record, the No. 1 seed in the East, a deeper bench and in Lowry and DeRozan, enough firepower to offset James.
But after blowing a big lead and giving away Game 1 on their home floor, the Raptors could not recover.
“We had a heck of a season,” Casey said, “but there’s a different level, and you saw it tonight. Everybody called Cleveland out. But as long as they have him ( James), they have a chance.”