King James keeps Boston at bay
LeBron dominates in leading Cavs to crucial triumph in Beantown
BOSTON — LeBron James and the Cavaliers sent a message to the Celtics in their final regular-season matchup on Wednesday: They won’t relinquish the Eastern Conference’s top seed easily.
James had 36 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as Cleveland romped to a 114-91 victory to take back first place.
The teams had identical records entering the game, but Cleveland (51-27) now has a one-game lead over Boston (50-28) with only four to play.
The Cavs also hold the tiebreaker with the Celtics for the top seed, if needed.
“We’re just trying to get our team right going down the stretch – it brings out the best in me,” James said.
“We knew we were coming to a hostile building tonight and just wanted to try to play our game ... and we did that.”
Kyrie Irving added 19 points and five assists.
The Cavaliers played without starting center Tristan Thompson, who was out with a sprained right thumb. But they made do without him, surging at the start of the second quarter and taking as much as a 29-point lead in the third.
They also out-rebounded Boston 51-38.
Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics with 26 points.
“We laid an egg tonight,” Thomas said. “There’s no way around that. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity we had tonight.”
James’ output has increased noticeably over the last week as the regular season winds down.
He entered Wednesday off back-to-back triple-doubles in Sunday’s double-overtime victory over Indiana and a blowout win over Orlando on Tuesday, while logging 89 minutes over those two games.
He played another 39 minutes on Wednesday, finally going to the bench with 4:04 remaining.
The Celtics came out of the gate stale offensively. Thomas went 5 of 9 from the field in first quarter, while the rest of team was 3 of 12.
Cleveland seized on Boston’s sluggishness at the start of the second quarter, outscoring the Celtics 22-4 over the first 6:40.
James was active on both ends during the run, exploding to the rim for several easy baskets. He also did it on the defensive end, notably stuffing Marcus Smart with a twohanded block .
Even with Thompson out, this was the healthiest Cleveland team Boston had seen since the teams’ first meeting in November.
Trade acquisition Kyle Korver recently returned to action from a sore left foot and JR Smith was back after missing nearly three months following thumb surgery.
Kevin Love is also back in the fold after he underwent a knee operation.
The Celtics are going in the opposite direction on the injury front, with A very Bradley playingon Wednesday despite dealing with a stomach issue, that sidelined him for two straight games, and Jae Crowder playing through a sore left elbow.
James said it’s to be determined whether his team has truly turned a page this week.
“Only time will tell,” he said. “But we played Cavs basketball tonight and when we do that we’re a pretty good team. So we’ve got four more games left and we can see how we can finish the season off.”
Tip-ins
Cavaliers: It was James’ 22nd 30-point game ... Cleveland won for just the second time this season on the second night of a back-to-back (were 1-9 entering Wednesday) ... Thompson’s absence ended his streak of consecutive games played at 447 — the longest in team history.
Celtics: It was Boston’s third 20- point loss this season ... The Celtics were just 7 of 33 from the 3-point line and shot just 8 for 22 in the second quarter.