Latest LeBron milestone trips up Toronto
CLEVELAND — Once his layup dropped, LeBron James sent another message.
As Cleveland’s crowd cheered following his artistic shot, James walked within a few feet of Toronto’s bench, pounded his chest several times and screamed, “I’m still a problem!”
The Raptors didn’t need any reminders.
James scored 27 points, the last coming on a sensational layup, and the Cavaliers continued to gain momentum with the playoffs quickly approaching by beating Toronto 112-106 on Tuesday night.
It was the 942nd time James has scored 20 points or more, seeing him vault over Kobe Bryant into third place in the all-time list. Only Karl Malone (1,134) and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (1,122) have had more 20-point games.
Meanwhile, the Raptors’ fourth defeat in six games will fuel the anxiety felt by the Canadian franchise as they attempt to lock up No 1 seeding in the Eastern Conference.
James added nine rebounds and six assists as the Cavs posted their second win in two weeks over the Eastern Conference’s top team, whose lead over second-place Boston remains at two games.
This time, the Cavaliers were much healthier than when they beat the Raptors on March 21 despite missing five rotational players and coach Tyronn Lue.
Jose Calderon added 19 points and Kevin Love 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Cavs, who are 9-1 since March 17 despite not having all their pieces.
James still isn’t sure what the postseason may bring for Cleveland, which has eliminated Toronto in each of the past two postseasons.
“We don’t know what we can become,” James said. “We have no idea. But right now we’re playing good ball and we want to try to continue that. But we don’t know what we can become. We have not been whole all year.”
DeMar DeRozan scored 19 and Jonas Valanciunas 17 for Toronto, which will host Boston on Wednesday. The Raptors didn’t quit and scored eight points in 34 seconds before the Cavs put it away with four free throws. Kyle Lowry scored only 5 on 2-of-11 shooting.
The Raptors are just 3-5 since winning 11 straight from Feb 26-March 16.
“Right now we’ve got to find our rhythm on both ends of the floor, whether it’s offense or defense,” coach Dwane Casey said. “That’s slip-sided away on us. We’ve got to get that back. We’ve got five games to go. We’ve played some of the best teams in the league, but we’ve got to find our identity and get back to being who we are. We’ve got a locker room full of fighters.
“We’ve bounced back the entire year. I have total confidence in those guys that they’re going to scratch their way out of it as we go into the playoffs.”
The Cavaliers still aren’t at full strength. Starting point guard George Hill missed his second straight game with a sprained left ankle and Lue was in attendance but only in an advisory role as he remains on medical leave.
Cleveland’s ball movement was excellent in the second quarter and so was its accuracy.
The Cavs made their first five 3-pointers in less than four minutes and opened a 16-point lead.