LeBron’s road prowess gives Cavs leg up on Raptors

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the benefit of home-court advantage in this Eastern Conference semifinal against the Toronto Raptors and a virtual guarantee of winning at least once on the road, thanks to LeBron James.

The Raptors are deeper and perhaps hungrier than they were nearly a year ago, before they were bounced from the conference finals by the Cavs in six games.

Toronto added Serge Ibaka to its starting lineup, a veteran with Finals experience who can shoot for a big man and also play in the post. P.J. Tucker is a wing defender who can help DeMarre Carroll try to guard James.

The Cavs and Raptors finished with identical 51-31 records, and Cleveland’s wobbly defense didn’t showed any marked improvement during the team’s series sweep of Indiana.

But the Cavs are a great team at home and no one wins on the road in the playoffs like James. So it’s the Cavs who have the upper hand in this series that starts Monday at The Q, if only from a math perspective.

The odds say the Cavs are going to win one of the Raptors’ three road games (if the series goes that long), and Cleveland is 15-1 at The Q dating back to the 2015 playoffs against the East.

“I just like the adversity of the road,” James said Friday, after practice. “Home cooking is great, love the home fans for 14 years. But I love playing out on the road more than I love playing at home. It’s just a weird thing.” James, 32, has won at least one road game in an NBA-record 27 consecutive series. He’s won a road game in 35 of his 38 playoff series over 12 playoff seasons.

James’ finest game of the most recent series against Indiana – Game 3, a triple double with 41 points – was on the road. It was only the latest in his laundry list of dominant road playoff performances.

Even his best game against the Raptors in the conference finals last season was Game 6 in Toronto, when he closed them out with 33 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Toronto coach Dwane Casey said James “canceled Christmas” that night.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, James became the first player in NBA history last round against Indiana to average at least 32 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, three steals and two blocks in a playoff series.

In three games against the Raptors during the regular season, James (27.7 points), Kyrie Irving (24.7 points) and Kevin Love (21.0) were dominant, and two of those contests were on the road. That’s why Cleveland holds home-court advantage in this series – it won all those games.

The fourth game, the regular-season finale, the Cavs sat their Big 3 and lost.

History suggests that those games in Toronto, at least one, could belong to James.

“No built-in advantage,” James said. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to be able to win a road game in this series. Just play the game. For me I just go out and try to win every game and do whatever it takes to help our team be successful. Going to a hostile building in Game 3 and Game 4 and we know that. Their fans are unbelievable. I stated that last year after we closed that series out.

“Doesn’t mean we’re going to be able to win this year. We’ve got to go out and make it happen. We have to worry about Game 1 first.”