Cavaliers, Celtics take 2-0 leads
James has 43 points and 14 assists on the road. Boston rallies from an early 22-point deficit.
Watching LeBron James at shootaround, Kevin Love knew something special was in store.
Maybe not the fadeaway jumpers that James kept making, each seemingly with a higher degree of difficulty than the last, but Love was sure there would be something.
“This morning you could just sense it,” Love said. “He knew what was at stake, he knew us getting another win here was going to be huge for us. He came out and he played that way from the jump. You could just sense that he was going to have a special night.”
James had 43 points and 14 assists, Love added 31 points and 11 rebounds and the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 128-110 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night at Toronto, taking a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series.
It was the first 40-point, 14-assist game in NBA playoff history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
James added eight rebounds, narrowly missing his second consecutive triple-double, and connected on 19 of 28 shots in a performance so dominant that the beleaguered Raptors’ city was being called “LeBronto” by game’s end.
“He got it going and he was feeling it,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said.
James, meanwhile, gave credit to Love, who made 11 of 21 shots and missed matching his career playoff high by one point.
“It was great to see that performance out of him,” James said. “He’s our AllStar power forward. That’s a huge game for him.”
J.R. Smith scored 15 points, Jeff Green had 14 and George Hill 13 as the Cavaliers posted their eighth consecutive playoff victory over the Raptors and halted Toronto’s four-game winning streak in Game 2s.
The Raptors entered 6-1 all time when playing Game 2 at home.
“Love got going on us and that was a difficult matchup for us,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We have some matchup issues all over the court.”
DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points and Kyle Lowry had 21 for the Raptors.
at Boston 108, Philadelphia 103: Rookie Jayson Tatum scored 21 points and the Celtics rallied from a 22point deficit to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Terry Rozier added 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Marcus Smart finished with 19 points and five rebounds as the Celtics improved to 6-0 at TD Garden in the playoffs. They have never blown a 2-0 lead.
J.J. Redick had 23 points for the 76ers, making five three-point shots. Robert Covington added 22 points and nine rebounds. Joel Embiid had 20 points, 14 rebounds and five assists, but rookie star Ben Simmons missed all four of his shots and scored only one point.
Philadelphia recovered after squandering its big lead to nudge back in front 93-88 midway through the fourth quarter. But an 11-4 run put Boston back in the lead at 99-95 with less than four minutes to play.
The score was 101-97 when a missed 76ers jumper led to a two-on-one fast break and alley-oop dunk from Rozier to Tatum with 2:23 left.
A layup by Dario Saric made the score 104-101. But Al Horford was able to drive past Embiid for a layup with 8.3 seconds to play.