Remember me?
LeBron drops 30 in rout after MVP snub
BOSTON — LeBron James scored 30 points, Kevin Love had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and the Cavaliers routed the Celtics 130-86 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals and tie an NBA record with their 13th straight playoff victory.
Cleveland led by 14 points after one quarter, by a record 41 at the half and by 46 after three. Even with James and the rest of the starters sitting out the fourth quarter, the 130 points was the most ever scored by the franchise in a playoff game.
“I believe we’ve got another level, as well,” James said. “As well as we played tonight, we’ve got a couple of things we can do better.”
Kyrie Irving had 23 points for the Cavaliers, who return home, beginning with Game 3 Sunday night, with a chance to finish off the Celtics in Cleveland. It would be the third straight sweep this postseason for the defending NBA champions, who also won the last three games of last year’s finals.
The Celtics played the second half without Isaiah Thomas because of a strained right hip. But the game was already out of reach by that time.
With both teams going to their benches early in the fourth quarter, the only suspense was whether the Celtics could avoid the worst playoff loss in franchise history. The Magic beat them by 47 points in the first round of the 1995 postseason.
Still, it was the Celtics’ worst home playoff loss ever.
Thomas finished with just a pair of free throws, missing all six shots from the field; he also had six assists. Rookie Jaylen Brown scored 19 for Boston.
The game tipped off about 15 minutes after the three finalists for NBA MVP were announced, and James wasn’t among them. It’s the first time since 2008 that he won’t finish in the top three.
But James, who has won the award four times, still has a chance for a fourth NBA title.
“My only job is to try to be the MVP for this team every night,” James said. “I know what I bring to the table. This league knows what I bring to the table.”