Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cavs, James hang Raptors out to dry
CLEVELAND — LeBron James toyed with the idea of drinking some beer. He downed the Raptors again instead.
James briefly grabbed a bottle of beer on the sideline while scoring 35 points, Kyrie Irving added 24 and the Cleveland Cavaliers picked up where they left off after a long layoff and throttled Toronto 116-105 on Monday night in the opener of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal.
NBA playoffs glance
All times Central Best-of-7 MONDAY’S GAMES Cleveland 116, Toronto 105 Cleveland leads series 1-0 Houston 126, San Antonio 99 Houston leads series 1-0
TODAY’S GAMES
Washington at Boston, 7 p.m. Series opener Utah at Golden State, 9:30 p.m. Series opener
The Cavs hadn’t played since April 23, when they completed a four-game sweep of Indiana. But the defending champions appeared
well-prepared to face the revenge-seeking Raptors, who lost to Cleveland in last year’s conference finals.
Toronto dropped to 1-12 in playoff openers, and the Raptors got blown out for the fourth consecutive time in Cleveland.
Game 2 is Wednesday night. “As a team I think we had great energy, and even some of the mistakes that we had we were able to cover up for because our energy level was high,” James said. “But we’ll be a lot better on Wednesday.”
Kyle Lowry scored 20 and DeMar DeRozan 19 for the Raptors, who were within seven in the third quarter before James dropped a three-pointer, converted a three-point play, hit another and then, providing comic relief, acted as if he were considering downing a brew.
James playfully hopped toward the sideline, where a courtside server was passing by, after drawing a foul on a missed layup.
James, a winner of three World Championship rings, reached and grabbed a beer bottle from her tray and brought it toward his lips before putting it back.
“I was standing right next to him,” said J.R. Smith. “I thought it was hilarious until I thought that if I did it, it wouldn’t have been taken the right way. It was funny, though.”
This Toronto team, with trade acquisitions Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker, seemed better equipped to beat Cleveland than the one which lost in six games in last year’s playoffs.
But James, after nearly averaging a triple-double against the Pacers, reminded the Raptors that to move on they’ll have to beat him.
“We’ve just got to play defense and not let them do up and down and do what they do, play defense for 48 minutes,” Lowry said. “We got to find ways to limit their spurts.”
Before the game, Toronto coach Dwane Casey talked about the big comebacks that have been a theme in these playoffs. The Raptors blew a 25-point lead to Milwaukee in the first round, while the Cavs overcame a 25-point deficit and pulled off the biggest second-half rally in playoff history.
“There’s no lead safe in the NBA,” he said.
That held true in the first half, at least, when the Cavs built an 18-point lead only to watch the Raptors go on a 19-3 burst to pull within 41-39.
Cleveland regrouped, and playing a turnover-free second quarter, led 62-48 at half.
James, poking the ball away for a steal, teamed with Irving for a stunning alley-oop, one of the game’s first-half highlights.
James and Irving took off on the break, and when James pointed toward the backboard, Irving understood the message. He bounced a pass high off the glass that James grabbed and dunked with his left hand.
TORONTO (105)
Carroll 1-1 0-0 3, Ibaka 6-14 0-0 15, Valanciunas 3-7 0-0 6, Lowry 7-13 4-4 20, DeRozan 7-16 5-5 19, Tucker 6-11 0-0 13, Patterson 1-7 2-2 5, Siakam 0-0 0-0 0, Poeltl 1-2 0-0 2, VanVleet 3-3 0-0 6, Wright 0-1 2-2 2, Joseph 1-3 0-0 2, Powell 3-11 4-7 12. Totals
39-89 17-20 105.
CLEVELAND (116)
James 13-23 7-8 35, Love 5-13 5-6 18, Thompson 3-8 5-6 11, Irving 7-16 7-9 24, Smith 2-4 0-0 6, Derr. Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Frye 2-5 0-0 5, Dero.Williams 2-5 0-0 4, Shumpert 2-5 0-0 5, D.Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Korver 2-5 0-0 6, J.Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 39-85 24-29 116.
Toronto ............... 18 30 26 31 — 105 Cleveland ............ 30 32 34 20 — 116 3-Point Goals—Toronto 10-26 (Ibaka 3-3, Lowry 2-4, Powell 2-7, Carroll 1-1, Tucker 1-4, Patterson 1-5, DeRozan 0-1, Joseph 0-1), Cleveland 14-34 (Love 3-6, Irving 3-8, Smith 2-4, Korver 2-4, James 2-5, Shumpert 1-2, Frye 1-3, Dero.Williams 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Toronto 43 (Tucker 11), Cleveland 46 (Thompson 14). Assists—Toronto 22 (Lowry 11), Cleveland 26 (Irving 10). Total Fouls— Toronto 22, Cleveland 18. Technicals—Ibaka, Powell, D.Jones 2. Ejected—D.Jones. Attendance—20,562
(20,562).