Cleveland in command
The Cleveland Cavaliers are heading home with a 2=0 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals after beating Toronto on its home floor again Thursday night.
TORONTO — LeBron James had 43 points and 14 assists, Kevin Love added 31 points and 11 rebounds, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors 128-110 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.
J.R. Smith scored 15 points, Jeff Green had 14 and George Hill 13 as the Cavaliers posted their eighth consecutive postseason 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.
James had eight rebounds, narrowly missing his second straight triple-double. He connected on 19 of 28 attempts, while Love shot 11 for 21.
DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points and Kyle Lowry had 21 for the Raptors. Toronto won a teamrecord 59 games and finished as the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference this season, but was easily shoved one step closer to a third straight postseason exit at the hands of James and the Cavs.
Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Fred VanVleet scored 14 points, but the Raptors lost back-to-back home games for the first time all season.The series shifts to Ohio for Game 3 on Saturday night. Toronto has gone 0-5 at Cleveland over the past two postseasons, losing by an average margin of 24.2 points per game.
Celtics 108, 76ers 103
Jayson Tatum scored 21 points, Terry Rozier added 20 more and host Boston rallied to take a 2-0 series lead on Philadelphia.