Cavaliers Continue to Punish Opposition

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Published on May 20 2016 6:15 am
Last Updated on May 20 2016 6:16 am

While Golden State shot down history during the regular season, the Cavaliers are making this postseason their own. Perfectly.

LeBron James recorded a triple-double, and Cleveland improved to 10-0 in the playoffs with a 108-89 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

James had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as the Cavs became the fourth team to start the postseason with 10 straight wins, joining the Los Angeles Lakers (1989, 2001) and San Antonio Spurs (2012). Playing at a different level than the rest of the field, the Cavs are now two wins from appearing in their second straight NBA Finals and trying to end Cleveland's 52-year sports championship drought.

Kyrie Irving scored 26 and Kevin Love had 19 for Cleveland, which swept Detroit and Atlanta and has beaten Toronto by a combined 50 points in two games.

"I don't think it feels like a streak," James said of the Cavs' rampage through the playoffs. "It feels like we won one game, we won the next game. We've taken one step at a time. We've tried to take care of business."

The Raptors managed to hang around longer than in Game 1, when they were blown out by 31. But Toronto lacks the necessary firepower to stay with a Cleveland team playing its best basketball this season, one that James likened to a football team.

"We play offense, we play defense and we're great at special teams as well," he said.

Game 3 is Saturday in Toronto, where Raptors All-Star guard Kyle Lowry can only hope the rims at Air Canada Centre are kinder than the ones in Quicken Loans Arena.


Thursday, May 19 Scoreboard

Cleveland 108, Toronto 89

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS - GAME 2

 

Friday, May 20 Schedule

No games scheduled


Saturday, May 21 Schedule (Time Central)

Cleveland at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS - GAME 3


Sunday, May 22 Schedule (Time Central)

Golden State at Oklahoma City, 7 p.m.

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS - GAME 3