Cavaliers, Spurs, Wizards Take Sunday NBA Playoff Wins

By ESPN

LeBron James and the Cavaliers are headed back to a familiar place after sweeping aside another overmatched opponent.

James scored 35 points, Kyrie Irving added 27 and Cleveland swept Toronto, beating the Raptors 109-102 on Sunday to give James his seventh consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

"It's rewarding when you can advance," James said. "It's not just given to you, you have to go out and earn it. Once again I'm part of a team that's been able to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. It's going to be my ninth time in 14 years. I'll take those numbers."

Kyle Korver scored 18 points to help the Cavaliers become the first team to win eight straight playoff games the year following a title, and the first team to win eight straight in consecutive postseasons.

"The fact that we play our best basketball in the postseason lets us know that we're up for the challenge," said James, who had nine rebounds and six assists.

Channing Frye scored 10 points, and Irving had nine assists for Cleveland. The Cavs were 16 for 41 from 3-point range.

"When LeBron is shooting the 3 ball the way he is, at the rate he's shooting it, they're difficult," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. "It's going to take a Herculean effort to beat them."

The Cavs finished off the Raptors about an hour before Game 4 between the Celtics and Wizards tipped off in Washington.

That series won't end until Friday night at the earliest, and could run until Monday night, meaning the Cavaliers will have plenty of time to rest before the Eastern Conference finals.

Asked to choose between the Celtics and Wizards, James claimed not to have a preferred opponent.

"It doesn't matter to me," he said. "I'm excited about us getting an opportunity to represent our franchise in the Eastern Conference finals to go play for the big one."

Serge Ibaka scored 23 points, and DeMar DeRozan had 22 for Toronto. The Raptors took their first fourth-quarter lead of the series but couldn't avoid their fourth straight loss.

Wizards 121, Celtics 102

It wasn't enough for the Washington Wizards to force turnover after another and make baskets every time down the floor to take a lead over the Boston Celtics.

They wanted to blow them out.

The Wizards did just that in a 121-102 rout in Game 5 on Sunday night thanks to a 26-0 third-quarter run that featured big-time contributibutions from John Wall, Bradley Beal, Markieff Morris and Otto Porter.

That six-minute stretch busted the game open and Washington tied the second-round series at two games apiece. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Boston.

"We're capable of those type of runs every game," said Morris, who finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. "Keep pressing them, go up 50 if we can. That's the mindset I felt like all of us had."

Washington never led by 50, but after trailing 53-48 early in the third it was 74-53 by the time Porter made a layup with 5 minutes left in the quarter. Wall had seven of his 27 points and three of his 12 assists during the run as the Celtics committed eight turnovers -- including back-to-back shot-clock violations -- and went 0 for 5.

Coach Scott Brooks called it the Wizards' best stretch this season, crediting defense for making it all happen.

"It is our defense," said Beal, who had a game-high 29 points. "That's why we're able to get out in transition and get open shots, get open layups. We were just having fun."

It wasn't so fun for the Celtics, who couldn't get Isaiah Thomas going after he opened with five consecutive 3-pointers and 17 points in the first 15 minutes and finished with 19. Thomas was mad that referees allowed the Wizards to get away with holding and grabbing him but acknowledged the 26-0 run -- not the officiating -- decided the game.

From Boston's perspective it wasn't pretty, even as coach Brad Stevens credited the Wizards, who have 26-0, 22-0 and 16-0 runs in this series.

"If you turn the ball over against these guys, you'd prefer to drop kick it into the stands so that at least you can set your defense," Stevens said. "Their attack in transition killed us."

Spurs 125, Rockets 104

After fighting through a terrible chest cold for the last few days, James Harden finally felt like himself on Sunday night.

"I can finally breathe," Harden said.

And the Houston Rockets can, too, after his performance helped them rebound from consecutive losses to beat the San Antonio Spurs 125-104 and tie the Western Conference semifinal at 2-2.

Harden scored 28 points and Eric Gordon added 22 as the Rockets never trailed and used hot 3-point shooting to pull away in the third quarter.

"I think our energy was just up no matter what," Harden said. "They went on runs. They cut the deficit down ... but no matter what, we just stayed with it."

Jonathon Simmons had 17 points for the Spurs, and Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 apiece.

Houston made 22 3-pointers in a blowout win in Game 1, but had struggled from long-range in its two losses. The Rockets' 3-point shooting, a hallmark of their success in the regular season, got back on track Sunday when they made 19 of 43, led by six from Gordon.

The Rockets led by 15 entering the fourth quarter and immediately padded the lead when Gordon made a 3-pointer to open the period. Simmons made a 3 on the other end before Gordon struck again with his sixth 3-pointer to leave the Rockets up 97-79.

The Spurs were unable to cut into the lead after that and both teams had mostly backups on the court by the midpoint of the period with the game out of hand.

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich pointed to one big reason to explain why his team struggled Sunday night.

"Our bible begins with transition defense, and if it's not there, then we're just not ready to go," he said. "If you had seen clips of our transition D (Sunday), you would trade all the players and fire me by the end of the game. It was that bad."

Saturday's  Game

Warriors 102, Jazz 91

The Golden State Warriors gave another big example why they signed Kevin Durant during the offseason, and why others around the NBA were dismayed with the addition.

Durant had 38 points and 13 rebounds and the Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 102-91 on Saturday night to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

The Jazz played their best game of the series and kept three All-Stars in relative check, but the former MVP put on a show.

"That's one of the reasons why we welcomed him here," Warriors acting coach Mike Brown said. "It's tough to try to control a guy who's 7 feet that can play out on the perimeter and have the ball. Especially when he's as good as he is in the pick-and-roll game."

Warriors coach Steve Kerr did not travel with the team as he continues to deal with back issues. He was at Duke University on Friday seeing a specialist and owner Joe Lacob told Bloomberg Radio that Ker had a "spinal cord leak" procedure on his back.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were a combined 7 for 29 from the field and 3 for 15 from 3-point range, leaving Durant to lead the Warriors.

The Jazz led 75-74 early in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors went on a 10-4 run and never trailed again. Curry and Durant hit back to back 3ss to give Golden State a 92-84 lead with 3:04 left.

"I'm going to try to say this as humble as I can, but I've been doing this for so long," Durant said, "and every time I get out the bed and we have a game that day, I feel like I can go out there and score. It's the other things that I try to do -- defensively, helping my teammates, get them open shots, moving, setting screens.

"Scoring and stuff is not easy, but it's what I do the best. When I try to do the other things ... I feel like it opens up my scoring a little bit more."

Curry finished with 23 points on 6-for-20 shooting.

Gordon Hayward led Utah with 29 points. Rudy Gobert added 21 points and 15 rebounds.

Game 4 is Monday night in Utah.

Monday, May 8 Schedule (Time Central)

Golden State at Utah, 8 p.m.

Western Conference Semifinals -- Game 4

Tuesday, May 9 Schedule (Time Central)

Houston at San Antonio, 7 p.m.

Western Conference Semifinals -- Game 5