LeBron James scored 35 points and added eight rebounds and seven assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Toronto Raptors 115-94 Friday night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series. It's really all that's kept him in the National Basketball Association for 14 seasons.
"This is the way the playoffs are going to be with me usually", he said. "I don't think I'll be able to play".
Next Up: Game Four will be Sunday at 3:30 pm in Toronto with the Cavs looking to sweep the Raptors.
For three quarters Friday night, Toronto was playing their best ball of the playoffs and hanging with the Cavaliers.
Ultimately, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, along with doctors and trainers, chose to hold Lowry out. The Raptors indicated those were motivating factors as the series shifts to the Air Canada Centre.
"Just to have that feeling again, people counting you out, whatever negative comes with losing, being down two games, that definitely sucks and it's something that we're gonna have to use tomorrow night", DeRozan said.
"He did miss six free throws", cracked Toronto's Kyle Lowry. "Perfect with everything that fits, he gets us all going, the whole makeup is Kyle". Kawhi Leonard added 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Spurs took a 2-1 series lead. Cleveland is 9-0 since losing Game 4 of last year's NBA Finals.
The Raptors didn't start Jonas Valanciunas, but he led them with 23 points. J.R. Smith, helped by James and others, limited Toronto's All-Star shooting guard DeRozan to just 5 points, keeping him off the line and off his sweet spots for the second game in a row.
"You don't get to play in the fourth quarter unless you play defence".
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The Cavaliers took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter and took command of the game with an 18-3 run. "Mostly it's the player, the player knows his pain tolerance".
"DeRozan was awesome, he gave everything that he had", James said. But it sucks when you get down late in the game. The goal is just to play. James tweaked his left ankle early in the second quarter, but it didn't bother him.
"Something we've done is knock down threes all year", Casey said. "Next man mentality and we're all playing good together". Suddenly, the Cavs were up 19 with James, Tristan Thompson, Deron Williams and Iman Shumpert assembling tight defense.
The trio of Norman Powell, DeMarre Carroll, and Patrick Patterson all need to be significantly better. He also moved Serge Ibaka from power forward to center.
Once upon a time, maybe this kind of Raptors team could be successful.
If the Raptors swung at all, they didn't hit anything. It was a two-point game entering the fourth, even with Kyle Lowry sidelined. "I don't really think about the sweep, I don't think of anything but how can I as leader of the ballclub put our guys in a position to be successful". I mean, that's it right there: They've got LeBron James and nobody's closing the gap on him. But like I said, I know my role on the team and I'm not complaining about anything. "They're a hell of a team", said DeRozan, who said he thought he could have kept playing without that rest at the start of the fourth. He missed his first nine shots and finished 2 of 11.
Lowry has an opt-out of his contract at the end of the season, which he said he intends to exercise. "To lose like we did and to play like I did, it sucks".
When James hit two more free throws with 7:23 left, Cleveland led by 12. But at this point, James' record of going 19-0 in playoff series with the Cavs and Miami Heat when his team has been up 2-0 seems a lock.
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