Armed with a 2-0 series lead, the Cleveland Cavaliers head home for Game 3 to try to put the top-seeded Toronto Raptors on the brink of elimination.
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed seven games and a superhuman LeBron James to barely get by the Indiana Pacers in the first round. The Toronto Raptors have their best team in franchise history and owned home-court advantage. Yet, the teams find themselves in a familiar situation after the Cavaliers’ 128-110 immolation of the Raptors in Game 2.
Cleveland still needs two more wins to advance and will seek a 3-0 lead in Saturday’s Game 3, but it sure feels like this thing is over. Toronto has lost eight straight postseason games to LeBron and Co., and the way The King ethered the top seed in Game 2 made it feel like a funeral.
James scored 43 points on 19-of-28 shooting to go along with 14 assists and eight rebounds. He hit a variety of insanely difficult fadeaway jumpers in the second half that made it seem like he was playing a game of H-O-R-S-E against himself. The crowd gasped at every single one of these jumpers, all while a poor OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam helplessly defended them.
While LeBron continued his annual evisceration of the Raptors, Kevin Love finally joined the playoff party. The Cavaliers made it a point to get Love involved early and often, and he responded by going for 31 points and 11 rebounds.
Adding insult to injury, Jeff Green had another big game off the bench with 14 points. Green is averaging 15 points on 75 percent shooting in this series.
The Raptors played well, at least offensively, for a half. They scored at will and shot nearly 60 percent en route to 63 first-half points. Unfortunately, the lead was only two points and the second half immediately turned into a disaster.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 24 points, but he’s now 0-of-9 from 3 in this series and 0-of-13 over the last three games. Kyle Lowry had 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, but he only had three points in the second half.
Date: Saturday, May 5
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Venue: Quicken Loans Arena
TV Info: ABC
Live Stream: Watch live on FuboTV. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. Qualified subscribers can also watch on Watch ESPN.
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The Raptors should be too good to get swept, but at this point it’s hard to envision them winning a game. The Cavaliers sucked the life out of them in Toronto, and now Dwane Casey is already talking about “playing for pride.” Hopefully the Raptors can bounce back and make things interesting in Game 3.