LeBron guides Cavaliers to another clean sweep

The Cavs, who routed the Indiana Pacers 4-0 in the first round, repeated the trick in the semi-final against the Toronto Raptors thanks to a 109-102 victory.

DeRozan was being sarcastic when he referenced LeBron James in a Raptors jersey.

In fact, James may be more lethal now than ever.

Making his second start in place of injured point guard Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph had 20 points and 12 assists for Toronto, which lost in six games against Cleveland past year in the conference finals. 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.

“When LeBron is shooting the three-ball he is, at the rate he’s shooting it at the average he’s shooting it (48.1%), they’re hard”, Raptors’ head coach Dwane Casey said. I thought our guys played with grit, toughness, togetherness. “That’s what a guy at his level does”.

If the two were to leave, it would force the Raptors to rebuild the team exclusively around All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan over the next several seasons. “If we played like that for the four games, we’re talking about a different series”. Nevertheless, it seems he’s speeding up, not slowing down. Coach Tyronn Lue called for a mandatory team dinner at a steakhouse in Toronto and while their dinners were digesting, the team gathered around a television to watch Game 3 of the Golden State-Utah Jazz series. Do they really want to go back?

So, will Cleveland’s defensive improvement carry over through the rest of the playoffs? “It just hasn’t worked out for us right now”. The way he’s been playing is phenomenal. That much isn’t happening, but it probably would have helped.

For his part, James insists both he and the Cavaliers still have room for improvement.

Inevitably, LeBron James was the main man, scoring 35 points, with Kyrie Irving posting 27.

None of those questions will be answered quickly unless Ujiri breaks from past precedent. Toronto needed to be at its best to have a real shot in this series, and while they weren’t even close, it might not have even mattered.

Ariza on Houston’s role players stepping up on Sunday night: “In our offense, we need everybody to be aggressive”.

But they came up short two years in a row, this season being farther away than last year, when they lost to the Cavs in six games in the Eastern Conference finals.

Of all the National Basketball Association storylines to watch this summer, what Toronto does with Lowry is one of the most-intriguing. “He’s just raised his game”.

“This is the best I’ve seen him play”, Ibaka said.

Kyle Lowry could become a much sought out player in free agency from more than just his hometown Philadelphia 76ers to other teams such as the New York Knicks and possibly the Los Angeles Clippers should Chris Paul decide to leave. “But we have a lot of shooters that can create space and that pull the defense out a little more, and it allows us to shoot those shots”. James is 3-4 in his trips to the championship series.

“Any time you lose, you don’t feel good”, said Tucker, who exited looking resplendent in a sports jacket over a vintage Iron Maiden T-shirt featuring the 1981 album “Killers”. He went 3 for 3 from the line. “No matter who I’ve faced over the last few years, myself, my teammates and the coaching staff have just tried to raise our ability, raise our antennas, raise our game plan, raise our attention span to go out and compete every single night, no matter who the competition was”.