LeBron James gets up for a monster dunk while leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a blowout win in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Toronto on Friday night. After the wine and gold took a 3-2 series lead, point guard Kyrie Irving said the atmosphere in Toronto was “probably the first legitimate two road games that I’ve experienced in my playoff career”.
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James got plenty of help from his star buddies, with Kyrie Irving pouring in 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting to go along with nine assists and Kevin Love recording a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Love led the bounce back with a strong first half on 6-of-6 from the field, including three made behind the arc to lead the Cavs at the half with 19 points.
Kyle Lowry had 13 points and six assists, and DeMar DeRozan scored 14 points for the Raptors after they totalled 67 points in Toronto’s game four win at home.
The game was effectively over after the first quarter, when the Cavs’ 37 points were the most they’ve scored in any quarter in this series. The Raptors are 8-2 at home in the playoffs.
“It’s just been very calm about the whole situation, understanding that our guys knew what we did and what we didn’t accomplish in Toronto”, he said.
The Cavalier were unable to match the Raptors’ energy in either of the first two games at Toronto just as the Cavs outplayed the Raptors at Quicken Loans Arena. Biyombo had 40 rebounds combined in his two previous games.
They will have one more chance on Friday to extend the series to seven games, but after the determination and will Cleveland played with Wednesday night, I believe they will close out the series and rest up for the Finals which begin on June 2.
On the verge of the biggest game in the franchise history, most of the team members had their dinner after the match and watched some of the Western Conference finals game between the Warriors and Thunder.
The Raptors return to Air Canada Centre clinging to their two regular-season wins over the Cavs and their two postseason victories.
James entered Wednesday’s pivotal Game 5 with a sense of calmness and expected his teammates to follow his lead. After Lowry’s explosive third, DeRozan opened the fourth by cutting the Cavs’ lead to 10 on two separate occasions.
“This is our Game 7”, Lue said (via ESPN). “We just have to get ready for Game 6”.
“I come into every game looking for a game like this”, Love said from the corner of the Cavs’ locker room.
James took just 16 shots in Game 4 while Irving made 21 attempts from the field.
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“I had to bring my game, be in attack mode from the beginning”, he said.
