The Cleveland Cavaliers looked like a championship-caliber team, as they told the Raptors to stay in Toronto by ending the series and defeating them in Game 6, 113-87.
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LeBron James believes the return to form and fitness of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love is responsible for powering the Cleveland Cavaliers into their second consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals.
The Cavaliers now will await the victor of the Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Raptors got back to within 13 points with 6:57 to play in the third but Smith made a 3-pointer and Irving followed with a pullup jumper with 4:58 to go and Cleveland led by 20.The Cavs’ lead got up to 21 before Lowry hit a 3-pointer with 2:57 left in the quarter.
James answered with a 3-pointer and a dunk.
“I had to trust my shot”.
Eliminated in the first round of the playoffs the previous two years, the question all season was whether they could win a series.
“We’ve had our ups and downs. But take nothing away from what we’ve done – our guys are unbelievable, our coaching staff are unbelievable”.
Should the Raptors take tonight’s game, the series will come to an end in Cleveland on Sunday. Any time the Raptors would start to go on a little bit of a run, the Cavaliers locked down and forced the Raptors into turnovers.
James broke the 30-point barrier for the first time this postseason and finished with 11 rebounds and six assists.
Toronto meanwhile brought the curtain down on their first ever appearance in the Eastern Conference finals with a 35-point display from Kyle Lowry , while DeMar DeRozan added 20 points.
James was referring to the 2015 Finals, when he nearly single-handedly carried the injury-riddled Cavaliers to an unlikely triumph over Golden State.
“Of course you’re going to look back at some point, but right now I’m disappointed, simple as that”. “That was their first time together in that moment, and it was a big moment for them, and they grew from it, and that’s what we’ve got to do, we’ve got to grow from this”. “Big-time performances and big-time leadership from those two guys and I’m happy to be a part of it”.
Three seasons ago, Toronto got off to a bad start that prompted general manager Masai Ujiri to trade Rudy Gay and almost deal Lowry.
“A coach in the league called me last night, after the game, talking about LeBron (James) soaking up the crowd – this is an opposing player – talking about the atmosphere that we had”, Casey said. He really did that for us tonight.
“He’s just a great player”, Lue said. He’s a proven victor.
Love attributed the Cavs’ victory to team unity. “We all have trust in each other, we all have each other’s back”, he said.
“We’ve grown throughout the season”.
Clutching the Eastern Conference trophy in his arms, Smith broke up his teammates’ postgame press conference by joking, “Can we go?” Love’s sentiment was shared by Lue. We missed you, Big Science.
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“We’re still not satisfied at all”, Irving said. “It’s lovely to watch”.
