The contest was all but over after the first quarter, when Cleveland’s 37 points were the most they have scored in any quarter in this series.
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Cleveland have pushed Toronto to the brink of extinction with a blowout 38-point win in game five of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
When Love plays like that, the Cavaliers are tough to beat, and when LeBron James has 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting and Kyrie Irving has 23 points on 9-of-17 shoot and the Cavaliers play focused defense, they are capable of winning a championship in the next three weeks.
“We’ve been doing a good job of holding teams under 100 and I feel if we hold team’s under 100 we can score 100 points and win”, Tyronn Lue said.
Going back two series, Toronto endured a 17-point letdown to IN in Game 4 and then a hard 18-point loss IN Game 6, before winning an 89-84 slugfest IN Game 7. “That’s the bottom line”, Toronto coach Dwane Casey said.
Shaking off two miserable games in Toronto, Love, whose two seasons with the Cavaliers have ebbed and flowed like Lake Erie’s tides, scored 25 points in just three quarters of Game 5. James also had eight assists and six rebounds. The fourth quarter was a chance for the reserves of both teams to play, as the Cavs had a chance to rest their “Big Three” and Toronto rested its struggling duo.
Kyrie Irving added 23 points in the Cavaliers’ most lopsided playoff victory in franchise history, eclipsing their 31-point victory at home in the series opener. However, they will have the advantage by playing at home in Game 5.
Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry is defending two of his teammates who have come under fire for spending a late night at a casino ahead of an embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
Toronto’s back up center Bismack Biyombo, who was a huge reason for the Games 3 & 4 wins at home, made no impact in Game 5 registering just 7 points and 4 rebounds with no blocked shots.
Love had his best performance of the postseason in Game 5, as he scored a team-high 25 points on 8-of-10 shooting in just 24 minutes.
“More than anything, I just wanted to respond”, he said, “just wanted to help us win in any way that I could”.
For the Raptors, these were similar scenes from games 1 & 2: The key players sitting on the bench very early, holding their heads, not smiling, looking lost. With the Western Conference finals possibly on the verge of being wrapped up, the Cavs coach made it clear he intends to press his team to finish off the Raptors in Game 6. The Cavs lead, 3-2.
“No pressure”, Lue said in his pregame remarks.
“I talked to Channing (Tuesday) night”, Love said.
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Before Game 4, Lue said the Cavaliers would feature a heavy dose of Love on offense. After averaging 19 3-pointers per game and shooting better than 50 percent from beyond the arc in the conference semifinals, the Cavaliers entered Game 5 shooting 33 percent and averaging 10.3 3-pointers in the conference finals.
