The Cavs are now 8-0 in the playoffs and will get more time off.
With a 109-102 road win Sunday in Game 4 against the Toronto Raptors, the Cleveland Cavaliers are onto the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Cavs, like they did in Game 3, came out cold in the first quarter. With 4:39 to play, Cleveland trailed 18-8 with the Toronto going on a 13-2 run.
But from there, the team outscored the Raptors 20-10 and the game was tied at 28 all at the end of the first. The Cavs’ only change was that LeBron James played the entire first instead of sitting out the final few minutes like normal.
James would sit for the first with 8:59 to play in the second and returned with 7:07 to play with the Cavs down 37-36. With coach Tyronn Lue tinkering with Cleveland’s normal second quarter lineups, James and a lineup with Kyrie Irving, Kyle Korver, Deron Williams and Kevin Love that got almost outscored Toronto 25-12 to take a 61-49 lead into the half. Korver lead the Cavs with 16 points in the quarter, 12 of which came from behind the arc.
The Cavs kept cruising in the third until a Serge Ibaka three cut the Cavs’ lead to seven to 4:46 to play. After Irving scored a layup, Norman Powell hit another three to cut the Cavs’ lead to six. After an Irving miss, DeMar DeRozan hit a fadeaway over LeBron to cut the Cavs’ lead to four with 3:49 to play.
Cleveland bump its lead back up to as many as 10, but a P.J. Tucker three with 0.8 seconds to go cut the Cavs’ lead to 85-80 after three.
Another Tucker three with 10:58 in the fourth cut the Cavs’ lead to two and, with 9:51, Raptors rookie Fred Van Fleet hit a three to cut the Cavs’ lead to one. Toronto took a 93-92 advantage — their first lead since leading 37-36 in the second quarter — when Ibaka hit a jumper over Love, got fouled and made the free throw.
The Raptors held the lead for 26 seconds. With 6:12 to go, Irving hit a three from the right wing to put the Cavs up 95-93. He proceeded to go on a 11-0 run of his own, prompting a Raptors 20 second timeout with the four minutes to go and the Cavs up 103-95. Toronto cut the lead back to five with 25.3 to go on another Tucker three-pointer, but the game already had been decided.
James finished with 35 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He also finished 8-9 from the line. Irving finished with 27 points, nine assists and one turnover. DeRozan lead the Raptors with 22 points and Cory Joseph added 20 points in place Kyle Lowry, who missed his second straight game with a sprained ankle.
With the win, the Cavs are now 8-0 in the postseason. They now will have a week off before facing the winner of the Boston Celtics-Washington Wizards series.