The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday night, dominating from start to finish in a 135-102 blowout victory. With the win, the Cavaliers were crowned Eastern Conference champions for the third consecutive season.
Cleveland opened up the game scorching hot. They played with an aggressive, attack-first mentality, and drained Boston in the game’s opening period. Led by LeBron James, who had 20 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals and one block while shooting 7-for-8 from the field in the first half, the Cavs quickly started to look like the dominate team we saw in the first two games of the series.
The Cavaliers wound up scoring 75 points in the first two quarters, which happens to be the most points scored in a half in the franchise’s playoff history. Boston’s defense simply had no answer for LeBron James:
LeBron James…TOO STRONG.https://t.co/v6n44eQTlW
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 26, 2017
James would continue his dominance as the game wore on, eventually passing Michael Jordan to become the NBA all-time leading scorer in playoff history with this bucket:
LeBron James has officially passed Michael Jordan for the most career #NBAPlayoffs points in NBA History!https://t.co/fSRWJEKXCd
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 26, 2017
Even veterans James Jones and Dahntay Jones got in on the fun:
JAMES JONES WITH THE PUTBACK SLAM AND THE #CAVS BENCH LOVED IT!https://t.co/uxC67OGlt7
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 26, 2017
Boston, a depleted team whose interior struggles were hard to ignore throughout the series, was led in scoring by Avery Bradley with 23 points. Gerald Green had 14 off the bench, Jae Crowder added 11, and Al Horford had eight.
The Celtics shot 37-of-86 from the field on the night and lost the turnover battle by seven.
The Cavs were led by, of course, LeBron James, who finished with 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on 13-of-18 shooting from the floor. James thoroughly dominated the Celtics this series, and came into Game 5 with a prime focus on wrapping the series up and shifting the team’s focus to the final round:
“We just came in here tonight with a mindset that we didn’t want to play more games,” James said. “We wanted to try and get this series over and done with. We knew they were going to give everything they have. They’re a well-coached team. But we just came in with a fight and bunker mentality on the road and got it done.”
Besides James, Kyrie Irving pitched in with 24 points for the Cavs. Deron Williams had 14 off the bench, Kevin Love recorded a double-double, and Richard Jefferson had nine.
With tonight’s victory, the combined record between the Warriors and Cavaliers in their matchups prior to the Finals firmly rests at an unreal 24-1. The one loss came from Cleveland on a last-second buzzer beater in Game 3.
The Cavs and Warriors now meet in the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year. Golden State won the first matchup back in 2015, and Cleveland bounced back last year to tie it up 1-1.
Game 1 tips off from Oracle Arena on Thursday, June 1.
