SPORT DADDY NEWS NBA
TORONTO — It’s just not the NBA Finals without LeBron James.
The Cavs star clinched a sixth straight Eastern Conference championship with a team-high 33 points in Cleveland’s 113-87 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 6 Friday night.
James, who led the Miami Heat to four straight NBA Finals from 2011-14, winning two of them, sealed a second straight trip with Cleveland. He also led that Cavs to the finals back in 2007.
It’s the third finals appearance in team history for the Cavaliers, who got 33 points from James and 20 points and 12 rebounds from Kevin Love. Cleveland lost to Golden State in six games last year and got swept by San Antonio in 2007.
James broke the 30-point barrier for the first time this postseason - and the 81st time in his career - and finished with 11 rebounds and six assists.
“We needed LeBron to set the tone for us early and I thought he did that,” coach Tyronn Lue said.
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.
(DAN HAMILTON/USA TODAY SPORTS)James will be the eighth player in NBA history to appear in six consecutive Finals and the first who didn’t play for the Boston Celtics.
“He’s just a great player,” Lue said. “He’s a proven winner. He’s always won over the course of his career. To go to six straight Finals is unbelievable.”
James got there by taking down a Toronto team that set a franchise record with 56 wins and reached the conference finals for the first time in 21 seasons.
After a second-quarter dunk, James shared some verbal barbs with rapper Drake, the Raptors’ global ambassador and the man who popularized the nickname ‘6ix’ for Toronto.
Kyrie Irving had 30 points and J.R. Smith added 15 for the Cavaliers, who will face either the defending champion Golden State Warriors or the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
James and Kevin Love high-five as they clinch another trip to the Finals.
(MARK BLINCH/GETTY IMAGES)OKC leads the Western Conference finals 3-2, with Game 6 on Saturday. Cleveland would open at home against the Thunder but would be on the road against the 73-win Warriors.
The Cavs will be seeking to end Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought, the longest by any city with at least three professional teams. No Cleveland team has won it all since the Browns blanked Baltimore 27-0 to win the NFL championship in 1964.
“This city has been craving a championship,” Lue said. “We have the right team and we have the right talent.”
Kyle Lowry scored 35 points and DeMar DeRozan had 20 as the deepest playoff run in Raptors team history ended, much to the disappointment of a sellout crowd of 20,605 dressed in red and white T-shirts that formed a maple leaf pattern on either side of the court.
Fans stood and cheered “Let’s go, Raptors! Let’s go, Raptors!” throughout most of the final three minutes.
James scores 33 points, pulls down 11 rebounds and hands out six assists to seal his seventh career trip to the NBA Finals - and sixth straight.
(NICK TURCHIARO/USA TODAY SPORTS)Raptors coach Dwane Casey said reaching the conference finals was “a tremendous learning experience” for his young team, one that’s “a step ahead” in its process of becoming a championship contender.
“We’re learning,” Casey said. “We’re not where (the Cavaliers) are right now. We’re going to be.”
A dejected Lowry said it was hard to see the positive side of Toronto’s best season ever.
“Of course you’re going to look back at some point but right now I’m disappointed,” he said. “Simple as that, I’m disappointed.”
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