A Cavaliers NBA championship in 2016 was sandwiched by Golden State’s titles in 2015 and 2017.The Rockets are seeking their first return to the Western Conference finals since losing to the Warriors in five games in 2015.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers routed Toronto on Monday night to end the Raptors season for the third year in a row.James had 29 points and 11 rebounds as the Cavs beat Toronto 128-93 to complete the four-game sweep and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.Kevin Love added 23 points while J.R. Smith also had 15 points for the Cavs.The Raptors were led by Jonas Valanciunas’ 18 points, but saw All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan ejected late in the third for a flagrant foul.You can excuse the top-seeded Raptors if they had a sense of deja vu during the loss, as Toronto was not only swept by the Cavs in last year’s conference semifinals, but also lost the 2016 Eastern Conference finals to Cleveland in six games.The Cavs are now waiting on another potential rematch with the Boston Celtics up 3-1 on the Philadelphia 76ers, who won 103-92 in Game 4 on Monday night to extend the other Eastern Conference semifinal series.If the Celtics can hold off the upstart 76ers, they would set up a rematch heavily anticipated since last season, when the Cavs beat the Celtics 4-1 to advance to the NBA Finals.The potential rematch would be missing two players who played vital roles last year.
Cavs finish off Raptors for 3rd year in row. LeBron on difficulty of shot: 'Don't try it at home'LeBron James banked in a running one-hander at the buzzer, giving Cleveland a 105-103 win over Toronto on Saturday night in Game 3 and shoving the Raptors to the edge of their most devastating playoff exit.The Mavs officially clinched a playoff berth due to the Grizzlies' 108-106 loss to the Spurs on Sunday afternoon, ending their playoff drought at three seasons.Magic forward Jonathan Isaac left the game against the Kings during the fourth quarter on Sunday.With his team down with 6.8 seconds left, Blazers guard Damian Lillard passed up a chance at a game-tying 3 in favor of a Jusuf Nurkic layup. "Derrick Collins, Courtney Kirkland, Josh Tiven, Mike CallahanLeBron on difficulty of shot: 'Don't try it at home'Kyle Lowry misses 25-foot three point pullup jump shotOG Anunoby makes 9-foot driving floating jump shot (Kyle Lowry assists)DeMar DeRozan makes 7-foot driving floating jump shotKyle Lowry makes 31-foot three point jumper (Fred VanVleet assists)CJ Miles makes 27-foot three point jumper (Kyle Lowry assists)Fred VanVleet makes 25-foot three point jumper (Kyle Lowry assists)CJ Miles makes 29-foot three point jumper (Kyle Lowry assists)Jeff Green blocks DeMar DeRozan 's 2-foot driving layupCJ Miles makes driving layup (DeMar DeRozan assists)OG Anunoby makes three point jumper (DeMar DeRozan assists)LeBron James blocks CJ Miles 's 24-foot three point jumperSerge Ibaka makes 17-foot jumper (Kyle Lowry assists)OG Anunoby makes 23-foot three point jumper (Delon Wright assists)CJ Miles makes three point jumper (Fred VanVleet assists)Serge Ibaka makes 26-foot three point jumper (Kyle Lowry assists)OG Anunoby makes 27-foot jump bank shot (Kyle Lowry assists)OG Anunoby makes 26-foot three point jumper (CJ Miles assists)George Hill makes three point jumper (Kyle Korver assists)LeBron James makes 1-foot layup (Kevin Love assists)Kyle Korver makes 23-foot three point jumper (George Hill assists)Kevin Love makes two point shot (Kyle Korver assists)Kevin Love makes 8-foot two point shot (LeBron James assists)Serge Ibaka blocks Tristan Thompson 's 11-foot hook shotJeff Green makes driving dunk (Jordan Clarkson assists)Serge Ibaka blocks Jordan Clarkson's step back jumpshotJonas Valanciunas blocks LeBron James's driving layupKevin Love makes 16-foot step back jumpshot (JR Smith assists)Kyle Korver makes 18-foot pullup jump shot (LeBron James assists)Kyle Korver makes 24-foot three point jumper (Jeff Green assists)Kevin Love makes 26-foot three point jumper (LeBron James assists)Jeff Green makes 1-foot dunk (LeBron James assists)Jonas Valanciunas blocks Kevin Love 's 3-foot two point shotGeorge Hill makes three point jumper (LeBron James assists)Kyle Korver makes 25-foot three point jumper (Jeff Green assists)OG Anunoby blocks LeBron James's driving floating jump shotKevin Love makes 6-foot two point shot (George Hill assists)Serge Ibaka blocks Jeff Green 's 8-foot driving floating jump shotKyle Korver makes 22-foot three point jumper (Kevin Love assists)George Hill makes 1-foot layup (LeBron James assists)