Written by Jeff Zillgitt at USAToday.com
Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey on Tuesday’s travel day reiterated the need to eliminate Cleveland’s overwhelming runs.
“The games that we lost there, there were probably three- or four-minute segments, portions of the game that really did us in in both games,” Casey said before Game 5.
Casey’s worst-case scenario unfolded with a blizzard of Cavaliers points. Kevin Love made his first six shots. In a 27-6 first-half run, Cleveland made 12-of-13 shots, built a 25-point lead and took a 31-point lead into halftime.
It was over then. But for bookkeeping purposes, they played the second half, and the Cavaliers defeated the Raptors 116-78 on Wednesday, taking a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Love scored 25 points, and he had 19 in the first half – six more than he scored in the two games in Toronto. LeBron James had 23 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals, and Irving had 23 points.
“(Kevin’s) confidence never wavered,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “He knew exactly what he had to do. We talked about it. I just want Kevin to continue to be aggressive. I don’t care about missed shots. Take your shots when you have them, be aggressive and that’s what he did.”
Late in the third quarter, James, Love and Irving had outscored Toronto 68-57, and they scored 71 of Cleveland’s first 95 points.
“We want to come out with the mindset and the understanding of how important this game is to both teams and have a sense of urgency from the beginning,” James said following Cleveland’s morning shootaround.
That urgency was apparent. Cleveland had a 10-point lead early then hammered the Raptors. It was 20-16 Cleveland with 4:21 left in the first quarter, and then it was 47-26.
Cleveland’s 65-34 halftime lead was the largest margin in conference finals history, and it was the worst defeat in Raptors playoff history.
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