James is making sure path to Finals goes through him
CLEVELAND — LeBron James knows the path to the NBA Finals better than anyone in today’s game.
And unless the Celtics do something soon, he could get there again.
James bullied his way to 44 points and helped the Cavaliers even the Eastern Conference finals at 2-2 on Monday night with a 111-102 victory over the Celtics.
Pushed by a raucous crowd that wasn’t so confident a few days ago, the Cavs held off Boston’s rally in the fourth quarter and squared a series that is now best-of-three.
Cleveland is trying to become the 20th team — of 300 — to overcome a 2-0 deficit, and James, who has orchestrated two such rallies and seeks his eighth straight Finals, is a step closer to a third.
But to do it again, the Cavs will have to win in Boston, where the Celtics are 9-0 this postseason.
“It’s a hostile environment,”
James said. “We understand that, we know that there’s no love in there. If you ain’t got on green, if you don’t play for that team, if you don’t bleed green, they’ve got no love for you.”
Game 5 is Wednesday night at TD Garden, and Boston head coach Brad Stevens was asked what he would tell his team.
“It’s the best two out of three to go to the NBA Finals. Doesn’t get better than that,” he said. “In this deal, it’s a blast to have to grit your teeth, get up off the mat and go after it again.”
Kyle Korver added 14 points and the 37-year-old added several hustle plays, outrunning three Celtics and diving for a loose ball. Tristan Thompson had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland. Kevin Love had just nine points on 3-for-12 shooting and was in foul trouble, but he made a big threepointer and follow shot in the fourth quarter.
Jaylen Brown scored 25 and Boston had all five scorers in double figures, but the Celtics fell behind by 19 in the first half and couldn’t recover.
And, of course, they didn’t have James, who moved past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2,356) for the most field goals in playoff history.
The Celtics hung around in the second half and cut their deficit to 100-93 on Marcus Smart’s basket with 4:29 left. Thompson then got free for a dunk, and after a miss by Boston, James recovered after making his seventh turnover by making a steal and layup.
James then drilled a threepointer from the left wing to put away the young Celtics, who will try to hold off the three-time conference champions.
Stevens considered changing his starting lineup, but he stuck with the same first five as the first three games: Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, Al Horford and Terry Rozier.
Boston’s starters held their own, but none of them was able to match James when it mattered most.