(The Sports Xchange) – The defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers exploded to a 72-31 halftime lead — the largest halftime advantage in playoff history — and cruised to 130-86 blowout of the Boston Celtics to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
It was the biggest playoff win for the Cavaliers and the Celtics’ worst home playoff loss.
“It was a good 48-minute game for us on both ends of the ball. We played all the way through for 48 minutes,” Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said.
The series now shifts to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 today and Tuesday with outmanned Boston just trying to bring it back home for Game 5 next Thursday.
The win was the 13th straight playoff victory for the Cavaliers, who have not lost since Game 4 of last year’s NBA Finals. The streak tied an NBA record.
LeBron James scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half.
James, the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970) with eight straight 30-point playoff games, and the rest of the Cleveland starters were pulled with 1:47 left in the third quarter.
To make things worse for the Celtics, Isaiah Thomas was lost to a right hip strain at halftime. He assisted on six of his team’s 11 baskets in the half.
“He’s had a nagging hip injury,” said Boston coach Brad Stevens. “He aggravated it pretty significantly on Friday in Washington.
“Today I thought he looked much different in the first half. When he went back to the locker room our training staff and doctors got with him.
“He was pretty despondent not to be able to play. That guy’s a tough guy and he plays through a lot. For him to have to sit is really hard.”
James dished out seven assists and added four rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots, while Kevin Love had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Kyrie Irving 23 points. The trio went a combined 11 of 21 from three-point range.
Rookie Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 19 points and Avery Bradley had 13.
“We got our (butt) kicked. Point blank, period,” said Brown. “Defending champs. They swept us off the floor.”
