The Cleveland Cavaliers have ended the Toronto Raptors season for the third consecutive time, successfully finishing off the sweep in a 128-93 Game 4 victory at Quicken Loans Arena earlier today.
The Cavaliers will be enter the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth straight year and can catch some rest before their opponent is decided in the Celtics and 76ers matchup.
Cleveland's own LeBron James stole the show, in fact he stole the series and put a stamp once and for all on 'LeBronto'. James finished with 29 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds and was lended a helping hand by Kyle Korver, Kevin Love, George Hill and JR Smith as they combined for 66 points on 25-35 shooting from the field.
It was a disappointing season farewell game for the two Raptors All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, combining for just 18 points.
The first half saw the Cavaliers begin the strangle-hold as soon as possible and the Raptors had no way of getting out of it. Cleveland went on a 12-0 run to finish off the first half, which capped off an impressive two quarters of basketball, giving them a 63-55 edge going into the long break.
The third quarter is where it really fell apart for the Raptors, shots weren't falling for their stars and they got little production from their role players throughout. Cleveland stepped on their neck and had no mercy, blowing the lead out to at least 30 points at one stage.
James didn't leave his fadeaway game in Game 2, as it made a brief but spectacular appearance in the final minutes of the third quarter - and what better way to slowly rub salt in the already nasty wounds that Toronto carry.
LeBron James with the turnaround fadeaway jumper falling out of bounds....... wow pic.twitter.com/PgwbIKeZup
โ Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 8, 2018
The final quarter was merely a formality for both teams, with the game already decided. DeRozan found himself getting ejected on a questionable decision that came after he swiped at Jordan Clarkson mid-jump as he went for the breakaway layup. Maybe the referees were just simply having mercy on him.
The LeBron led Cavaliers will await their opponent in the conference finals and are preparing to perform as cohesively as they did this series, hoping to make a fourth consecutive NBA Finals.
The Celtics and 76ers will face-off for Game 5 at the TD Garden in Boston on Thursday.
