James finished with 35 points, becoming the career playoff scoring leader, as Cleveland beat the Boston Celtics, 135-102, to win the series, 4-1.
BOSTON — LeBron James scored 35 points and passed Michael Jordan to become the N. B. A.’s career playoff scoring leader as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics, 135-102, on Thursday night to claim their third straight Eastern Conference title and a return trip to the N. B. A. Finals.
Kyrie Irving added 24 points and Kevin Love finished with 15 for the Cavaliers, who never trailed and led by as many as 39 points in one of their most dominating wins of the series. The Cavaliers set an N. B. A. record by winning their 13th consecutive series closeout opportunity.
Cleveland’s 4-1 series win gives it a 12-1 record this postseason and sets up a third consecutive matchup with the Western Conference champion, Golden State, the team it beat in the Finals last season to claim the franchise’s first championship. It will be the seventh straight trip to the Finals for James.
“This team is a crazy team; they just stayed resilient all year, got to the playoffs, and we really stepped our game up, ” Cavaliers Coach Tyronn Lue said. “Now we can start focusing on Golden State to get ready. As of tonight, I’ ll get started.”
Avery Bradley led Boston with 23 points.
The Cavaliers essentially conceded the East’s top seed to the Celtics at the end of the regular season by opting to rest their starters in advance of the playoffs. But they displayed their superiority over the final two games to wrap up the series.
After allowing the Celtics to seize the early momentum in Game 4, the Cavaliers barely gave them the chance in Game 5.
Led by its big three, and lots of contributions from their teammates, Cleveland quickly built a 21-point lead in the first quarter,
Love continued to knock down shots from the outside, Irving sliced his way into the lane to the rim, and James got free for several of his one-handed, tomahawk dunks.
It was a very welcome sight in Irving’s case, after he rolled his left ankle in the third quarter of Cleveland’s Game 4 win. He showed no signs of lingering issues, though, eluding several defenders off the dribble and handing out seven assists.
J. R. Smith and Kyle Korver helped spread out Boston’s defenders by connecting on several wide-open scoring opportunities.
Deron Williams, who had been quiet for most of the series, also got in on the act with a series-best 14 points for Cleveland.
The Celtics did their best to keep up, but the consistent outside shooting, bench scoring and defense they relied on to stun Cleveland in Game 3 were not there.
