BOSTON—With another
Game 7 victory at stake, LeBron James would not miss. He would not sit
out. And he would not be denied an eighth straight trip to the NBA Final.
The
four-time league MVP scored 35 points with 15 rebounds and nine assists
on Sunday night, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to an 87-79 win over
the Celtics and eliminating Boston from the Eastern Conference final in
the decisive seventh game.
In the first close
game of the series — and the lowest-scoring — James played all 48
minutes and had 12 of his points in the fourth quarter for his sixth
straight Game 7 win.
The NBA final begins Thursday at either
Houston or Golden State. The Rockets host the seventh game of the West
final on Monday night.
Jayson Tatum scored 24, Al Horford scored
17 and Marcus Morris added 14 points with 12 rebounds for the Celtics,
who were looking to return to the league final for the first time since
2010.
Tatum
had a dunk over James with 6:41 left — and stared down the Cavaliers
star and bumped him with his chest — and then followed it with a
three-pointer that gave the Celtics a 72-71 lead. But that would be
Boston’s last basket for more than five minutes while Cleveland went on a
15-2 run to put the game away.
James and Horford embraced after
the buzzer, then the Cavaliers donned NBA final hats and Eastern
Conference championship shirts before shuffling off the court to receive
their trophy.
It’s not the one they want.
James has been in the final every year since 2011 — four with Miami, and now four straight with Cleveland.
This might be his weakest supporting cast year.
He had to do it
without Kevin Love — Cleveland’s only other all-star — who sustained a
concussion in Game 6 and was replaced in the lineup by Jeff Green.
Making his first start since the first-round opener against Indiana,
Green scored 19 points and added eight rebounds — the star of James’
starless supporting cast.
The Celtics have had more time to get
used to their injuries: Gordon Hayward has been out since the first game
of the season, and Kyrie Irving has been sidelined since March. With
the rookie Tatum and second-year Jaylen Brown, Boston established itself
as the team of the future in the East.
But the present still belongs to James.
And, for now, that means Cleveland, too.