NBA playoffs | Cleveland and Boston all tied up in Eastern Conference Finals

LEBRON James had his sixth 40-point game of this year’s NBA playoffs to tie up the Eastern Conference Finals at 2-2.

Once again LeBron James was the main man for Cleveland.

• Barkley barking up wrong tree
• Celtics could turn to Baynes

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LeBron James and the Cavs squared their series with the Celtics with a 111-102 win.

THE Eastern Conference Finals are tied up — but we’re still waiting for a closely-fought contest.

Cleveland continued the domination of the home team in this series with a 111-102 win which saw them jump out to a 19-point lead in the first quarter and never really look back.

LeBron James was dominant offensively, scoring 44 points on 17/28 shooting, and had enough support from Kyle Korver (14 points), George Hill (13 points) and Tristan Thompson (13 points, 12 rebounds) to square a series the reigning Eastern Conference champs had trailed 2-0.

It was James’ sixth 40-point game of this postseason, the most since Allen Iverson had six in 2001.

“It’s something people shouldn’t take for granted,” Celtics veteran Al Horford said of James. “He’s doing great things.”

Not one of Boston’s starting five shot at better than 50 per cent from the field as Jaylen Brown (10/23), Terry Rozier (6/15), Jayson Tatum (5/13) and Al Horford (5/13) missed shots they regularly make — including several dunks.

Not a fair fight.

Cleveland had 68 points in the first half, the most the Celtics have conceded all season.

Boston made a push early in the third quarter to reduce the deficit to single figures but was helpless against LeBron James at the other end.

The Celtics kept switching when Terry Rozier’s man set a pick for James, leaving the undersized point guard to attempt to defend the Cavs superstar.

It didn’t go so well for Boston as James repeatedly forced his way to the rim with ease to push the lead back to 89-76 with a quarter to play.

“He’s going to go after whoever he wants to go after,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.

Someone needs to ask Rozier what it’s like to have LeBron as a father figure.

— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) May 22, 2018

What LeBron is doing to Rozier is the type of bullying that Michelle Obama tried to end. How can we still allow this to happen as a society?

— Zito (@_Zeets) May 22, 2018

LeBron hasn't been this mean to short people since Isaiah Thomas got traded.

— Justin Verrier (@JustinVerrier) May 22, 2018

Marcus Morris (five) and Brown (four) both battled foul trouble, as did Kevin Love (five) for Cleveland.

Cleveland is trying to become the 20th team -- out of 300 -- to overcome a 2-0 deficit and James, who has already orchestrated two such rallies and is seeking 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 got no love for you. So we’ve got to come out with a bunker mentality and understand it’s just us it’s going to be a great atmosphere.”

Game 5 is Thursday (AEST) at TD Centre, and Celtics coach Brad Stevens was asked what message he would give his team.

“It’s the best two out of three to go to the NBA Finals. Doesn’t get better than that,” he said. “Ultimately, anybody that didn’t think this was going to be tough, I mean, everything is tough. In this deal, it’s a blast to have to grit your teeth, get up off the mat and go after it again.”

— with AP

11.50am

Cleveland maintains advantage

Boston found its offensive rhythm in the second quarter, almost doubling its first quarter output with a 35-point eruption.

Only problem was Cleveland did almost as well at the other end, scoring 34 points to maintain a 68-53 advantage. It was the most points the Celtics had given up in a half all season.

LeBron James had 22 points on 8/11 shooting while Kyle Korver made his first four shots to reach 14 points. He also had three blocks, a career-high.

Terry Rozier (10 points) did his best to spark the Cs, who made seven three-pointers for the half.

11.10am

Cavs have the look early in game four

Cleveland completely dominated an out-of-sorts Boston outfit in a 34-18 opening quarter.

JR Smith made two early three-pointers while LeBron James made his first four field goal attempts to score 11 points — but the Cavs also outscored Boston 8-1 while James was on the bench.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown summed up the Celtics’ start by both missing dunks.

The Celtics offense is a mess. Amazing how Marcus Morris, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Smart all have more shots than Jayson Tatum and Al Horford.

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) May 22, 2018

9am

Barkley targets wrong audience

Barkley asks KD if Draymond is annoying all day like he is on TV
KD responds: pic.twitter.com/lFGvVfe9XL

— NBA RETWEET (@RTNBA) May 21, 2018

Charles Barkley has strong thoughts about Draymond Green, and he’s no longer apologising for them.

Just a few weeks after saying he would like to punch Green in the mouth, Barkley asked Kevin Durant, “Is Draymond Green as annoying in person as he is on television?” during an interview after Golden State’s 126-85 win over the Rockets in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday.

Durant — taken aback by the question — replied, “You should go talk to him, he’s downstairs.”

Barkley didn’t take him up on the offer, despite being prodded by Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith, who kept the moment playful — despite an unamused Durant again saying, “He’s downstairs, go ask him.”

Barkley had apologised for saying he would like to see Green get punched, but whatever reservations Barkley had about criticising him do not seem to exist. The next time the two are in a room together, though, we hope there’s a camera involved.

— New York Post

Originally published as NBA playoffs | Cleveland and Boston all tied up in Eastern Conference Finals