LeBron James and Cavaliers throw first punch, beat Raptors 116-105
CLEVELAND — Monday night’s game was less than three minutes old when LeBron James threw down a monstrous alley-oop dunk, tossed spectacularly off the backboard by Kyrie Irving.
The showy play set the tone for the night — another Game 1 loss for the Toronto Raptors, and another thrashing in Cleveland.
“Defensively I didn’t think we played with the physicality that we had to in this game,” said an irked Raptors coach Dwane Casey. “They were well rested, they were moving, flying around almost like half a step quicker than us all night.”
James scored 35 points — and clearly was having fun doing so — to lift Cleveland to a 116-105 romp over Toronto in the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday. After drawing a foul on a missed layup, James playfully galloped over to the courtside waitress, and grabbed a beer.