LeBron James in the points as Cleveland Cavaliers edge past Boston Celtics
Wednesday 22 April 2015 07:19, UK
LeBron James scored 30 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers edged past the Boston Celtics 99-90 to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA play-off series.
James scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, moved past Hall of Famer Jerry West on the career play-off scoring list and made sure the Cavs didn't slip up at home in the second game of the Eastern Conference first-round series.
James and Kyrie Irving, who scored 26 in the match, combined for all of Cleveland's 24 points in the final period. Timofey Mozgov added 16 points and Tristan Thompson pulled down 11 rebounds for Cleveland.
Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points for the Celtics, whose bench outscored Cleveland's 51-7.
The Houston Rockets also took a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference series against the Dallas Mavericks. Dwight Howard scored 28 points and James Harden added 24 to help Houston coast to a comfortable 111-99 win.
Howard and Josh Smith dominated early in the fourth quarter to help the Rockets pull away.
The Mavericks scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a three-point lead but with Harden on the bench, Houston scored the next 11 points, powered by three alley-oop passes from Smith to Howard, to take a 92-84 lead with about 8 minutes left.
John Wall had 26 points and 17 assists and Bradley Beal scored 28 points as the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors 117-106 to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Marcin Gortat scored 16 points, Otto Porter had 15 and Paul Pierce added 10 for the Wizards.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Sixth Man Award winner Lou Williams scored 20 points for the Raptors, who have lost four straight playoff games over the past two seasons.
