BOSTON — LeBron James scored 36 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated Boston and pulled one game ahead of the Celtics at the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a 114-91 victory Wednesday night.
Kevin Love finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds, and Kyrie Irving added 19 points for the Cavaliers, who dominated the highly anticipated showdown for the No. 1 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
The blowout clinched the season series 3-1 for Cleveland, which holds the head-to-head tiebreaker if the Celtics catch the Cavs again over the final four games.
Cleveland (51-27) scored 38 in the second period and led 57-42 at halftime. The third quarter was just as one-sided as the Cavs kept up the pressure against the reeling Celtics, who were down 90-66 entering the final period.
Cleveland led in almost every category Wednesday. The Cavs outscored the Celtics inside 58-48 and pulled down 51 rebounds to Boston’s 38.
Isaiah Thomas led Boston (50-28) with 26 points.
Cleveland was coming off a 122-102 victory over Orlando on Tuesday, but showed no signs of fatigue from having to travel for the second of back-to-back games. The Cavs were in command from the second quarter on and were able to rest James and others in the banged up, short-handed lineup down the stretch.
Cleveland trailed 20-19 at the end of the first quarter, then James took over in the second.
Richard Jefferson gave the Cavs their first lead with a dunk just 13 seconds into the period and the Cavs never let up. Kyle Korver’s 3-pointer with 7:30 left in the half extended the Cavaliers’ lead to 37-24 and prompted a timeout by Boston. The break didn’t slow down Cleveland.
James pulled down a rebound on a missed 3-pointer by Crowder and took it the length of the court for a dunk, which he followed with a block when Marcus Smart attempted to drive on him. James finished with 15 points in the period.
Cleveland won easily despite not having Tristan Thompson. The Cavs center didn’t travel with the club after spraining his right thumb Tuesday night in a victory over Orlando, ending his streak of consecutive games played at 447. The streak started when he was a rookie in February 2012.
Raptors 105, Pistons 102
AUBURN HILLS, Michigan — Kyle Lowry erupted for 27 points and 10 assists in his first game since the All-Star break, and the Toronto Raptors erased a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to down the Detroit Pistons 105-102 on Wednesday night at The Palace.
The All-Star point guard missed 21 games because of a right wrist injury that required surgery.
Jonas Valanciunas had 19 points, Cory Joseph supplied 15 and DeMar DeRozan contributed 12 points and 10 assists despite 5-for-17 shooting from the field.
The Raptors (48-31) moved a half-game ahead of the Washington Wizards for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Ish Smith and Tobias Harris had 16 points apiece for the Pistons, who lost for the 10th time in 12 games. Marcus Morris added 15 points, and Andre Drummond recorded 11 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit (35-43).
Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson missed his fifth straight game because of fatigue issues. Shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope did not start the game due to a family matter but returned in time to start the second half and finished with two points.
The Raptors cut the Pistons’ 10-point halftime lead in half early in the third. Detroit restored the double-digit advantage later in the quarter behind Smith and Aron Baynes, finishing it with a 15-8 spurt for an 80-68 lead.
Toronto began its big rally midway through the fourth. The Raptors used a 14-2 outburst, capped by a DeRozan layup, to tie it at 95.
Valanciunas’ hook shot in the lane with 1:03 left gave the Raptors a 102-100 edge. Following a missed jumped by Smith, DeRozan hit a jumper for a four-point Raptors advantage.
The Pistons missed two potential game-tying 3-point shots in the closing seconds.
Detroit led 33-15 after the first quarter. That was the largest lead it carried into the second quarter since being up 42-18 against Atlanta on Jan. 18.
The Pistons nudged the lead to 20 but the Raptors finished the half on an 18-8 run to make it 56-46 at halftime.
Heat 112, Hornets 99
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Goran Dragic had 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting as the Miami Heat topped the Charlotte Hornets 112-99 on Wednesday and remained in the hunt for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
James Johnson added 26 points, hitting 6 of 7 3-point attempts for Miami, while Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 20 rebounds.
Nicolas Batum scored 24 points for the Hornets (36-43), who have all but lost hope for the playoffs now that they are 2 1/2 games behind the three teams tied for the final two playoff spots with three games remaining.
With both teams fighting to remain in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the East, the game was close until the Heat seized control in the third quarter. That was when Miami outscored Charlotte 34-22, led by 10 points from Dragic, as the Heat lead grew to as many as 17 points.
The impetus might have been the fact that the Heat entered the game just a half-game behind the eighth and final playoff spot, and they now have four games remaining. Miami is tied with Chicago and Indiana for the final two playoff spots, all three teams at 38-40.
The Heat began with hot 3-point shooting, knocking in 6 of 9 from long-distance in the first quarter, and didn’t cool down. Miami set a club record by making 21 3-pointers — the old record was 19 — at a 52.5 percent clip.
The game turned chippy with 9:14 remaining in the third quarter when Whiteside — scoreless and with three fouls at the time — tussled for a rebound with Cody Zeller. In the scramble for the ball, Whiteside appeared to inadvertently elbow Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and then shoved Zeller. Zeller was assessed a personal foul, and Whiteside a technical foul after officials reviewed the sequence.
The incident seemed to awaken Whiteside from his early game slump, however, and he went on to record his 54th double-double of the season.
After Miami took an early lead, the Hornets battled back in the second quarter, outscoring Miami 28-25 behind nine points from Kemba Walker. Charlotte’s Marvin Williams put an exclamation mark on the Hornets’ efforts to keep the game close when he nailed a 54-foot halfcourt heave at the halftime buzzer that sliced the Heat’s lead to 52-51.