BOSTON — LeBron James scored 35 points and passed Michael Jordan to become the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring leader as the Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 135-102 Thursday night. The win clinched the Cavs third straight Eastern Conference title and a return trip to the NBA Finals.
Kyrie Irving added 24 points and Kevin Love finished with 15 for the Cavs, who never trailed and led by as many as 39 points in one of their most dominating wins of the series. The Cavs set an NBA record by winning their 13th consecutive series closeout opportunity.
It will mark the seventh straight trip to the Finals for James who has scored 5,989 points in 212 postseason games, surpassing Jordan’s 5,987 in 179 games.
“For my name to come up in a discussion with the greatest basketball player of all time, it was, like ‘Wow!'” said James, who says he was inspired to be a basketball player by watching Jordan as a youngster.
Cleveland’s 4-1 series’ win gives it a 12-1 record this postseason and sets up a third consecutive matchup with Western Conference champion Golden State, the team it beat in the Finals last season to claim the franchise’s first championship.
Game 1 is June 1 (9:00p.m./ABC) at Golden State.