Toronto heads to Cleveland in familiar spot, trailing Cavaliers 2-0 in series

In a post-season that was supposed to be so different, the storyline was way too familiar.

LeBron James had 43 points and 14 assists to lead the Cavaliers to a 128-110 throttling of Toronto on Thursday, and takes a 2-0 lead in their second-round series back home to Cleveland, where the Raptors have never won in five playoff games.

Cavs big man Kevin Love added 31 points and 11 rebounds.

DeMar DeRozan had 24 points, while Kyle Lowry finished with 21 for the Raptors, who lost two consecutive games at home for the first time in their historic 59-win season. Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Fred VanVleet had 14 points off the bench.

And once again Serge Ibaka, who’s been virtually M.I.A. for most of the post-season, had another horrible night — two points from free throws and 0-for-5 shooting.

Twice already Toronto has been dispatched by Cleveland in the post-season, in the Eastern Conference finals in 2016 and then last season, when the Raptors were swept in the second round, prompting Masai Ujiri’s culture reset and revamp of the team’s playing style.

Thursday, the Raptors led for most of the first half, but never by more than nine points, and were clutching just a two-point advantage at halftime.

Almost as if they’d been toying with Toronto, the Cavs hit another gear in the third quarter led by James and Love, whose 24 points in the quarter equalled Toronto’s scoring. A running layup by George Hill capped an 18-5 run, sucking much of the energy out of the Air Canada Centre. Cleveland took a 98-87 lead into the final frame.

The ugliness continued in the fourth, as the Cavs opened the quarter with a 7-0 run to take an 18-point lead. The Raptors would pull within 13 points on a basket by Valanciunas midway through the period, but had zero answers for James who was scoring seemingly at will. And when J.R. Smith calmly drilled a three with 4:23 to play, hundreds of heartbroken Raptors fans headed for the exits.

The series now shifts to Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, where the Raptors are 0-5 in post-season appearances, losing by a colossal average of 24.2 points. Game 4 is Monday in Cleveland, and a Game 5 if necessary would be back in Toronto on Wednesday.

The Raptors gave away a 113-112 decision in overtime in Tuesday’s Game 1, starting out strong and leading throughout regulation but missing countless shots down the stretch. Making matters worse, the NBA announced Wednesday it was upgrading Love’s elbow to DeRozan’s head to a Flagrant 1 foul. The Raptors should have had two free throws and possession of the ball after the incident that happened with just over a minute to play.

The white-clad capacity ACC crowd included Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and Drake, who was far less animated in his courtside seat than Tuesday’s game. Drake and Cleveland’s Kendrick Perkins were jawing in Game 1, prompting a call from the NBA to the Raptors.

Drake left the arena with two minutes to play.

Raptors went into the game 6-1 all-time in playoff Game 2’s at home, winners of four straight of those games. But the mighty Cavs came in boasting an even better stat: 18-1 all-time in playoff Game 2s after winning series openers. They padded their league-best record to 19-1 Thursday.

Lowry couldn’t miss in the first quarter, going a perfect 4-for-4 including a pair of threes for 10 points in the frame. A driver floater from DeRozan put the Raptors up by seven, but the Cavs closed with a 6-2 run and the Raptors led 29-26 going into the second.

Delon Wright found VanVleet with a lovely pass for a three-pointer that stretched the Raptors’ advantage to nine points with about five minutes to play in the first half, but the Cavs closed the quarter with another run capped by James’ pullup shot with a second to play, and the Raptors went into the locker-room at the break up just 63-61.