Cavaliers cruise past Celtics into NBA finals

WASHINGTON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- LeBron James scored 35 points and surpassed Michael Jordan to become the NBA's all-time leading playoff scorer as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 135-102 on Thursday night to win their third consecutive Eastern Conference title.

It will mark the seventh straight trip to the finals for James, who also added eight rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. Kyrie Irving added 24 points and Kevin Love finished with 15. Deron Williams had a series-best 14 points for Cleveland, who never trailed and led by as many as 39 points. Avery Bradley led Boston with 23 points.

"This team is a crazy team. They just stayed resilient all year, got to the playoffs, and we really stepped our game up," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. "Now we can start focusing on Golden State to get ready. As of tonight, I'll get started," he promised.

With a deep three-pointer late in the third quarter, James surpassed Jordan's 5,987 career postseason points for the most in NBA history.

"I thought we played a little too haphazard tonight," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "Our offensive mistakes led to bad defense, and it just kind of snowballed on us."

The finals between Cleveland and Golden State start on June 1 in Oakland. It is the first time in NBA history for the same two teams to meet in the finals for three consecutive seasons.