Mitchell scores 30, Harden adds 28 as Cavaliers beat Raptors for 2-0 series lead

CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, James Harden added 28 and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on for a 115-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Evan Mobley had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who had at least three players score at least 25 points in a postseason game for the second straight season and fourth time overall.

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Cleveland — which never trailed — has won 12 straight playoff games against Toronto, tying the NBA postseason record for consecutive wins against an opponent. The streak began in the 2016 Eastern Conference finals, when the Cavaliers took the final three games. Cleveland swept Toronto in four games in the second round in 2017 and ’18.

The Cavaliers also have 12-game winning streaks against Detroit and Atlanta, while the Los Angeles Lakers had a 12-game run against Seattle from 1980 through ’89.

Scottie Barnes led Toronto with a playoff career-high 26 points. RJ Barrett had 22 points and nine rebounds.

The series shifts to Toronto for Game 3 on Thursday night.

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HAWKS 107, KNICKS 106

NEW YORK (AP) — CJ McCollum scored 32 points and Atlanta rallied to stun New York, tying their first-round playoff series at one game apiece.

McCollum led a late surge that was almost for naught when he missed two free throws with 5.6 seconds remaining. The Knicks rushed the ball up the court without any timeouts left, but Mikal Bridges missed a jumper as time expired.

The Hawks had trailed the whole second half and were down 12 after three quarters. Atlanta chipped away and a basket by McCollum gave the Hawks a 101-100 lead — their first of the series in the second half — with 2:09 to play. He made another for a three-point lead, and after Jalen Brunson tied it with a 3-pointer, McCollum answered with another jumper to make it 105-103 with 33 seconds to play.

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Jonathan Kuminga added 19 points off the bench and Jalen Johnson scored 17, including a basket with 10 seconds left for a four-point lead for the No. 6 seeds, who host Game 3 on Thursday.

Brunson had 29…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mitchell-scores-30-harden-adds-055454809.html

Author : The Associated Press

Publish date : 2026-04-21 05:54:00

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