Boston Beat down

The Cleveland Cavaliers officially sent an emphatic message to the Gold State Warriors with a historical beat down of the Boston Celtics in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals with a resounding 130-86 wipeout to move within two games of the NBA championship.

The Cavs led the Celtics by 41 at the half, the largest margin in the Celtics storied history and by as many as 50 in the second half, allowing the reserves to play the final quarter with the starters on the bench.

The total points was the most in Cavaliers history and the victory marked their 13th straight since winning the last three of the 2016 NBA Finals.

The Cavs can break the Lakers 1988-89 mark of 13 straight playoff wins with a victory at The Q on Sunday.

LeBron James’ teams are 20-0 all time in series that they’ve held a 2-0 lead, and with top scorer Isaiah Thomas out with a hip injury for most of game 2, this series is all but over.

The 41-point lead through two quarters accounted for the largest halftime lead in NBA postseason history, besting the 40-point cushion the Detroit Pistons held over the Washington Bullets in Game 2 of their 1987 first round series (Detroit led 76-36).

James’ night was done with 1:47 remaining in the third quarter and the Cavs up by 46. He had 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting, seven assists, four rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

James joined two playoff marks set by legends on the game in scoring 30 points for his eight straight playoff game, tying Michael Jordan for the longest such streak in modern playoff history (since 1984) and he also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 10 straight playoff games with 25-plus points on 50 percent shooting.

Kevin Love followed up his big series opener with 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting and 12 rebounds. Kyrie Irving, who shot just 4-for-11 in Game 1 and came into Friday with just one playoff game where he shot better than 50 percent this spring, found his stroke and finished with 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting.

Irving’s shooting mirrored Cleveland’s as a team as it shot 19-for-39 from 3 overall.