THE BOSTON CELTICS defended their home court and took a commanding lead after topping the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-94 in game two of the Eastern Conference finals.

Not even a 42-point triple-double from Cleveland superstar LeBron James could stop the Cavaliers from falling 2-0 down in the playoff series on Tuesday.

The Cavaliers led for much of the first half and carried a 55-48 advantage into the main interval but Boston outscored Cleveland by 14 in the third quarter to turn their seven-point deficit into an 84-77 advantage at TD Garden.

Boston pushed their lead to double-digits early in the fourth quarter. A jumper from James trimmed the Celtics’ lead to six with 4:42 to play but the hosts scored the next eight points to pull away for the win.

Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 23 points for the Celtics, while Terry Rozier finished with 18 as six different Boston players posted double-digit points.

James poured in 42 points to go along with 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Cavs team-mate Kevin Love added 22 points and 15 boards.

James bounced back from his sub-par game-one performance in a big way. He scored 21 points in the first quarter alone and finished with 42 for the game.

Celtics guard Rozier tallied 14 points in the third quarter to help the Celtics erase their seven-point half-time deficit.
J.R. Smith had an ugly performance. He failed to score and shot zero of seven from the field in his 27 minutes of action. Smith was also called for a flagrant foul when he pushed Al Horford in the back while he was attempting to finish an alley-oop.

Jeff Green committed five turnovers in his 28 minutes on the floor for Cleveland, finishing at minus-17 for the game.

It’s the first time in 10 years that Cleveland have trailed 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals.

Boston are undefeated in their last nine home playoff games.

- Omni