He is just two games from eliminating the Raptors from the playoffs for a third successive season, but LeBron James would not say whether he has a mental edge over them, despite producing a stunning performance that powered the Cavaliers to a 2-0 series lead.
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Cleveland took command of the second-round series with a 128-110 victory on Friday (AEST) at the Air Canada Centre, James delivering an epic display to leave top-seeded Toronto facing an uphill battle to keep its NBA title hopes alive.
James scored 43 points, 27 in the second half, 14 assists and eight rebounds, while receiving more than able assistance from Kevin Love, who went for 31 points and 11 assists.
After winning two games on the road, Cleveland will now be favored to close out the series at home, creating more unwanted deja vu for a Raptors team haunted by James in recent years.
#CavsRaptors Game 2: #WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/zCD3kvTvaw
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 4, 2018
He led the Cavaliers to a 4-2 series win over Toronto in the 2016 Eastern Conference finals as Cleveland went on to win its first championship. The Cavs swept the Raptors last year.
But asked about talk of a mental edge, James said: "I don't know. You guys can have that narrative on how you guys feel about that mental edge or whatever the case may be.
"But for me personally, my mental edge is how I prepare myself every night, how I go about the game plan, try to not make mistakes. And if I do make mistakes, making sure I don't do it again to compound that mistake.
"You've got to win four games to get out of a series and it starts with the next game, so I will be as sharp as I was tonight [in the rest of the series].
"We're not satisfied. We came up and played some good basketball up here but we look forward to even more of a challenge come whenever we play."