LEBRON JAMES tallied 23 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers moved within one victory of reaching the NBA finals with a 116-78 blowout home triumph over the Toronto Raptors.

    James, who is seeking his sixth straight appearance in the NBA championship series, also had six rebounds and eight assists for the Cavaliers, who lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals three games to two.

    “I am a very experienced player. I’ve been here a long time,” James said. “I was able to be very calm these last 48 hours understanding that it is a big game.

    “I’ve been in some pressure situations before and I wanted to have that confidence around these guys who have never been in that situation before, and it paid off.”

    Kyrie Irving added 23 points in the Cavaliers’ most lopsided playoff victory in franchise history, eclipsing their 31-point victory at home in the series opener.

    Game six is Friday in Toronto. The Raptors must win or else Cleveland will advance to next month’s NBA finals to face either the Oklahoma City Thunder or defending champion Golden State Warriors.

    The Cavaliers delivered a stunning blow on Wednesday by flipping the script on the Raptors, who won back-to-back home games to level the series 2-2.

    Cleveland’s faith was also restored in forward Kevin Love, who scored a team-high 25 points on eight-of-10 shooting after making just five-of-23 in the two losses in Toronto.

    “We had our aggression today from the start. It started with Kevin and we followed his lead,” James said.

    “When Kevin is aggressive like we saw then we want to keep giving him the ball. He was spectacular.”

    The Cavaliers have outscored the Raptors by 88 points in their three home games. The contest was all but over after the first quarter, when Cleveland’s 37 points were the most they’ve scored in any quarter in this series.(SD-Agencies)