Cleveland, May 18 (EFE).- Star point guard Kyrie Irving and do-it-all forward LeBron James combined for 51 points to lead the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers to a 115-84 shellacking of the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Irving scored 27 points, while James contributed 24 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists in Tuesday night’s contest at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

The top-seeded Cavaliers, who swept the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds of the playoffs, remained undefeated in this year’s postseason.

The Cavaliers opened the game with a 20-2 run and shot 67 percent from the field in the first two quarters to take a 66-44 halftime lead.

James made his first nine shots of the contest, connected on 11-of-13 field-goal attempts overall and sat out the final 12 minutes after leading the Cavaliers to a 95-67 lead through three quarters.

The Cavaliers, who had dominated the Hawks with phenomenal shooting from 3-point range, only made seven shots from distance on Tuesday night but demolished the Raptors with shots in the painted area and drives to the rim.

Cleveland also did an excellent job clamping down on the Raptors’ offensive weapons, holding star point guard Kyle Lowry to just eight points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field.

The Raptors, who are off to a nightmarish start in the franchise’s first-ever appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals, had to make do once again without injured center Jonas Valanciunas, who may compete in Thursday night’s Game 2, which will also be played in Cleveland.

Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo led the way for the Raptors with 18 points and 12 points, respectively.

Besides outshooting Toronto from the field by a wide margin (55 percent to 42 percent), the Cavaliers also grabbed 10 offensive rebounds to the Raptors’ four and made many more trips to the free-throw line – making 26 of their 33 shots from the charity stripe compared to Toronto’s 15-of-20. EFE

Sportsbooks in Costa Rica are seeing bets stacking up against the Raptors and heavily favoring Cleveland.

According to IDSca.com, a leading Pay-Per-Head provider based in Costa Rica,the Cavaliers were 10-point favorites heading into Game 1 at home. Such odds are expected to continue to the chagrin of Raptors fans, who are supposed to be enjoying their first time reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.

In terms of NBA championship odds, the Cavaliers are now tied with the Golden State Warriors at 6/5.