CLEVELAND — Perhaps Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue knew something no one else at Quicken Loans Arena did prior to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals when he channeled his inner Rudy Tomjanovich in a pregame press conference on Friday.


 


The Cavaliers forced a winner-take-all slobberknocker in Boston after beating the Celtics, 109-99.


 


When asked if this might possibly be the end of the three-year Cleveland-Golden State run [...]

CLEVELAND — Perhaps Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue knew something no one else at Quicken Loans Arena did prior to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals when he channeled his inner Rudy Tomjanovich in a pregame press conference on Friday.

 

The Cavaliers forced a winner-take-all slobberknocker in Boston after beating the Celtics, 109-99.

 

When asked if this might possibly be the end of the three-year Cleveland-Golden State run in the NBA Finals — both teams trailed their respective conference finals 3-2 — Lue paid homage to the former Houston Rockets champion coach and added his own twist.

 

“Never underestimate the heart of a champion,” Lue said. “Until we’re dead in our grave, until Golden State is dead in the grave, it’s not over.”

 

Like the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, these Cavaliers aren’t dead yet.

 

The bad news is LeBron James is phenomenal in closeout games.

 

The good news is Boston has been unbeatable at home and doesn’t have to go back to Quicken Loans Arena until the 2018-19 season.

 

James finished with a video-game like 46 points, 11 rebound and nine assists.

 

His seventh 40-point postseason game this season trails on Jerry West (8, 1965) and is tied with Michael Jordan (1989).

 

“It feels good just to play for another game,” James said. “Like I’ve always said Game 7 is the best two words in sports and for us to be able to go into another hostile environment where we’ve had no success up to this point, we should relish the opportunity.”

 

Things started out fantastic for the Celtics, but soured in the second quarter to bring a Game 7 on Sunday at TD Garden in an 8:30 p.m. tip.

 

The Cavaliers lost a big piece to their offense in the first quarter when a collision between Jayson Tatum and Kevin Love at the 6:58 mark of the first quarter.

 

Love was taken back to the Cleveland locker room and evaluated for a possible concussion. He didn’t return for precautionary reasons.

 

That might be a big advantage in the closeout game if Love can’t go. He has been a virtual double-double machine in 10 NBA seasons.

 

While the Cavaliers won without him, Love is averaging 14.8 points and 10.4 rebounds in this year’s playoffs.

 

George Hill (20 points), Jeff Green (14) and Larry Nance Jr. (10 points, 7 rebounds) helped the Cavaliers.

 

Terry Rozier (28 points, 7 assists), Jaylen Brown (27 points), Jayson Tatum (15 points), Marcus Morris (10 points) and Marcus Smart (10 points) were the big money players for the Celtics.

 

With a win in Game 7, the Celtics will snap the record they currently share with the 1996 NBA champion Chicago Bulls with their 11th straight home postseason victory this season.

 

While it limps into the series finale, there’s no place like home for this Boston squad, which is trying to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.

 

Regardless of that, the winner will travel to either Houston or Golden State on Thursday for Game 1, which is scheduled for a 9 p.m. tip on ABC.

 

While Boston was able to close to 101-94 on a layup by Brown with 2:47 left, the Cavaliers never let the Celtics get closer.

 

The second quarter was the demise for Boston, which took a five-point advantage into the frame.

 

The Celtics started strong, but then an invigorated Cleveland team went on a 20-4 run at the 10:12 mark of the second to take a 10-point lead.

 

Rozier went 4:54 between 3-pointers during that stretch, which coincidentally, was the length of time the Celtics went without a basket.

 

James had almost half of the Cavaliers points (25) heading into the break as Cleveland took a 54-43 lead into intermission.

 

Brown, who had 15 first-quarter points, had only two in the second quarter.

 

The lead grew by one after three as Cleveland headed to the fourth up 83-73.

 

For only the second time in the six-game set, things weren’t decided in the first quarter. The last time it happened was Game 2 in a 107-93 win by the C’s.

 

Brown was fantastic in the frame, to a 6-of-8 performance with two treys in two attempts.

 

This time Boston got exactly the start it wanted when the Cavaliers started 4-of-14 (28.5 percent) and the Celtics raced out to a five-point lead with 4:57 remaining.

 

That five-point lead stayed as the Celtics took a 25-20 advantage into the second quarter thanks to a 61 percent quarter.