CLEVELAND _ For all that LeBron James has accomplished in his glowing career, only once did a season start this well for his team. And it ended in a championship over Kevin Durant.
James scored a season-high 30 points to go with his 12 assists Thursday, including 20 points in the third quarter, and the Cavaliers improved to 5-0 with a 128-122 victory against the short-handed Boston Celtics. Kevin Love scored a season-high 26 points and Kyrie Irving scored 23 for the Cavs, who improved to 5-0 for the first time since the 1976-77 season.
The only other time James started 5-0 was 2011-12, which ended in a sweep of Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder to give James his first NBA championship. And with a road game at the Philadelphia 76ers up next on Saturday, James could easily be looking at 6-0 for the first time in his career.
Right now, the Cavs are rolling.
"This is the best I've seen the Cavs play in November," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "Everybody is trying to figure themselves out to be the best version of themselves, but they're way ahead of where they were the last two years, in my opinion. And (James) looks great. I mean, they're really good."
The Cavs raced out to a big first-half lead Thursday while James was content to facilitate. He had five assists in the first quarter and eight in the half while the Cavs built an 18-point lead. He kicked into attack mode in the third quarter to keep the lead in double figures following a Boston surge.
Isaiah Thomas scored a season-high 30 points and Avery Bradley had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who were wounded and playing on the second night of a back-to-back. Big free-agent pickup Al Horford is in the league's concussion protocol after taking a blow to the head in practice this week, while Jae Crowder sprained his ankle in Wednesday's win at Chicago.
Boston could ultimately serve as a significant hurdle to the Cavs in the postseason, but they were outmanned on Thursday despite an impressive second-half comeback.
"What they're running is really good and it really fits," Stevens said while praising the way the Cavs are using James in pick-and-roll situations. "They put you in a bad spot by making LeBron a roller at times. There is a lot of uniqueness to what they're doing and those players are unique, too. But they're in great positions and the spacing is excellent.
"Everybody is utilized to the best of their strengths, so there is a lot of positives. From what I can see, I think that's a part of why they look so much better this November than others. And maybe that's the continuity of having been together a few years but Ty has done a great job."
The Celtics cut a 20-point deficit down to four in the fourth quarter. They were within 115-109 on a driving layup by Thomas with 3:15 left, but didn't get any closer.
Tristan Thompson had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavs, including 10 rebounds in the first quarter. James' 30 points left him two shy of Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946) for 10th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
