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Their doubters are dropping off as quickly as the competition.

Only one team has advanced to the conference finals in these NBA playoffs Muhammad Wilkerson Jersey , and it’s the same squad that looked vulnerable during a chaotic regular season, beatable in the postseason and was one loss from a possible franchise collapse.

The ending’s been postponed. The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t nearly finished.

On Monday night, the Cavs completed their second straight four-game sweep of the Toronto Raptors, the East’s top team and the one that was supposedly built to dethrone them, with a 128-93 win in Game 4 that has perhaps changed Cleveland’s outlook.

LeBron James, whose future hangs over this city like a looming thunderstorm, scored 29 points with 11 assists and eight rebounds on 12 of 19 shooting – an ordinary performance by his standards – as the Cavs won their 10th straight over the Raptors with one of their most complete games in months.

After all the injuries, the failed Isaiah Thomas experiment, the roster overhaul at the trading deadline and other distractions, the Cavs, who can get some rest while waiting for the Philadelphia-Boston winner, are peaking at the right time.

Their path to the East finals wasn’t straight. But they arrived.

”We’ve had four or five seasons wrapped in one, we know what the narrative has been about our team,” said James, who averaged 34 points, 8.3 rebounds and 11.3 assists in the series. ”But I can only speak in the moment. To be able to put ourselves in position where we can represent the Eastern Conference in the Finals, that’s all you can ask for. So we’re excited about being part of the Eastern Conference finals once again and having the opportunity to compete for a championship.

”That is what our goal is.”

James has been reluctant to discuss the Cavs’ chances to win a title or get back to the Finals for the fourth straight year, but his confidence has grown with each victory.

Kevin Love Marlon Humphrey Jersey , who struggled in a seven-game scrap with Indiana in the first round, had another solid game with 23 points. Kyle Korver added 16, J.R. Smith scored 15 on 6-for-6 shooting and point guard George Hill, who was sidelined for three games in the Pacers series, added 12.

The Cavs were balanced and were finally able to take some of the pressure off James, who had seemingly been abandoned by his teammates through much of the postseason.

In fact, things had gotten so bad that ”Saturday Night Live” did a skit last weekend that went viral on social media called ”The Other Cavaliers,” a parody that poked fun at Cleveland’s supporting cast.

James, though, said his faith never wavered.

”I believe in my teammates so as everyone was burying my teammates alive throughout that first-round series, I just continued to tell them, `Listen, we can’t win without each and every one doing their jobs and being as great as they can be,” James said. ”I continued to preach that so it’s impossible for me to lose confidence in our ballclub no matter what the stakes are or where we’re down because if I do that – then where are we going to go from a team aspect?”

After winning 59 games in the regular season, the Raptors had the East’s top seed and figured that this was their year. James had other plans.

Toronto came into the series feeling great. By the end, the Raptors were defeated and deflated. Exactly one year since they were last swept by James, he did it to them again.

”Everyone had counted Cleveland out,” said coach Dwane Casey Carl Banks Jersey , whose job could be in jeopardy. ”They struggled a little bit. They had the big trade and all that. Everyone thought they were vulnerable but as long as they have him, they have a chance and that’s what we were looking at. But 10 days ago we had all the confidence in the world.”

As the Cavs look ahead to a matchup with either the Sixers or Celtics, who lead that series 3-1 and host Game 5 on Wednesday, Love’s renaissance gives Cleveland the most comfort.

The All-Star was rendered ineffective in Round 1 by the Pacers, whose big men battered him and took Love out of his game.

But despite cries to bench Love or move him back from center to power forward, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue stuck with him, and in doing so may have prolonged Cleveland’s season.

Love said there was nothing magical about his turnaround.

”It just came from me being me,” he said. ”I didn’t forget how to play basketball, I was just ultra-aggressive. I found myself in spots, I found myself just missing little chippies, missing shots that were uncharacteristic of me to miss. But I continued to be aggressive, continued to put in the work every single day. So for me it was just more than anything it was just me being myself.”

And now the Cavs appear to be themselves.

CANTON, Ohio (AP) Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, two of the NFL’s greatest linebackers, enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame this week. When their teams meet in Thursday night’s preseason opener, the game could very well honor them by being a defensive battle.

On one hand, the Chicago Bears are installing a new offense under first-year coach Matt Nagy. On the other side, few if any of the Baltimore Ravens‘ starters at the offensive skill positions are likely to get much action.

So if this winds up 10-9 or something similar Matt Breida Jersey , well, the smiles on the faces of Lewis and Urlacher might get a bit broader.

Nagy has a second-year quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky, who will be taking his first major steps running the new scheme Nagy brought from Kansas City. He seems unconcerned that the second overall pick in the 2017 draft will be overmatched – even though Trubisky has been an interception machine in practices.

”Our guys have picked up everything that we’ve asked them to do,” Nagy said. ”There have been mistakes, but they’re way ahead of the learning curve. So that’s exciting and it tells me that once we get to the regular season we can do more than I initially thought. But we will be growing throughout the season.”

And the preseason.

As for the Ravens, don’t look for Joe Flacco in this one. The Hall of Fame game is an extra exhibition outing for the participants, and provides an opportunity for Baltimore coach John Harbaugh and his staff to look at first-round draft pick Lamar Jackson and veteran Robert Griffin III , who is attempting a comeback after not playing last year.

”We have that set,” Harbaugh said of the QB plans for Thursday night. ”I never really talk about that. We just go do it. But we have the quarterback rotation set, and then we’ll organize the rest of it … There’ll be some guys who won’t play in that game, probably you might guess the guys who haven’t practiced as much that first week.”

Some other things to watch in the Hall of Fame game:

A FIFTH GAME

The extra preseason contest usually gives low draftees, non-draftees and guys trying to catch on an additional chance to show their stuff. This isn’t much different from the final exhibition game, when starters generally sit and others get a last chance to make a roster.

”When you have that extra game, the benefit is it gives you more reps for your players,” Nagy said. ”The negative is there’s health risks, right? So people can get hurt. There’s a fine balance of both of those and being able to understand which way you want to go, and right now I feel like our plan as a coaching staff for who we want to play and don’t want to play Tramon Williams Jersey , I feel really good about it.”

O-LINE QUESTIONS

Both teams have to find answers regarding their blockers. Baltimore has one of the best in the league in right guard Marshal Yanda, but he’s coming off an injury-ravaged 2017 in which he made it into two games.

”That’s why they call it training camp,” Ravens OL coach Joe D’Alessandris said. ”You have an idea of who are going to be your so-called projected players and starters, but that could change overnight. The same thing could happen during the season.”

Considering how stationary Flacco can be, Baltimore needs to solve the offensive line issues quickly if he is its starter.

Trubisky at least can move around, and there’s no question he will be the Bears’ first-stringer. Guard Kyle Long’s assortment of health issues doesn’t help in the quest to solidify the line.

HOMECOMING

This is sort of a homecoming for Trubisky. He played at North Carolina but is from this area (Mentor, Ohio).

”I’m excited. The Hall of Fame game is a great opportunity for this team, and it’s a unique place to place,” he said. ”Just going back to the Hall of Fame, I’ll have some family coming to the game. It’ll be great to see some family, and it’s an exciting time for this team.”

NATIONAL ANTHEM

With the NFL’s new policy on protocol during the national anthem in limbo as both the league and union discuss it, nothing really has changed from last season. Demonstrations by the players aimed toward awareness of social injustice could occur Thursday night.

BETTING LINE

With legal betting on NFL games in some states, there actually is a line on this game: Baltimore by 2 points. How the oddsmakers got there is anyone’s guess considering there are 90 players on each roster and many of them will get on the field.

AP Sports Writer David Ginsburg and freelance writer Gene Chamberlain contributed to this report.

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