James, Cavaliers Down Boston, NBA Roundup

The Celtics wouldn't go away, and then LeBron James showed them the door. James scored 30 points -- 15 in the fourth quarter -- and Kyrie Irving added 26 as the Cleveland Cavaliers finally shook off Boston for a 99-91 victory Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their opening-round series.

James moved past Hall of Famer Jerry West on the career playoff scoring list and made sure the Cavs didn't slip up at home. He took over the game down the stretch, and he and Irving, playing in just his second postseason game, combined for all of Cleveland's 24 points in the final period and the Cavs' final 28 over the last 17:29.

Wizards 117, Raptors 106

The Washington Wizards are winning big at both talking and playing. John Wall had 26 points and 17 assists, Bradley Beal scored 28 points, and the Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors 117-106 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Marcin Gortat scored 16 points, Otto Porter Jr. had 15 and Paul Pierce added 10 for the Wizards, who host Game 3 on Friday night. In a series that started with talk about Pierce's criticism of Toronto's talent, Beal fired another verbal salvo in a television interview at the end of the second quarter.

"They think that we're some punks, they think they can push us around," Beal said of the Raptors. "But we're not rolling."

They aren't rolling over, but the Wizards might just be rolling into the second round.

Rockets 111, Mavericks 99

Friends since preschool, but teammates for the first time since they were teenagers, Dwight Howard and Josh Smith have been itching for this opportunity. On Tuesday night, the Rockets teammates proved an unstoppable combination in a key run that helped Houston to a 111-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference playoff series.

The Mavericks scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a three-point lead. But with James Harden on the bench, Houston scored the next 11 points, powered by three alley-oop passes from Smith to Howard, who had 28 points, to take a 92-84 lead with about eight minutes left.

Tuesday, April 21 Scoreboard

Cleveland 99, Boston 91

Houston 111, Dallas 99

Washington 117, Toronto 106

Wednesday, April 22 Schedule (All Times Central)

Brooklyn at Atlanta, 6 p.m.

Portland at Memphis, 7 p.m.

San Antonio at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.