TORONTO -- The Cleveland Cavaliers finally figured out a way to win in Toronto on Friday night and it came at the right time, in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference finals.
With LeBron James scoring 33 points and Kyrie Irving adding 30, the Cavaliers overwhelmed the Toronto Raptors 113-87 to advance to the NBA finals for the second year in a row.
They lost to the Golden State Warriors last year.
Kevin Love added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers and J.R. Smith chipped in with 15 points. Kyle Lowry led Toronto with 35 points.
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In four regular-season games and five more in the playoffs, the home team had prevailed in all the previous games between the teams.
"It's a learning experience for our guys," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "It's the first time they've been here. That group had been there before. They were there last year and they'll have the opportunity again this year."
The Cavaliers, who were rocked early in Games 3 and 4 in Toronto, were in control most of the game on Friday.
They did it by shooting 54.1 percent from the field while the Raptors shot 41.8 percent.
"We're still OK, we're not great yet," James said. "We have one more round to become great. We look forward to it."
James, who finished with 11 rebounds, expended a lot of energy in scoring 14 points in the first quarter.
"We needed LeBron to set the tone early and I thought he did that," Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. "And then we slowly brought Kyrie along, slowly brought Kevin along and we knew at some point LeBron was going to run out of gas and Kevin and Kyrie, we went to those guys and they came through of us. We knew that was going happen throughout the course of the game with LeBron expending so much energy that first quarter trying to get us off to a great start. Then Kyrie and Kevin just brought us home."
"We wouldn't be at the point we are today going to the finals without these two (Love and Irving)," James said. "Throughout the first three rounds they're the reason we've played at such a high level."
All the Cavaliers starters except for center Tristan Thompson played all 12 minutes of the first quarter, which ended with Cleveland leading by six points.
"There's only one LeBron James," Casey said. "He makes the difference on any team he plays on and he's proven that. What's this, his sixth finals?"
With James playing all but 37 seconds in the second quarter and scoring seven points, the Cavaliers led 55-41 after the first half.
"We had lapses in the second quarter and they took advantage of it," said Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan, who finished with 20 points. "They continued to pull away for the rest of the game and it was tough for us to get back in the game."
"Tip our hats to those guys," Lowry said. "They did what we want to do and they've been to where we want to get. They played unbelievable so far this playoffs,"
The Cavaliers led by as many as 14 points in the first half and had a 21-point lead during the third quarter. They led by 12 entering the fourth quarter.
The Raptors got the lead down to 10 before the Cavaliers took over and regained their 21-point lead on Irving's bank shot with 4:49 to play.
Irving scored again on a floating bank shot to increase the lead to 23 with 3:32 left.
"We know we're not done," Love said. "We know we're not satisfied. We'll enjoy it tonight and the next couple of days and wait to see who we play."
The Cavaliers led by as many as 11 points during the first quarter, a lead the Raptors cut to four before James completed the scoring with a layup.
Channing Frye opened the second quarter with two 3-pointers, his only six points of the game, to increase the Cavaliers' lead to 12 points. The Raptors cut that lead in half on DeRozan's short jumper with 5:48 left in the half. James answered with a 3-pointer and a dunk.
Thompson opened the scoring in the second half and Cleveland's lead was up to 16. Love bumped the lead to 18 before two minutes had elapsed.
The Raptors got back to within 13 points with 6:57 to play in the third but Smith made a 3-pointer and Irving followed with a pullup jumper with 4:58 to go and Cleveland led by 20.
The Cavs' lead got up to 21 before Lowry hit a 3-pointer with 2:57 left in the quarter.
Lowry completed an 18-point third quarter when he converted three free throws in the final second and Cleveland led 86-74 entering the fourth.
DeRozan opened the fourth-quarter scoring to cut the lead to 10 points. But James put Cleveland ahead by 16 points on a tip in with 8:38 to play.
NOTES: The Raptors played their 20th game of the postseason on Friday, the most by any team in the playoffs. It is two more playoff games than the Raptors have played over the past 10 years. ...The Cavaliers are 7-0 at home during the playoffs after their Game 5 win over the Raptors on Wednesday. They have an average winning margin of 20.9 points in those games and have shot 49.6 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from 3-point range. The Cavs are on an 11-0 playoff run at home dating to last year's postseason. ...Toronto G Kyle Lowry became the first Raptors player in nine years to be named to the All-NBA team, earning third-team honors.
