Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets go up 2-0

When two of Cleveland's big three come to play, they are very tough to beat and that was the case on Tuesday as the Cavaliers downed the Boston Celtics 99-91 in game two of their Eastern Conference first-round tie.

Two-time NBA champion LeBron James posted a game-high 30 points and collected nine rebounds at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, while post-season debutants Kyrie Irving (26 points, six assists and five rebounds) and Kevin Love (13 points, six rebounds) made significant contributions.

Cleveland managed to hold on to a lead that was cut to three points with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

James and Irving set the Cavs on their way to a 2-0 lead, scoring the team's final 28 points.

"They needed me to be a leader, and that's all I tried to do. I tried to score, tried to rebound, tried to assist," James said.

"I got 11 turnovers in two games, I need to clean that up."

Isaiah Thomas was the pick of the punch once against for the Celtics, finishing with 22 points and seven assists.

The series heads to Boston for game three on Thursday.

John Wall lifted the Washington Wizards past the Toronto Raptors 117-106 in their Eastern Conference play-off.

Wall had 26 points and 17 assists as the Wizards outlasted the Raptors at Air Canada Centre for an unexpected 2-0 advantage.

Washington went on a 34-14 run over the final 8:36 minutes in the third quarter to take a 97-75 lead into the fourth term.

The run was keyed by Wall, who had nine points and five assists during that stretch, which effectively put the game out of reach for Toronto.

"[The Raptors] think that we're some punks," said Wizards guard Bradley Beal, who top-scored with 28 points. "They think they can push us around. But we're not rolling."

Raptors pair DeMar DeRozan and Louis Williams scored 20 points apiece.

The Wizards are back in Washington for game three on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets saw off the Dallas Mavericks 111-99.

Like the Celtics versus Cavs game, the real contest was at the beginning of the fourth quarter, as Dallas led 84-81 at one point.

Then Josh Smith (15 points) and Dwight Howard (28 points, 12 rebounds) took over.

MVP candidate James Harden added 24 points and six assists as the Rockets went up 2-0 in the Western Conference matchup.

Game three is in Dallas on Friday.