TORONTO -- Yes, Kevin Love finally played like an All-Star.

LeBron James was so good, in fact, that prior to Game 2 he told Love the kinds of tear-drop, turnaround jumpers he'd be burying in the Raptors' faces. And then he did it in the fourth quarter.

Sure, there is some kind of psychological hold James and the Cavs have over Toronto, now that this series is 2-0 following Cleveland's 128-110 win Thursday. The Cavs have won eight straight over the Raptors in the playoffs going back to 2016.

But this series is what it is, with the Cavs probably headed back to the conference finals yet again, for a reason that has nothing to do with James' 43 points or Love's 31 or that there were three other players scoring in double figures for Cleveland.

The Cavs are holding onto the ball now, as in, not turning it over, and it's changed them.

Through two games in this series, Cleveland has turned it over a combined nine times for just eight points. In Game 2, the Cavs set a franchise record for fewest turnovers in the playoffs with three.

In the grueling, nail-biting, could-have-gone-either-way first-round series with the Pacers, the Cavs turned it over 13 more times than Indiana (98-85) and it cost them 135 points (about 19 points per game).

"I think in the Indiana series, us turning the ball over and they were fueling that, getting to the rack, getting fastbreak points, things like that," said George Hill, who scored 13 points and didn't commit a turnover. "That's what kind of kept the games out of hand or even close."

Look, turnovers, or a lack thereof, aren't sexy.

Saying Love "demanded the ball" for the first time these playoffs, as James did, is cool. Love caught the ball in the post and abused the puzzling array of smaller defenders the Raptors kept switching onto him.

Also neato was Love saying James "actually called his shots this morning. Love said that about a conversation he had with James at shootaround in which he showed Love the kind of turnarounds he planned to drop on the Raptors if they pressed him, which they did.

All six of James' field goals in the fourth quarter were jumpers, just like he planned.

But the Raptors turned it over 11 times and it cost them 13 points. In Game 1, a game in which Toronto had about a million chances to win, it also committed 14 turnovers for 21 points. The reason the Cavs were even in a position to be able to survive Fred VanVleet's two missed 3s, and all those putback attempts by DeMar DeRozan, C.J. Miles, and Jonas Valanciunas at the end of regulation in Game 1 was because they held onto the ball and the Raptors couldn't.

"When we turn the ball over three times and get shot attempts, that's usually a good sign for us," Lue said. "Either we're going to make shots but also more importantly, we get a chance to get back and get our defense set. When we turn the basketball over, we can't back."

The Cavs were 17th in the NBA this season in opponent's points off turnovers (16.5 points per game), but they were 21st up until Feb. 8, when they traded for three 25-year-olds (who get back on defense) and Hill, the veteran point guard.

Cleveland was 10th in the league in fewest turnovers per game (13.7 -- not bad), but 12th out of 16 teams in the first round (14.4).

As Hill mentioned, the Pacers used turnovers to either blow out the Cavs or stay in games in which they were otherwise outplayed.

In Indiana's Game 1, 18-point blowout win, the Cavs coughed it up 17 times for 20 points. In the Game 6, 34-point drubbing, Cleveland committed 15 turnovers for 29 points (talk about not getting back!).

When the Cavs blew their 17-point halftime lead and lost Game 3 last series ... yep, 17 turnovers for 24 points. After building a 10-point lead at halftime of Game 7 and committing a single turnover through two quarters, the Cavs gave it away 11 times in the second half for 15 points and barely survived.

The Pacers physically challenged the Cavs relentlessly. They forced Love into 16 turnovers -- outrageously high for a post player.

The Raptors have offered the path of least resistance. Coach Dwane Casey hinted at lineup changes for Game 3 -- he may want to opt for a Raptor willing to go chest to chest with Cavs and force them into mistakes.

"You know, going into this series we knew that we had to be good," Lue said. "With Kyle Lowry and DeRozan and Dwane Casey has done a great job this year of changing the offense, being way better defensively, we knew it was going to be a tough matchup for us. But I do think that first round, Nate McMillan and his Pacers, they really did a good job of preparing us for this series."

James, meanwhile, set career highs for turnovers in each of the last two regular seasons. This year, it was 4.2 turnovers per game.

Since returning to Cleveland, he's never averaged fewer than 3.6 turnovers in the playoffs, save for now. He's down to 3.1 per game, because he has two turnovers in the first two games of this series. Having Hill out there to run the point (Hill missed games 4-6 of the Indiana series with back spasms) has helped.

"I definitely know how important each possession is in the postseason," James said. "It's not like I'm going out and saying 'let's be a little more careful with the ball,' it's just always a part of my game. I hate turnovers and I hate not being efficient, so, I've been able to be in control of that so far in the postseason."