CLEVELAND — Back home, the Cavaliers were not hospitable.

They rudely roughed up the Raptors again.

LeBron James scored 23 points then sat the fourth quarter, Kevin Love scored 25, and Cleveland unleashed tenacious defense on Toronto to regain control of the Eastern Conference finals with a 116-78 rout of the Raptors in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

On their court in front of 20,000-plus screaming fans following two straight losses in Canada, the Cavs opened a 34-point lead in the first half and never slowed while taking a 3-2 series lead.

They can clinch their second straight conference title and trip to the NBA Finals with a win in Game 6 on Friday night in Toronto.

“We ought to be able to transfer that on Friday,” James said. “Playing in that beast of an arena that we’re going to we got to be composed, we got to be tough and we got to be sharp.”

The Raptors, who won Games 3 and 4, left Quicken Loans Arena shaken and one loss from having their deepest playoff run stopped.

“They kicked our butts, bottom line,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “That’s been all three ballgames.”

James had eight assists and six rebounds in 31 minutes before checking out late in the third quarter with the Cavs up 37. He spent the fourth quarter resting on the bench.