Cavaliers are hardly rusty after layoff
Coming off a 10-day break, they roll in Game 1 of Eastern Conference finals.
BOSTON — Cleveland picked up where it left off after a long layoff, rolling to a 117-104 victory over Boston on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
LeBron James had 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Kevin Love had a playoff careerhigh 32 points to go with 12 rebounds to help the Cavaliers improve to 9-0 in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
“It was our two bigs that set the tone — Kev and Double-T [Tristan Thompson], they were phenomenal,” James said. “I saw it in Kev this morning. I knew what type of game he was going to have. So he came through for us.”
Coming off a 10-day break, James and the Cavaliers raced to an early lead and were never threatened.
“You can’t dig yourself in a big hole like that against them,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.
James, who has scored at least 35 points in five consecutive games, helped the Cavaliers build a 26-point lead in the first half.
Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder led the Celtics with 21 points each. Isaiah Thomas had 17 points. The Celtics missed 11 of their first 14 shots.
“They were the better team tonight. They hit us first. They were more physical,” Thomas said. “We can’t let that happen again.”
Things got a little testy in the third quarter when Boston’s Marcus Smart and Thompson got nose to nose and had to be separated by referees. Some jawing continued briefly before James stepped in to pull Thompson away.
Smart and Thompson were called for a double foul on the play, but got tangled again a few minutes later. This time, Smart fell to the court during the exchange, drawing a foul on Thompson.
The Celtics found some energy after the incident, closing the third quarter on an 11-3 run to pull to 92-75. It didn’t last long, though, as Cleveland quickly got the lead back to 20 points.