Cavs roll past Celts in Game 1
BOSTON — LeBron James had 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 117-104 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Kevin Love added a playoff career-high 32 points and had 12 rebounds to help the Cavaliers improve to 9-0 in the first three rounds of the playoffs. They opened 10-0 last season en route to their first NBA title.
James scored at will in the first half and the Cavs built a 26-point lead. Love opened up the floor for James, burying outside jumpers and forcing Boston to leave defenders one-on-one with James.
Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder led the Celtics with 21 points each. Isaiah Thomas had 17 points. Boston missed 11 of its first 14 shots.
Love averaged a quiet 13.8 points in the first two rounds, then broke out against a Boston team that knocked him out of the 2015 playoffs when he became tangled with Kelly Olynyk and dislocated his shoulder. The shoulder was working just fine Wednesday, and he scored in the paint and from the outside.
Things got a little testy in the third quarter when Boston’s Marcus Smart and Cleveland’s Tristan Thompson got nose-tonose 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 double technicals on the play.
Later, Smart fell to the floor during an exchange, drawing a foul on Thompson.
James picked apart every defender that the Celtics threw at him in the first half. He backed down defenders to set up 15-foot fade away jumpers. Other times, he simply took defenders off the dribble or sliced through doubleteams on the way to layups.