Irving, Love lift Cavaliers to 2-0 lead

Cleveland extends first-round streak, but James struggles.

Kyr i e I r v i ng s c ore d 37 points, Kevin Love added 27 and the Cleveland Cavaliers avoided another fourth-quarter collapse in Game 2, beating the visiting Indiana Pacers 117-111 Monday night to take a 2-0 series lead.

After squeaking out the opener by a point, LeBron James and Co. showed more intensit y on defense and won their 10th straight firstround game over the past three seasons.

However, they nearly blew an 18-point lead in the fourth as the Pacers got within four before Cleveland closed it out at the line.

James added 10 rebounds and seven assists, but had eight of Cleveland’s 19 turnovers.

Paul George scored 32 and Jeff Teague 23 for Indiana, which showed more fight, but now has a steep hill to climb. Cleveland is 12-0 when starting 2-0 in the postseason.

T h e C av s v o we d t h e y would play better after their near-disaster in Game 1 and they backed up their talk, delivering the kind of perfor- mance that was routine last season but very rare in 2017.

Love scored 10 straight and drew a charging foul on Lance Stephenson in a span of two minutes as the Cavs opened an 89-70 lead.

The Cavs still led 109-91 with 6:09 left, but the Pacers ripped off 13 straight points and were within 113-109 when George hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left.

The other hitch for Cleveland was that starting guard J. R. S mith di dn’t pl ay i n t he s e c ond hal f bec aus e of a left hamstring injury. Iman Shumpert, who sat the opener, replaced Smith and played 20 solid minutes.

Late Sunday

(At) Rockets 118, Thunder 87: James Harden outshined Russell Westbrook with 37 points, nine assists a n d s e ve n re b o u n d s f o r Houston in Game 1, while the Oklahoma City star had 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, but made just 6 of 23 shots and had nine turnovers.

Etc.: Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Isaiah Thomas plans to play tonight against the Bulls, then head to Washington state to be with his family and help complete funeral arrangements for his sister, who died in a traffic accident.