Cavs hold off Celtics; Korver boosts Hawks
Kyrie Irving scored 30 points in his playoff debut, LeBron James added 20 in his first postseason game in Cleveland in five years and the Cavaliers opened their playoff run by defeating the Celtics 113-100 on Sunday.
Irving made five 3-pointers and Kevin Love, another postseason rookie, added 19 points and 12 rebounds.
“We,” Irving said, “are the Big 3. We have really great players on this team, but we set the tone.”
It was the Cavs’ first home playoff game since May 11, 2010, when the Celtics won Game 5 and James left to some boos from fans in his last game before joining the Heat. Hawks 99, Nets 92: Kyle Korver scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers, and the top-seeded Hawks held on to win the opener of their series in Atlanta.
The Hawks pushed their lead to 16 points but the Nets kept coming back.
Jeff Teague scored to put the Hawks up 95-89. Joe Johnson missed a 3-pointer for the Nets, and Teague hit two free throws with a minute to go to put the game out of reach. Grizzlies 100, Blazers 86: Beno Udrih scored 20 points off the bench in 24 minutes, and Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol posted double-doubles to lead the Grizzlies to a quick knockout of the visiting Blazers in their playoff opener.
The Grizzlies led 58-39 at halftime and increased it to 86-62 heading into the fourth quarter.
LaMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers with 32 points and 14 rebounds. Layups: The NBA fined Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri $35,000 and the team was docked $25,000 for Ujiri’s expletive Saturday when he was talking about Wizards forward Paul Pierce as he addressed fans before the Raptors’ playoff opener. “People want me to say something about Paul Pierce but, we don’t give a (expletive) about ‘it,’ ” Ujiri said. Ujiri was referring to Pierce telling ESPN that he wasn’t worried about the Raptors because “I don’t feel they have the ‘it’ that makes you worried.” ... Pelicans point guard Tyreke Evans has a bruised left knee and is questionable for Monday’s game against the Warriors.