Irving in lead role as Cavs sink Celts

More than hour after his first playoff game with LeBron James and Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving made a statement more profound than anything he did on the floor.

“We,” Irving said, “are the Big 3. We have really great players on this team, butwe set the tone.” Tone set. Irving scored 30 points in his playoff debut, James added 20 in his first postseason game with Cleveland in five years and Love shook off a slow start to record a doubledouble, leading the host Cavaliers to a 113100 victory in Game1 over the Celtics on Sunday.

Irving made five 3pointers and Love, another postseason rookie, added 19 points— 13 in the second half— and 12 rebounds. James was proud of how his teammates handled their first venture onto the playoff stage.

“They were phenomenal,” he said. “Those two guys, they succeeded for the first time being in the postseason.” It was Cleveland’s first home playoff game since May 11, 2010, when the Celtics won Game 5 and James left the floor to some boos from Cavaliers fans. He departed for Miami two months later, but he’s home now, all is forgiven and the city of Cleveland is aiming to end a championship drought dating to 1964.

Grizzlies 100, Blazers 86

In Memphis, Tenn., reserve Beno Udrih scored 20 points and the Grizzlies never trailed in routing the Trail Blazers 10086 in Game 1 of their Western Conference firstround series.

Zach Randolph had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Marc Gasol added 15 points and 11 rebounds. Mike Conley finished with 16 points and didn’t play the fourth quarter. Jeff Green had 11.

The Grizzlies swept Portland during the regular season and have won 10 of the last 11, including the first playoff game between the teams.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Memphis.