James, Love lead easy win

BOSTON — So much for the Cavaliers being rusty.

LeBron James embarrassed every defender Boston threw at him and Cleveland picked up where it left off following a long layoff, rolling to a 117-104 victory Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

James had 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

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.

“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.”

But it started with James, who has scored at least 35 points in five straight games.

“When LeBron’s playing at that level, other guys just have to be solid and we have a good chance to win,” Cleveland head coach Tyronn Lue said.

James scored at will in the first half as the Cavs built a 26-point lead.

Coming off a Game 7 victory over Washington on Monday night, Boston missed 11 of its first 14 shots and seemed content to make every switch created by Cleveland screens.

Game 2 is Friday in Boston.