CLEVELAND -- Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love celebrated their playoffs debut on Sunday afternoon by leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 113-100 triumph in their playoffs opener against the Boston Celtics.
Irving drilled five 3s and finished with 30 points while Love dusted off a slow start and swished 19 in front of a sold-out crowd at the Quicken Loans Arena. LeBron James added 20 points, 7 assists and 6 boards.
Leading 1-0 in this best-of-7 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, the Cavs go for a 2-0 lead on Tuesday night also at The Q.
"We are the Big 3. We have really great players on this team, but we set the tone," Irving told reporters.
James, meanwhile, had high praise for his sidekicks. They were phenomenal. Those two guys, they succeeded for the first time being in the post-season," he said.
Cleveland fell behind 31-27 after one quarter, but a 35-23 run in the second quarter and a 29-22 blitz in the third quickly gave the Cavs control.
Tristan Thompson had 12 points and six rebounds off the bench while James Jones and Iman Shumpert combined for 15. J.R. Smith had a quiet 9 points, making only 3-of-9 from the field.
Isaiah Thomas paced the Celtics with 22 points.
Photo: The Cavs (above) opened their playoffs campaign with an easy 113-100 romp over the Celtics.
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