CLEVELAND — LeBron James isn’t all alone.
One year after he carried the Cavaliers as far as he could in the postseason, James once again has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love by his side.
Cleveland’s Big 3 is playoff healthy again.
Irving scored 31 points in his first playoff game since being injured last year in the NBA Finals and Love, who was knocked out in the first round by an injury a year ago, added 28 to lead the Cavaliers to a 106-101 victory over the young and confident Detroit Pistons in the opener of their firstround playoff series Sunday.
James added 22 points and 11 assists for the top-seeded Cavs. They are favored to win the Eastern Conference again but got all they could handle from the fearless Pistons.
Cleveland’s championship chances were dealt a major blow when Love’s shoulder was dislocated in just his fourth playoff game last year at Boston. The Cavs advanced to the Finals without him only to have Irving break his kneecap in Game 1 against Golden State, an injury that left James to fight the Warriors on his own.
As he sat between his teammates — who combined with him for 81 points, 24 rebounds and 18 assists — following the game Sunday game, James looked relieved.
“For these two guys, they were just excited to get back to this moment,” he said. “These guys have been working hard, Kyrie on his knee, Kevin on his shoulder just to get back to this moment. It was great to be out on the floor with them and for them to put together the performance that they did.”
Love made two critical three-pointers in the fourth quarter and the Cavs overcame a seven-point deficit by outscoring the Pistons 30-18 over the final 10:52.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points and Marcus Morris had 20 — but just one after halftime — and Reggie Jackson added 17 for the Pistons, making their first playoff appearance since 2009. Andre Drummond had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons, who made 15 three-pointers but missed a couple open ones down the stretch when their playoff inexperience showed.
Despite the loss, Jackson and his teammates didn’t lose any confidence.
“We don’t care who you put in front of us,” said Jackson, who was given a technical with 3:24 left. “We fear nobody and experience is going to be our best teacher. We’re going to learn on the fly. We think we have a chance.”
Game 2 is Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, which was on edge for much of Game 1 as the Pistons, who beat Cleveland three times during the regular season, flirted with an upset.
For more than 40 minutes, the Pistons, who have just one starter with playoff experience, matched the Cavaliers shot for shot. Detroit’s young squad wasn’t intimidated and Jackson’s three-pointer tied it 88-88 with 6:29 left.
But that’s when Love, who has had two uneven seasons since coming to Cleveland, made consecutive three-pointers to put the Cavs ahead by four and finally allow a sellout crowd of more than 20,000 a chance to relax.
“My mentality was to be aggressive all night,” said Love, who added 13 rebounds. “We have to do that the entire series.”
The Pistons hung around and were within four at 100-96 on a free throw by Morris, but James cut to the basket for a layup and Jackson missed a three-pointer before Irving’s two free throws gave Cleveland an eight-point lead.
DETROIT (101)
Harris 4-11 0-0 9, Morris 6-14 5-6 20, Drummond 6-14 1-2 13, Jackson 7-12 1-1 17, Caldwell-Pope 7-14 3-4 21, Johnson 3-4 0-0 9, Blake 0-0 1-2 1, Bullock 3-3 0-0 8, Baynes 1-1 1-1 3. Totals 37-73 12-16 101. CLEVELAND (106)
James 9-17 4-4 22, Love 10-22 4-5 28, Thompson 1-1 0-0 2, Irving 10-24 6-8 31, Smith 3-9 1-2 9, Dellavedova 3-8 1-2 7, Shumpert 1-2 0-0 2, Jefferson 2-4 0-0 5, Mozgov 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 39-88 16-21 106. Detroit ..................... 25 33 20 23 — 101 Cleveland ................. 27 26 23 30 — 106 3-Point Goals—Detroit 15-29 (Caldwell-Pope 4-8, Johnson 3-3, Morris 3-7, Bullock 2-2, Jackson 2-4, Harris 1-4, Drummond 0-1), Cleveland 12-35 (Irving 5-10, Love 4-8, Smith 2-7, Jefferson 1-2, Shumpert 0-1, James 0-3, Dellavedova 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Detroit 43 (Drummond 11), Cleveland 51 (Love 13). Assists—Detroit 24 (Jackson 7), Cleveland 25 (James 11). Total Fouls—Detroit 21, Cleveland 18. Technicals—Jackson. Attendance—20,562 (20,562).
HEAT 123, HORNETS 91
MIAMI — Luol Deng scored 31 points on 11-for-13 shooting, Hassan Whiteside added 21 points and 11 rebounds in his postseason debut, and the Miami Heat wasted no time taking control in defeating the Charlotte Hornets in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Dwyane Wade scored 16 points in 25 minutes for the Heat. Joe Johnson (Little Rock Central, Arkansas Razorbacks) and Amare Stoudemire each scored 11 points and Goran Dragic had 10 assists for Miami.
Miami scored 41 points in the first quarter to tie one franchise playoff record, set another with the 123 points — topping the 121 in the 2012 NBA Finals clincher against Oklahoma City —and never trailed.
Nic Batum scored 24 points for the Hornets. Kemba Walker added 19.
CHARLOTTE (91)
Batum 7-14 7-10 24, Williams 1-7 0-0 2, Zeller 3-4 3-4 9, Walker 6-13 5-5 19, Lee 2-6 4-4 8, Jefferson 4-8 5-6 13, Kaminsky 0-0 0-2 0, Lin 2-4 5-6 9, Daniels 0-2 0-0 0, Hansbrough 0-0 0-0 0, Lamb 2-3 0-0 4, Gutierrez 0-2 0-0 0, Hawes 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 28-65 29-37 91.
MIAMI (123)
J.Johnson 5-8 0-0 11, Deng 11-13 5-7 31, Whiteside 9-11 3-5 21, Dragic 2-8 5-6 9, Wade 8-16 0-0 16, Winslow 4-6 0-0 8, Richardson 3-11 0-0 8, Stoudemire 4-6 3-3 11, Haslem 0-0 0-0 0, Green 0-3 0-0 0, Wright 3-3 0-0 8, McRoberts 0-0 0-0 0, Weber 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 49-85 16-21 123.
Charlotte .................. 22 28 24 17 — 91 Miami ..................... 41 26 30 26 — 123 3-Point Goals—Charlotte 6-17 (Batum 3-7, Walker 2-5, Hawes 1-2, Lee 0-1, Williams 0-2), Miami 9-18 (Deng 4-6, Wright 2-2, Richardson 2-5, J.Johnson 1-2, Winslow 0-1, Dragic 0-1, Wade 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Charlotte 37 (Zeller 7), Miami 49 (Whiteside 11). Assists—Charlotte 11 (Lin 3), Miami 27 (Dragic 10). Total Fouls—Charlotte 17, Miami 24. Attendance—19,600 (19,600).
SPURS 106, GRIZZLIES 74
SAN ANTONIO — Kawhi Leonard had 20 points and the San Antonio Spurs beat Memphis on Sunday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series, handing the Grizzlies their worst postseason loss.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 17 points, and Tony Parker had 15 points and 6 assists for San Antonio. The Spurs sat their starters in the fourth quarter to rest them for Game 2 on Tuesday night in San Antonio.
San Antonio shot 68 percent in the third quarter, outscoring Memphis 33-14 to break open what had been a relatively close game against the short-handed Grizzlies.
Memphis matched a postseason low in the first quarter with 13 points, and only Xavier Munford’s 15-foot jumper with 46.1 seconds remaining kept it from matching the worst output in any quarter. Vince Carter had 16 points to lead Memphis. Zach Randolph was held to six points on 3-for-13 shooting.
Sports on 04/18/2016