Kyrie Irving scored 30 points in his playoff debut and LeBron James added 20 in his first postseason game with Cleveland in five years as the Cavaliers opened a run toward an NBA title with a 113-100 victory over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
Irving made five 3-pointers and Kevin Love, another postseason rookie, had 19 points and 12 rebounds. 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 Cleveland is aiming to end a championship drought dating to 1964.
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Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points to lead the seventh-seeded Celtics.
Clippers vs SpursChris Paul scored 32 points, and Blake Griffin added 26 points and 12 rebounds, as Los Angeles surged in the second half to beat San Antonio in their first-round playoff series opener.
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Jamal Crawford added 17 points for the Clippers.
Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points for the Spurs. Tim Duncan had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Hawks vs NetsKyle Korver scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers, as the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks held off the Brooklyn Nets 99-92 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoff series.
The Hawks led nearly the entire game and pushed the margin as high as 16 points, but the Nets kept coming back. Finally, Jeff Teague dropped in a floater coming off the left wing, giving Atlanta a 95-89 lead.
Teague and DeMarre Carroll scored 17 points apiece.
Grizzlies vs Trail BlazersReserve Beno Udrih scored 20 points and Memphis never trailed in routing Portland in Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round series.
Zach Randolph had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Marc Gasol added 15 points and 11 rebounds. Mike Conley finished with 16 points.
LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 32 points. Damian Lillard added 14 points and Nicolas Batum had 15 points.