NBA playoffs: ‘Big 3’ lead Cavaliers past Celtics 113-100 in Game 1

More than an 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, but we 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 double-double, leading the host Cavaliers to a 113-100 victory in Game 1 over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

Irving made five 3-pointers 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.”

Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points to lead the seventh-seeded Celtics. They will try to even the best-of-7 series in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

The Cavs built a 20-point lead in the third quarter, let the Celtics get as close as six and then finished the quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 15-point lead into the fourth. Boston climbed within 10 in the final 12 minutes, but Love made a crucial 3-pointer with 3:32 left to slow Boston.

James came in with more playoff experience – 158 games – than Boston’s entire roster, an inequality that seemed to favor the Cavaliers.

Kyle Korver scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers, and the top-seeded host Atlanta Hawks held off the pesky Brooklyn Nets 99-92 in Game 1 of their 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.

Jeff Teague and DeMarre Carroll scored 17 points apiece.

Eighth-seeded Brooklyn finished 22 games behind the Hawks and slipped into the playoffs on the final day.

But with Johnson and Brook Lopez each scoring 17 points, they didn’t look overmatched by a team that won the season series 4-0.

Griz rout Blazers

Reserve Beno Udrih scored 20 points and the Memphis Grizzlies never trailed in routing the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 100-86 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 and didn’t play the fourth quarter. Jeff Green had 11.

LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 32 points.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Memphis.

Clips drop Spurs

Chris Paul scored 32 points, Blake Griffin added 26 points and 12 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers surged in the second half for a 107-92 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs in their first-round playoff series opener.

Jamal Crawford added 17 points for the Clippers, who met the defending NBA champions’ challenge in a difficult postseason-opening matchup for two powers. Griffin threw down his usual array of roof-raising dunks, while Paul quarterbacked Los Angeles to an 18-point lead in the third quarter.

Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points for the Spurs. Tim Duncan had 11 points and 11 rebounds.