The Cleveland Cavaliers' bid to return to the NBA Finals got off to a rocky start in Sunday's opening-round Game 1 against the Detroit Pistons at Quicken Loans Arena.
Even though the hosting Cavs prevailed by a score of 106-101, they put forth a sluggish defensive effort and needed their three biggest stars in LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to the rise to the occasion to avoid an upset.
The trio of Cleveland All-Stars was brilliant, with Irving (31 points) and Love (28 points) leading all scorers and James adding 22 points to go with six rebounds and 11 assists. Love also had 13 boards, while Irving had five rebounds, six dimes and two steals.
Nate Duncan of The Cauldron praised Love in particular after he hit two key threes in the fourth, the first of which put Cleveland up 91-88 and allowed the team to never trail again:
Cavs play-by-play man Fred McLeod noted the lineup change Cleveland went to late with Love at the 5—a strategy that wound up making a big difference near the end:
It was James who had the biggest start with 10 points and four assis ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Matt Fitzgerald
Pistons vs. Cavaliers: Game 1 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NBA Playoffs
April 17th, 2016 by Matt Fitzgerald Leave a reply »
Advertisement