Raise your hand if you were tired of hearing about it being Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love's first playoff game today?
Okay, you can put them down.
Irving and Love acquitted themselves quite well in the first game of the first round matchup with the Celtics. Irving had 20 points in the first half en route to 30 for the game, and Love finished with 19 points on 14 shots, 12 rebounds, four assists, and just one turnover. He took two charges and got himself to the free throw line.
One guy who was impressed? LeBron James. In the postgame press conference, James was emphatic:
"I thought they were phenomenal, you know starting with Ky[rie Irving], you know he's our floor general. He set the tone early on with his ability to make shots, his ability to get in the lane. Obviously he can shoot the ball extremely well, he was able to mix it up. I thought he was phenomenal. Even with Kev[in Love]'s shot not falling early, I felt like, just the rhythm he was in, the aggressiveness he was in, would pay off later for us. He turned it around in the 2nd half, he was just very aggressive. Getting the ball where he wanted, getting the touches where he wanted. Kev shoots eight free throws that tells me was very aggressive. For him to have a double-double tonight ... you know, those two guys, they succeeded their first time in the postseason."
It's always nice to get the vote of confidence from the team leader. The Cavs are united, and when the three play together, once again, the Cavs were incredibly good.
30 minutes of Kyrie-LeBron-Love for Cavs today: ORtg of 127.2 DRtg of 89.9 Net Rtg of +37.3
— Conrad Kaczmarek (@ConradKazNBA) April 19, 2015