Cleveland Cavaliers defeat Boston Celtics 113-100 in Game One of first round series

If Mike Gorman's series prediction is to be believed, the Boston Celtics will have to win 4 of the next 5 games. This afternoon they fell to the Cavs 113-100.

Boston started the game as strong as one could hope against a stacked team on the road encouraged by the city's excitement of their first meaningful playoff game in years.

Celtics drew first blood with a foul and two free throws by Brandon Bass. Kelly Olynyk was a nice spark off the bench with a quick 7 points off a layup, three-pointer and a dunk.

The Celtics ended the first quarter with a 31-27 edge.

Jae Crowder was effectively aggressive on LeBron James, at one point bothering James into a messy dribble and grabbing the ball at the top of the key. Despite the pressure, LeBron often used his strength to get to the basket and convert.

Back to back threes by Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith cut Boston's second quarter lead from 7 to 1 and began a period of momentum for Cleveland that eventually saw them up by as much as 9.

In the second half, a three pointer at the buzzer put the finishing touches on a stellar half by Irving wherein he scored 20 points on 8-12 shooting.

For Boston, Isaiah Thomas got to the line often and led the team in scoring at halftime with 12, followed by Olynyk's 10 and Smart's 8.

A three by Irving and a layup by James earned Cleveland its largest lead to that point (13) which was soon extended to 20 behind a suddenly awakened Kevin Love.

But Boston went on a quick 14-0 run to cut their deficit to 6. Unfortunately, Cleveland answered with their own run capped by a buzzer-beating three by James Jones to enter the fourth quarter ahead 91-76.

The final frame ended up being a bit of a back and forth affair and was played mostly even throughout. In the end, Cleveland proved too strong an opponent, winning 113-100.

Kyrie Irving led the Cavs with 30 points. Most amazingly, though, is that LeBron James was called for 2 personal fouls, which is roughly 2 more than he seems to feel he's ever committed in the history of the universe.

Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 22 points.

Game two of the series is game is on Tuesday at 7:00pm EST in Cleveland.

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

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