BOSTON: It didn’t matter which Boston Celtic attempted to guard LeBron James.
Marcus Smart, Kelly Olynyk, Al Horford, Avery Bradley, Jaylen Brown, Jae Crowder ... James embarrassed them all.
On this night, the Celtics needed the second coming of Bill Russell.
Energized by nine days off, James was virtually unstoppable Wednesday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. He poured in 38 points, 23 in the first half, as the Cavaliers ran off with a 117-104 victory before a disgruntled crowd at TD Garden.
In 42 minutes, James also added nine rebounds and seven assists. He hit 14-of-24 from the field, 1-of-6 from 3-point range, and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line.
It marked the fifth consecutive game that James has scored at least 35 points. He set a league record in the East semifinals against Toronto, becoming the first player to hit that mark in every game of a four-game sweep.
It also marked James’ seventh consecutive playoff game with at least 30 points, the longest stretch of his career. The last to pull off such a feat was Kobe Bryant in 2010.
But James didn’t carry the Cavs by himself. Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson scored 32 and 20 points, respectively, both career playoff-highs. Love added 12 rebounds and Thompson nine as the Cavs claimed a 44-40 edge on the boards.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Love became the first Cavs player other than James to have at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game since Brad Daugherty in 1992.
James gave a hint of what was to come when he did a pull-up on the rim seconds before the opening tip. In the first quarter, he looked like he craved contact, throwing his body around and falling to the court twice.
Doing the bulk of the ball-handling, he was frisky and light on his feet as he set up the offense, which mainly consisted of him driving to the basket, at least in the first 24 minutes.
James scored 15 first-quarter points, his most in any quarter this postseason.
Even more encouraging for the Cavs, coach Tyronn Lue subbed in Richard Jefferson for James to start the second quarter and the Cavs expanded a 12-point lead at the break to 16 at the 10:07 mark to force a Celtics timeout. The Celtics cut the gap to 36-25 before James returned.
By halftime the Cavs led 61-39, the fewest scored by a Cavs’ opponent this postseason. The previous low was 40 by the Pacers (in the second half) in Game 3 of the first round.
With the victory, the Cavs became the seventh team in NBA history to start a postseason 9-0. This season’s Warriors, now 10-0, were the sixth. The league record is 11 by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989 and 2001.
The top-seeded Celtics, who went 1-3 against the Cavs in the regular season, will host Game 2 Friday night.
The series marks the two teams’ seventh post-season meeting, but just the second in the conference finals, the other coming in 1976.
The Celtics went 2-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half, but got hot in the third quarter, making 5-of-9 to cut the Cavs’ 28-point third-quarter margin to 92-75 going into the final period. James scored only two points in the period and the Celtics’ newfound energy awakened the crowd.
James came up limping after going down on a missed layup attempt with 9:47 remaining. But he showed no visible effect, skying for a rebound a minute later, before being lifted with 3:06 to go.
Tempers flared late in the third quarter when Thompson and Smart went chest-to-chest and both were called for personal fouls as James restrained Thompson. A minute later, Thompson knocked Smart down and Lue called timeout to ease the tension.
Celtics fans were at a fever pitch, booing James much louder than they did in the last regular-season meeting in TD Garden on April 5. James was taunted — “Where’s Delonte?” — by one relentless man, but by halftime that follower had turned against his own team.
“They must have partied too much celebrating the No. 1 pick,” he said, referring to the Celtics winning the NBA Draft lottery Tuesday. “This is horrible.”
James repeated Tuesday that his body feels worse when he’s not playing and was focused and determined during a short interview. His main concern was the Cavs’ rhythm and flow after the long break.
“A game situation, getting into the flow,” James said at Wednesday’s shootaround. “But it shouldn’t be too hard. These fans and this atmosphere and this team that we’re playing against should put us right back where we need to be.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.