BOSTON: For one night, the Cavaliers witnessed the height of their hopes.
The performances were dazzling, the historical implications surprising, even the morning after.
When they traded with the Minnesota Timberwolves for forward Kevin Love in August 2014 to pair in the frontcourt with LeBron James, the Cavs had great designs on the partnership of All-Stars. Love’s 3-point prowess would help space the floor and open driving lanes. Love would at times be needed in the post, where he and Tristan Thompson could dominate the boards.
In Wednesday night’s 117-104 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, it all came together. James scored 38 points, Love 32, and a national sports statistical service turned back the clock to give it the proper perspective.
They became the first opposing teammates to score 30 in a playoff game in TD Garden since the Lakers’ Jerry West and Elgin Baylor in 1966, according to a tweet from ESPN Stats and Information.
It made for a lighthearted moment in the postgame locker room, when James and Love were icing as a bank of television cameras and reporters waited outside the door.
James looked at the tweet and said Love needed to see it.
“That’s wild. That’s absolutely wild,” Love said.
“Which one am I?” Love yelled at James, jokingly.
“You’re West,” James responded.
West is white, Baylor black. Given his knowledge of past stars, James may have seen the 1992 HOOP magazine article in which West called Baylor “one of the most spectacular shooters the game has ever known.”
When a member of the Cavs organization was told of the West-Baylor connection on Thursday morning, he was taken aback.
James has scored at least 35 points in five consecutive playoff games. He’s scored 30 or more in seven consecutive postseason games, a career best. He’s faced the Celtics in the playoffs 30 times and has scored 30 in 17 of them.
Brad Stevens said James at age 32 is better than when Stevens was hired as Celtics coach in July 2013.
“I just said in the coaches meeting: ‘It’s hard to believe, but he’s better than when I got into the league.’ A lot better.”
But while James continues his amazing roll, Love had not been a major factor in the Cavs’ first two series against the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said the matchups didn’t favor Love and vowed to get him more involved against the Celtics. But even he may not have envisioned Love’s 18-point third-quarter explosion, even after Love scored 34 points in the first quarter against Portland on Nov. 23.
With James scoring only two in the quarter, Love went 5-of-8 from the field, 5-of-7 from 3-point range. He was not the Love who crawls into a shell after the first quarter.
“I saw that in Kev this morning. I knew what type of game he was going to have,” James said Wednesday night. “Tonight was one of those instances where every time he got the ball, it was a small guarding him or somebody was in the post, he was aggressive. He grabbed every rebound for the most part with him and Tristan in the paint, and he was very aggressive with his shot. He also got to the free-throw line nine times. That mentality from Minnesota is what we all love.”
James was responding to a question about Love’s days as the Timberwolves’ star, but James sounded as if this was the Love that he’d long hoped to see.
Thirty-point nights from James and Love may not become an everyday occurrence. Kyrie Irving is due for an explosion. Kyle Korver may not go 1-for-6 from long range again in the series, taking some of Love’s 3-point chances.
But West and Baylor might want to tune in just in case. The Love the Cavs thought they were getting might just be getting started.
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.