CLEVELAND — Their regular-season issues followed the Cavaliers into the playoffs. They didn’t win their postseason opener as much as survive it.
CLEVELAND — Their regular-season issues followed the Cavaliers into the playoffs. They didn’t win their postseason opener as much as survive it.
The champions remain puzzling.
LeBron James scored 32 points and Cleveland, looking to flip a switch after a shaky-and-streaky regular season, began the postseason by escaping with a 109-108 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
C.J. Miles could have won it for Indiana, but a player whom Cleveland’s players and coaches call a “Cavs killer,” missed a 14-foot jumper just before the horn.
Following the game, Miles sat silently at his locker in full uniform for 30 minutes before Larry Bird, the team’s president of basketball operations, came in and patted him on the shoulder.
James refused to acknowledge how different things would be if Miles’ shot had dropped.
“He missed,” James said. “We won.”
Playing in his 200th playoff game, James added 13 assists and six rebounds while winning his 18th consecutive first-round game.
However, it was anything but easy as the Cavs, who had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, had to withstand a strong comeback by the Pacers.
After a foul, Indiana inbounded with 10 seconds left and tried to run a play for star Paul George. But James came over to help J.R. Smith and double-teamed George, who was forced to pass to Miles. His jumper was on line, but short and the Cavs avoided a disastrous loss.
George was adamant that he should have gotten the ball back.
“I talked to C.J. about it,” George said. “In situations like that, I gotta get the last shot. C.J. took it upon himself. I’m confident with all of my guys taking shots. That’s not the issue. In that situation, I need the ball.”
Miles didn’t make any excuses.
“Obviously, we wanted to get the ball to Paul to be able to get the shot to win the game,” he said. “I got the ball at four (seconds), so I had to take it myself. I got a good shot. I just didn’t make it.”
James said the Cavs’ plan on the final play was not to let George beat them.
“We wanted to get the ball out of his hands, make somebody else try to beat us and live with the results,” he said.
Kyrie Irving added 23 points and Kevin Love had 17 for Cleveland, which has won 12 straight playoff games at home.
George scored 29 points and Lance Stephenson had 16 for the seventh-seeded Pacers, who will try to even the series on Monday night.
Cleveland had several bad offensive possessions down the stretch and the Cavs went only 14 of 27 from the free-throw line.
After dropping their last four and going 10-14 since March 1, the Cavs entered the postseason appearing very vulnerable. It’s too soon to say whether they have their act together, but for three quarters they looked more like a team capable of reaching its third straight Finals.
Irving dismissed the idea that Cavs feel vulnerable.
“Hell, no,” he snapped. “Not going into the game with the group that we have.”
Indiana played a solid all-around game, matching the Cavs at both ends and even out-rebounding them.
But, as usual, the Pacers couldn’t contain James, who improved to 45-7 in the opening round and got the Cavs their first win — warts and all.
JAZZ 97, CLIPPERS 95
LOS ANGELES — Joe Johnson drove the lane and lifted in a shot at the buzzer, and Utah overcame the loss of Rudy Gobert 17 seconds into the game to beat Los Angeles in their playoff opener.
Johnson had 21 points, including when he was left isolated against Jamal Crawford on the final play. He powered his way inside and lofted a shot over Crawford and DeAndre Jordan that bounced around the rim before falling in. A video review confirmed it was good.
Gobert sprained his left knee on the game’s first play when he banged knees with Clippers forward Luc Mbah a Moute, leaving the Jazz without their 7-foot-1 center who averaged 14.0 points and 12.8 rebounds during the regular season.
Utah steadied itself behind two veterans brought in to balance the inexperienced Jazz. Johnson came up big off the bench and George Hill added 16 points.
Blake Griffin scored 26 points and Chris Paul added 25 points and 11 assists for the Clippers.
BUCKS 97, RAPTORS 83
TORONTO — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points, rookie Malcolm Brogdon had 16 and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Toronto Raptors 97-83 in Game 1 of the first-round series.
Playing in his second career playoff series, Antetekounmpo made 13 of 18 shots, and added eight rebounds and three assists. Greg Monroe added 14 points.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 27 points, and Serge Ibaka had 19 points and 14 rebounds. The Raptors have lost the opening game in eight consecutive playoff series.
Toronto’s Kyle Lowry made only two of 11 field-goal attempts, missing all six 3-point efforts, and finished with four points. Jonas Valanciunas had nine points and nine rebounds.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Toronto.
SPURS 111, GRIZZLIES 82
SAN ANTONIO — Kawhi Leonard matched his postseason high with 32 points and San Antonio routed Memphis in Game 1.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points, and Tony Parker added 18 to help San Antonio win its ninth straight over Memphis in the postseason.
Marc Gasol had 32 points, but only seven in the second half as the Grizzlies fell behind by as many as 36 points. Mike Conley was the only other Grizzlies player in double figures, finishing with 13.
Memphis was without defensive lynchpin Tony Allen. He’s out indefinitely with a calf injury, and Leonard took advantage for his fourth career playoff game of 30-plus points.
Game 2 is Monday night in San Antonio.