National Basketball Association

Irving, Love lead Cavs to 106-101 win over Pistons in Game 1

Published Apr. 17, 2016 7:03 p.m. ET

foxsports

CLEVELAND (AP) Kyrie Irving scored 31 points in his first playoff game since being injured in last year's NBA Finals and Kevin Love added 28, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 106-101 win over the young and confident Detroit Pistons in the opener of their first-round playoff series Sunday.

LeBron James added 22 points and 11 assists for the top-seeded Cavs, who are favored to win the Eastern Conference again but got all they could handle from the Pistons.

Love, knocked out of the playoffs with a shoulder injury in the first round a year ago, made two critical 3-pointers in the fourth.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 and Marcus Morris 20 - but just one after halftime - for the Pistons, making their first playoff appearance since 2009. Andre Drummond had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Detroit made 15 3-pointers, but the Pistons' playoff inexperience showed in the final minutes.