Love’s Hot Start Buries Blazers

The Cavaliers improved to 11-2 on the young season with a 137-125 victory over the Portland Trailblazers. Kevin Love had an incredible 1st quarter, posting 34 points on eight made three pointers. Tonight’s game featured two 40 point scorers and a triple-double. That doesn’t happen too often.

Some scribbles from tonight’s game –

1. Kevin Love had the most unreal 1^st quarter I’ve ever watched. Love outscored the Blazers 34-31. It’s extremely rare that an individual outscores an entire team for a 12 minute stretch, but Love certainly did it. He accomplished this by knocking down eight three-pointer in the period. He went 11 of 14 from the floor and knocked down all four of his free throw attempts. Love finished the night with 40 points. Sharing the game high with Damian Lillard.
2. As a team in the first quarter the Cavs knocked down 10 of 13 threes. This continues their streak of hitting 10 or more threes in every game played this season. The NBA record for three pointers made in a game is currently 25, held by the Cavaliers from last May during the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks.
3. The Cavs scored 46 points in the first quarter and then another 35 in the second. Their 81 points was just two shy of the Cavs’ franchise record of 83 in a half. This was honestly one of the more impressive shooting displays I have ever seen in person.
4. Lost in the shuffle of the Cavs dominating shooting performance was the fact that they were less than stellar defensively. The Cavs allowed this game to stay closer than it should have been. Portland was playing for the fifth time in seven nights and the Cavs were playing for the first time since last Friday.
5. Damian Lillard isn’t enough to lead a team to a title on his own, but he’s extremely fun to watch. Lillard put on a show in Cleveland on the offensive end dropping 40 points. The Blazers simply don’t have enough talent around him to be a real contender in the Western Conference. It does lead me to wonder how this team would look if LaMarcus Aldridge would have stuck around instead of heading to San Antonio.
6. LeBron James recorded his 44th career triple-double. He finished with a line of 31 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds.
7. The Big 3 for the Cavs totaled 91 points tonight. In addition to 31 from James and 40 from Love, Kyrie Irving had 20. When those three combine for over 90 points I’m going to bet they don’t lose too often, if ever.