AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — In their second postseason together, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love might finally be hitting their stride as a group.
At the very least, Cleveland’s trio of stars looks awfully comfortable, and the Cavaliers are closing in on a first-round sweep.
James had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Irving made a pair of big 3-pointers down the stretch to help the Cavs beat the Detroit Pistons 101-91 on Friday night. Cleveland now leads the series 3-0, with Game 4 coming up Sunday night.
Love scored 20 points of his own for the Cavs, and so far this feels like a far cry from last year’s playoffs, when injuries to Irving and Love forced James to carry Cleveland in its NBA Finals loss to Golden State.
“I think right now we’re in a great flow as far as us three,” James said. “When we’re on the floor we understand what we want individually and as a team. Guys are picking their spots.”
Irving scored 26 points for Cleveland, which overcame a gritty effort by the Pistons in Detroit’s first home playoff game since 2009. Andre Drummond scored 17 points for the Pistons, but Detroit fell behind toward the end of the third quarter, and a late rally came up short.
The Pistons have now lost 11 straight playoff games against Cleveland, and they’ve lost nine in a row overall in the postseason.
Down by nine in the fourth, Detroit went on an 8-0 run, forcing the Cavs to call a timeout. Irving responded with a 3-pointer, and J.R. Smith added one of his own to make it 95-90. Irving made it an eight-point game with a 3-pointer in the final minute.
Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy was exasperated by the fact that Cleveland outrebounded his team 46-32.
“Rebounding’s been one of our strengths all year. It’s been terrible in this series,” Van Gundy said.
Love had 12 rebounds and Tristan Thompson had 10, including eight at the offensive end. The Cavs also had three players score at least 20 points — the third time that’s happened in this series.
A raucous, towel-waving crowd tried to give Detroit a boost. Pistons fans booed James early and often, although the Cleveland star threw down a two-handed dunk on his team’s first offensive possession.
Detroit rookie Stanley Johnson, who seemed eager to get into a verbal battle with James and the Cavs after Game 2, scored nine points in a fearless first half Friday, but James had the final word before halftime, making a jumper with less than a second left in the second quarter to give Cleveland a 54-53 lead.
Cleveland methodically built a 79-73 lead after three quarters, and after a three-point play and a 3-pointer by James early in the fourth, the Cavs were up by nine. It was 87-86 after Detroit’s run, but the 3s by Irving and Smith helped Cleveland hold on.
With 1:34 remaining, the public address announcer at the Palace announced the results of a replay review with his popular “Deeeeeeeeeetroit Basketball” call, but it turned out he was mistaken and had to correct himself. Officials were giving the ball to the Cavs.
Detroit’s chances were all but extinguished when Irving sank a 3-pointer from the right corner with 43 seconds remaining, and James ran back to midcourt for a celebratory chest bump.
CELTICS 111, HAWKS 103
BOSTON — Isaiah Thomas scored a career-high 42 points, and Boston held on to beat Atlanta in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.
Evan Turner, inserted into the starting lineup, had 17 points and seven assists. Amir Johnson added 15 points and seven rebounds as the Celtics closed to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
Playing by far their best first half of the series, Boston led by as many as 20 points before seeing that mostly erased by a 12-0 run by the Hawks in the third quarter.
The Celtics then survived a frenetic fourth quarter that featured three ties and a pair of lead changes, finally getting separation with five straight points for a 104-98 lead.
Jeff Teague had 23 points for Atlanta.
Game 4 is Sunday in Boston.
SPURS 96, GRIZZLIES 87
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Kawhi Leonard scored 32 points, and San Antonio beat Memphis to take a 3-0 lead in their Western Conference first-round series.
The Spurs are a win away from their ninth postseason series sweep and third against Memphis. They finished the game on a 13-6 run in the final 3:41, and Leonard, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year, scored 13 points in the quarter as he shot 11 of 22 for the game and 6 of 9 from 3-point range.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Danny Green and Manu Ginobili each added 11 points for San Antonio.
Zach Randolph led Memphis with 20 points and 11 rebounds on 6-of-21 shooting. Matt Barnes added 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Vince Carter had 11 and JaMychal Green was 5 of 5 for 10 points.
Game 4 is Sunday.