CLEVELAND _ Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue lumped Tuesday's contest against the lowly Orlando Magic into the big-game category with Wednesday night's Eastern Conference showdown against the Boston Celtics.
It took the Cavs 24 minutes to be convinced.
Their third-quarter play was enough to make one wonder who said what to whom at halftime. They exploded out of the locker room with the energy they'd lacked and ran off with a 122-102 victory over the Magic before a crowd at Quicken Loans Arena that included billionaire Warren Buffett.
LeBron James produced his career-high 12th triple-double of the season, J.R. Smith provided a flashback of his championship season form and Kevin Love turned in his best game since returning from arthroscopic knee surgery.
With their third consecutive victory, the Cavs climbed back into a tie with the Celtics going into Wednesday night's game at TD Garden.
The Cavs have won 17 consecutive games over the Magic, the franchise's longest win streak over an opponent and also the league's longest string, one better than the Oklahoma City Thunder's dominance over the Philadelphia 76ers.
When Love sank a 3-pointer with 3:58 left in the third quarter, the Cavs also reached 1,000 3-pointers for a season. Already a team single-season record, the total now stands at 1,004.
Coming off a double-overtime victory at home over the Indiana Pacers Sunday, the Cavs were lethargic at the start. They were outrebounded 27-19 in the first half. Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert contributed little. Thompson, involved in a shouting match with James Sunday, was scoreless with one rebound and one assist in his 17 first-half minutes. Shumpert committed one foul and two turnovers in his nine minutes before intermission.
The Cavs' reserves were outscored 18-3 by the Magic in the first half, their lone points coming on Kyle Korver's first shot attempt. Korver returned after missing the previous four games and 11 of the past 14 with an inflamed tendon in his left foot. He finished with 11 points on 4 of 6 field goals, 3 of 5 3-pointers, in 12 minutes.
Of more importance was that the Cavs finally got hot, pouring in nine 3-pointers in the third quarter and totaled 43 points.
Smith can be deemed officially back _ to last season's championship form, not his pre-fractured thumb form _ with his fourth solid game in a row. Smith, 15 games into his return from injury, made four consecutive 3-point attempts in the first 3:18 of the third quarter. He finished with 19 points, making 7 of 11 field goals and 5-of-8 3-pointers.
In the past four games, Smith has made 22 of 41 field goals, 19 of 33 from beyond the arc.
Love led the Cavs with 28 points and 11 rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 24 points (on 10 of 15 field goals) with eight assists.
James scored 18 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and had 11 assists in 37 minutes, after going 52 minutes Sunday against the Pacers, when he turned in triple-double No. 11.
With 2:49 left in the second quarter, James scored his 10th point, breaking a tie with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the second-most consecutive regular season games in league history in double figures. James now has 788; Michael Jordan tops the list with 866.
The Cavs had lost four of five as a brutal March that included 12 road games wound down. Three home wins have primed them for the Celtics.
Magic coach Frank Vogel thought the Cavs' rough patch would soon end.
"I think they'll stabilize," Vogel said before the game. "It's normal, especially when you have key guys out for as long as Kevin and J.R. have been out and with Kyle having been out. There's always the adjustment with those guys being out and, when they come back, there's a two-, three-week period where they have to find themselves a little bit, get their rhythm and timing, get their conditioning. All that stuff will come.
"Everybody gives them their best shot because they're the defending champs. It's a challenge in the regular season. The stakes obviously aren't as high as what they've been through. I expect them to be at their peak going into the playoffs."
