CLEVELAND _ Perhaps there was energy radiating from the Cavaliers' 1980s throwback orange uniforms.
Perhaps there was excitement over the pending return of Kevin Love, who could play on their four-game road trip that opens Saturday.
More likely it was just a day off and two nights sleeping in their own beds after six road games already this month.
There could have been a little payback involved as well after the Cavs suffered a five-point loss to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday.
Whatever the reason, Tuesday night's game between the Cavs and Pistons at Quicken Loans Arena was nothing like their previous meeting.
The Cavs made 22 of their first 25 shots, their best start with 25 attempts since the statistic was first kept in the 2002-03 season. They rode those hot hands to a 128-96 victory and salvaged a split of the season's four-game series.
Free McDonald's Chicken McNuggets were assured before the end of the third quarter when Tristan Thompson's tip-in put the Cavs over the 100-point mark with 21.9 seconds left. Coach Tyronn Lue lifted his starters with 12 minutes to go and the Cavs leading 103-70.
Larry Sanders, signed Monday after being out of the league for two years, wasn't supposed to play, but made his Cavs debut with 1:58 remaining. He missed his only field-goal attempt, but committed two personal fouls.
Shooting 85 percent in the first quarter, 69 at the half, 63 after three quarters and 60 percent for the game, the Cavs opened an 18-point first-quarter lead and were off to the races.
LeBron James continued a torrid stretch of nine games, which included eight double-doubles, five of them triple-doubles. James posted his 10th triple-double of the season and third in the past four games, scoring 16 points, pulling down 11 rebounds and handing out 12 assists in 28 minutes.
Kyrie Irving contributed 26 points, extending his streak of consecutive 20-point games to 16, and added six assists in 30 minutes.
So much was going the Cavs' way that James flattened Irving in the third quarter, then helped him up and regained the dribble.
The Cavs had seven players in double figures, including Deron Williams, who made all six of his field-goal attempts.
The balanced attack included an encouraging performance from J.R. Smith. Playing his fourth game since returning from a fractured right thumb, Smith made 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the 3-point arc to finish with 12 points. In his previous three games, Smith had made just 6-of-23 shots, including 4-of-19 from 3-point range.
After making 17 3s at Houston Sunday night, the Cavs added 19 more Tuesday, bringing their season total to 878. The franchise record is 880, set last season.
The Cavs improved to 3-5 in March. General manager David Griffin knows a big part of the reason is that they've been without All-Star Love, Kyle Korver, who sat out his fourth consecutive game against the Pistons with left foot soreness, and Smith for part of it.
Asked before the game if he was concerned by the Cavs' performance after the defending champions went an NBA-best 9-2 February, Griffin said, "I'm concerned in so far as I'd like to see us start to actually act on the things we know we need to do. But I'm not concerned so far as it reveals anything about us having real deficiencies. What we have is a lineup that's been really hodge-podge because of all the injuries. I'm concerned that we haven't been winning, certainly we want to be doing more than that. But I'm not concerned with what it means for us long term."
