BOSTON So much for the Cleveland Cavaliers

BOSTON — So much for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ late-season defensive woes. So much for any lingering rust from a restful break between series. So much for the East presenting a challenge to LeBron James.

The Lavs left no doubt the proverbial playoff switch had been flipped, lighting up the top-seeded Boston Celtics at TD Garden in a 117-104 win in Wednesday’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Kyrie Irving was an afterthought, and Cleveland got little help from its bench, but none of it mattered, because they have LeBron, who paired 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists with a defensive effort that strangled Boston in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to them,” said Celtics star Isaiah Thomas, who scored 17 points on 19 shots and added 10 assists. “They were the better team tonight, and they had more energy than us. It was obvious. They had a week or two off, and we just went seven games. We can’t use it as an excuse, but they hit us first, and they were the more energized team tonight. There was a reason for that.”

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James’ frontcourt partners Kevin Love (32 points, 12 rebounds) and Tristan Thompson (20 points, nine rebounds, six on the offensive glass) did the rest of the damage. The scariest part? The Cavs could probably play better. The Celtics has plenty to solve before Game 2 on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.

“I don’t even think we played that great tonight,” said James, sending shivers down Boston’s spine.

“Tonight we were pretty good on the defensive end,” Love said of an effort that held the Celtics to 35.6 shooting in the first half, including 2-of-16 from 3-point range. “As Bron said, we felt like we could have played better, and there’s some things we’ll look at tomorrow that we’ll be better for Friday.”

On the same postgame press conference podium moments earlier, Celtics coach Brad Stevens conceded to the dilemma every Eastern Conference coach has faced for the better part of a decade now — they have nobody who can defend LeBron 1-on-1, and they can’t double-team him, for fear of Cleveland’s bevy of sharpshooters. “This is the predicament they put you in,” said Stevens.