NBA Recap: Irving Explodes for 57, As Cavs Rally to Beat Spurs 128-125 in Overtime
By Reylan Loberternos
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 14 Mar 2015
AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas - All Star Kyrie Irving exploded for a career high 57 points on 20 for 32 field goal shooting and a perfect 7 for 7 from the rainbow territory to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers in a come-from-behind victory over their arch-nemesis and defending champions San Antonio Spurs 128-125 in overtime Thursday night.
For the Spurs, the heart-breaking game was reminiscent of 2013 Finals Game 6 against Miami. Leonard missed two freethrows with 4.3 seconds remaining in regulation that could have sealed the victory for the defending champions. Kyrie Irving then made a game-tying three pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Irving topped his previous season high 55 points against Portland last January 28, scoring the most points in the NBA this season. He scored the last 9 points for the Cavs in regulation and added 11 more in the extra inning. He was also perfect in ten tries at the charity stripe.
Tony Parker led the Spurs with a team high 31 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal. Danny Green added 24 points, including five threes, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 4 blocks, while Tim Duncan had another double-double performance with 18 points and 11 boards, with 8 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks.
Manu Ginobili, who was a game time decision after missing their previous game due to gastroenteritis, played only 9 minutes and 45 seconds and went scoreless for the Spurs. Expressing his thoughts about the game he said, "I can appreciate that we played well. That's, you know? I really don't care if that's a great game or not. I care if, you know, if we got better if we did good and I think for most part of the game, we played a solid game. Just a few mistakes here and there, but it is impossible not to make mistakes in a game of basketball, but they were just incredible."
When asked whether he was out of gas, the former sixth man of the year awardee explained, "No, I wasn't better yet. I thought I was in a better shape, but then I had a headache. (My) stomach was not right and I couldn't do anything better than my teammates so I wasn't really ready to compete at this high level."
The author at the Cavs-Spurs game in San Antonio, TX.
Apart from those two missed freethrows, Kawhi Leonard was impressive in this game, scoring 24 points on a 9 for 14 field goal shooting to go along with 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Leonard battled with LeBron James on both ends of the court. At one point early in the 2nd quarter, Leonard took James one-on-one, overpowering him on the block before releasing a 5-foot one-handed jumper, then hounded James in the ensuing play, forcing him to commit an airbag. But in this game, the 4-time league MVP did what the reigning Finals MVP couldn't - seal the victory. James finished with 31 points on a 10 for 20 field goal shooting, including the back-breaking 3 pointer, pushing the lead to 5 with 32 seconds left in overtime. He also grabbed 5 boards, dished out 7 dimes, and had 2 steals and a block.
"We just try to regain ... composure, including myself, which we did," James said. "We had to get some timely shots and some timely stops."
Cleveland fortified its hold of the 2nd spot in the Eastern Conference team standings with a 42-25 win-loss record, while the Spurs dropped to 40-24 for the 6th spot in the Western Conference.
Cleveland 128- K. Irving 57, L. James 31, T. Thompson 12, T. Mosgov 10, K. Love 8, J. Smith 6, I. Shumpert, 2, J. Jones 2, M. Dellavedova 0
San Antonio 125 - T. Parker 31, K. Leonard 24, D. Green 24, T. Duncan 18, T. Splitter 9, B. Diaw 9, P. Mills 6, M. Belinelli 4, M. Ginobili 0, M. Bonner 0, C. Joseph 0
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Reylan Loberternos.
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