Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving and LeBron James celebrateEric Gay/The Associated Press
Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Kyrie Irving left his superstar teammate LeBron James in awe. His spectacular play overwhelmed the San Antonio Spurs.
The guard collected a career-high and NBA season-high 57 points and his fadeaway 3 sent the emotional game into overtime where Cleveland rallied for a 128-125 victory over the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
"The kid is special, we all know it, we all see it," James said. "For him to go out and put on a performance like he did tonight was incredible."
His 57 topped his own NBA-best 55-point game against Portland on Jan. 28. He scored nine points in the final minute of regulation to tie the game and added 11 more in overtime to snap San Antonio's six-game winning streak.
"A few of those shots, it just left my hands and I kind of threw them up at the rim and I was lucky enough and blessed enough that they went in," Irving said.
His point total was a Cavs record, too, topping James' 56 against the Raptors in 2005.
James was back just in time from a one-game absence to be part of Irving's stellar night in what everyone said was one of the best NBA games this season.
"It was such a fun game," Irving said. "The crowd was into it. They sold out, they came to see a great game and it was. Once Bron gets into those step-back 3s, we were just looking at each other, 'Man, this is just so much fun.' "
Irving hit a 3-pointer in the face of heavy defence from Danny Green to pull Cleveland to 110-107 with 31 seconds remaining in regulation. After the Spurs' Kawhi Leonard missed two free throws with 4.3 seconds left, Irving made his 3, falling to his right over Leonard to tie it at 110.
"I know I lost the game," Leonard said, "but (missing free throws) happens to everybody. So, I've got to keep moving forward and know that I made big free throws and big shots before."
Irving made all seven of his 3-point attempts, was 20 of 32 from the field overall, and made 10 free throws without a miss.
"He was outstanding every time we had an opportunity to beat them," Manu Ginobili said. "He came up with crazy plays."
James added 31 in his first game at the AT&T Center since being blown out in five games by San Antonio in the NBA Finals in his last games with the Miami Heat.
He was 10 for 20 from the floor in a physical battle with Leonard, but his struggles were lessened by Irving's wild night.
Tony Parker had 31 points for San Antonio and Leonard added 24 points.
Irving scored 11 points in overtime, including a crossover, fadeaway 3-pointer against Boris Diaw with 1:20 remaining to give Cleveland a 122-118 lead.
Green's 3-pointer gave San Antonio a 104-95 lead in regulation, prompting a timeout by Cleveland and a technical on James for arguing a non-call on an earlier miss.
"We Just try to regain my composure, including myself, which we did," James said. "We had to get some timely shots and some timely stops."
It was part of an emotional night for James, He and Leonard battled on both ends of the court, with King James nodding his head and Leonard staring at him defiantly after the two exchanged a series of elbows to the chest and pushes away from the ball early in the second quarter.
KNICKS 101, LAKERS 94
LOS ANGELES – Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 22 points, Andrea Bargnani added 16 and New York snapped its five-game losing streak with just its fifth road victory of the season.
Alexey Shved had 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks ended a seven-game road skid against the Lakers, winning for coach Derek Fisher in the former Los Angeles point guard's return to Staples Center.
The NBA's worst team (13-51) calmly maintained a lead down the stretch, sweeping the season series with Los Angeles (17-47) and picking up its first road victory over a Western Conference team all season.
Jordan Hill had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. They have lost six of seven.
JAZZ 109, ROCKETS 91
SALT LAKE CITY – Rudy Gobert had 19 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks and Utah beat Houston for its ninth victory in 11 games.
The Jazz used their size to dominate the paint and ran away in the second half.
Gobert put on a show as the Rockets didn't have an answer for the 7-foot-1 Frenchman on either end of the floor. He had a double-double in the first quarter and 18 rebounds at halftime.
Teammate Gordon Hayward finished with 29 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Rookie Rodney Hood put up a career high for the second consecutive game with 20 points.
Corey Brewer led the Rockets with 25 points, and James Harden had 15.
WIZARDS 107, GRIZZLIES
WASHINGTON – Facing a watered-down version of the second-best team in the Western Conference, John Wall finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists, leading Washington past Memphis.
The game got chippy late in the third quarter, when Washington's Kevin Seraphin was called for a flagrant-2 and ejected for knocking Jon Leuer to the court as the Grizzlies' backup forward dunked. Earlier, Seraphin got tangled on the floor with Jarnell Stokes, which followed another bit of grabbing between Stokes and Washington's Marcin Gortat.
As it is, both teams were short-handed. Memphis sat three starters: Mike Conley, because of an injured right ankle; Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, resting on the second night of a back-to-back.
Memphis also held out key reserve Tony Allen. The Wizards were without one starter, Nene, for what the team said were personal reasons.
Gorat finished with 22 points for Washington. Stokes and JaMychal Green had 13 apiece for the Grizzlies, who wrapped up a 1-3 trip.
PACERS 109, BUCKS 103, OT
INDIANAPOLIS – Rodney Stuckey scored 25 points and Luis Scola had 17 points and 15 rebounds to help Indiana beat Milwaukee.
Stuckey also had six rebounds and six assists.
David West's jumper with 2:45 remaining in regulation gave Indiana a five-point lead at 96-91, but Milwaukee's Ersan Illyasova scored five points in the final 2 minutes to send it to overtime.
Michael Carter-Williams led the Bucks with 28 points. Illyasova had 19 points and 10 rebounds.