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“He’s a killer. I knew a little about him, I didn’t know THAT”, newcomer to Cleveland, Marrsse Speights said of Kyrie Irving.
The Thunder came in having lost two games less than the Cavaliers had won in total. They left with a 35-12 record as the Cavaliers closed them out to improve to 14-34. More like Kyrie Irving closed them out. 35 points on 12 of 23 shooting. Nothing too unusual about that. But what happened in the last 3 minutes is the stuff legends are made of “Mr. Fourth Quarter” they call him. With the Cavs trailing 101-100, Irving, who sat out the first 6:12 of the fourth quarter came in to the ball game.
With 2:52 remaining: Drive around Durant and squeeze through Ibaka and draw a foul.
“We could have done a better job of controlling him, but like I said, he is one of the best in the business at it. Give him a lot of credit. They have really developed him these past two years and have improved his game. It’s a testament to their coaching staff to develop him and make him an All-Star at such a young age”, Thunder coach Scott Brooks.
2:31: Fake out Westbrook and Perkins and lay it in softly off the glass.
“It’s my responsibility as a leader of this team to do this every single night. It has to come from within”, Kyrie Irving
2:01: Weave in with a drive in the paint and lay it in off the left hand to make it 106-103
“We couldn’t really stop him. It was like he was playing one-on-one with our bigs”, Kevin Durant
1:12: Thunder tied it at 108. No problem. A series of shot fakes while keeping his dribble and another layup off the glass
“We ran into a special player at the end of the game,” said OKC’s Kevin Martin.
0:46: Up two. Hold the ball at the top of the key. Seize up Russel Westbrook. Crossover between the legs. Fake a drive and sink in a cold blooded three.
“I never know what shot I’m going to take,” said Irving, who was just 1 of 7 to start the game. “I saw him back on his heels a little bit.”
0:22: Up three. Look Westbrook in the eye. Between the legs crossover. Hop away. Elevate for a jumper. See the defender rising high enough to challenge and possibly block it. Change the angle by banking it in off the glass.
Final score: Cavs 115-110 Thunder.
“A good win. As I said to the guys after the game, it’s amazing what happens when you play with energy. That’s what we’ve been looking for every single night. Just play with that type of energy and see what can happen… When you play with that type of energy, good things can happen, and we beat the best team in the league tonight”, Cavs coach Byron Scott said.
Kyrie Irving scored 13 points in the last three minutes in various cold blooded ways to put this game away. Every time I write on Irving, I feel obligated to point out that he’s only 20.
Kevin Durant shoots poorly
Durant wasn’t his usual self as he shot just 8 of 21 from the field. He still finished with 32 as he sunk 13 free throws. He also had 12 rebounds and 3 assists.
Newcomer Marreese Speights shines
“I came to a new team. A lot of people don’t know that I’m the one who signed off on getting traded. I came here because I knew they had a young team; great city; great fans and I always wanted to be here”, said Marreese Speights being diplomatic, or so we thought.
Being traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Cleveland Cavaliers isn’t cause for celebration. But Speights played to the best of his ability on his new team as he shot 10 of 15 for 21 points and had 10 rebounds, 3 assists and one block. After the Cavs clawed back within an 81-all tie, Speights scored eight of the next 11 Cavs’ points.
“He played extremely well. He hit shots when we really needed it. He got some key defensive rebounds as well. I didn’t know he was that fiery I didn’t know he communicated that way on the floor. I didn’t know he played this style of basketball. From what I saw from him in Philly, he was primarily a catch and shoot big guy that can kind of stretch the floor but I saw from the first game we had him here, he was much more than that”, Byron Scott said of him.
Cavs scorers
The Cavaliers got solid production from a role player, CJ Miles had 15, Dion Waiters scored 12 points with six rebounds, six assists and a couple of steals. Tristan Thompson added 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Thunder scorers
Russell Westbrook had 28 on 12-22 shooting. Serge Ibaka added 18 points and 12 rebounds and Kevin Martin scored 15 off the bench for the Thunder.
In front of a sellout crowd in Cleveland, numbering 20,562, Kyrie Irving brought the goods. “He’s one of the best in the business,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “Give him a lot of credit.” After last night’s loss in Detroit, Kyrie Irving admitted to being disinterested. Interest levels fluctuate with this young superstar as we observed today.
Thunder slumping
The OKC Thunder have yielded an average of 107.2 points and 46.8 percent shooting in its last seven road games. Their road record stands at 3-4 over that span. “We just got to be better,” Durant said. “No excuses. We got to be better.”
They were quite good today, to their credit. But when you are staring down “Mr. Fourth Quarter”, its less about how good you are and more about how interested he is to rip you out. Here’s how Irving closed this game out with his clutch shooting:
