James and Still, the daughter of National Football League defensive end Devon Still, have had an ongoing friendship since the pair first met last season at another game. “He’s that special, man. He’s much more than an All-Star”.
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Irving, who miss the first one-month-plus of the 2015-16 campaign due to a fractured kneecap, scored a season high 25 points, dished out eight assists and pulled down six rebounds as the Cavs scored 122 points against a good Toronto Raptors defense securing a 122-100 win on Monday. “But it sure didn’t look like that tonight”.
James, who sent Still a Christmas gift, was excited to see her. He says her presence “absolutely” provided some extra motivation as he went for 34 points, 10 rebounds and four assists (all team highs) in Cleveland’s 121-115 win.
“We did a bad job of knowing personnel in certain spots of who we wanted to shoot the ball”, Wizards forward Jared Dudley said. I thought the turnovers hurt us, plagued us a little bit in the first half.
James hit three-pointers on four of five possessions, and the lead got to 18 at one point. “But he did make a valid point on me only playing two games and he was Eastern Conference Player of the Month, so that kind of goes without saying, so when you have feats like that, accomplishments like that, all you can do is respect it”. With an NBA Finals berth seeming like a foregone conclusion this season, Irving’s journey to becoming a superstar really might be the only thing fans have to be invested in during the regular season this year, and possibly for the next couple years.
Perhaps a matchup with a fellow All-Star point guard helped fuel Kyrie Irving in what was easily his best game since making his season debut. “That wasn’t an easy game”. They’re about creating some distance from everyone else in the East (which they’ve been doing quite well except for the Chicago Bulls, those pesky buggers) and even more importantly, getting Kyrie Irving back in business, which seems to be going quite well too. “In the fourth, we were not able to get enough stops”. “That was the hump I needed to get over, and now I think I’m starting to get over it going from game to game going against great matchups, great players every single night, great teams”. “If you don’t bring your “A” game against them, you’re going to be embarrassed”. Blatt didn’t have plans for anything like that as his team opened a six-game road swing.
James said thinking of his own children made Devon Stills’ story hit home.
Kyrie Irving looked plenty healthy while going toe-to-toe with one of the best point guards in the Eastern Conference on Monday. And it was an underwhelming performance from Kevin Love, who finished with just eight points and nine boards and was benched for the entire fourth quarter for the second time this season.
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Wizards: Nene returned from a 19-game absence with a strained left calf and Gary Neal was back in the lineup after missing five games with a strained right quadriceps muscle….
