LeBron James and Kyrie Irving combined for 66 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers edged the Washington Wizards 121-115.
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MINNEAPOLIS – Danilo Gallinari scored a game-high 20 points, leading Denver to a win over Minnesota at Target Center.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many games, he’s an All-Star player”, James said. A good start here could be just the tonic for them to make that a more positive record.
“He’s much better than an All-Star”, forward LeBron James said.
James, who hinted after the Raptors game that an MVP trophy could be in Irving’s future, continued Wednesday to change the conversation around the fifth-year guard.
Kyrie Irving has talked for weeks about shaking off the rust since his return from a long injury layoff, but the Cavaliers guard moved like a well-oiled machine in Cleveland’s 122-100 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Cleveland coach David Blatt still has some doubt in his mind that Kyrie Irving is back for good six months after breaking his left kneecap. “Tonight it just looked like the old Kyrie”.
Irving scored 21 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, including a run of 10 straight that put the game away.
James had 20 points and seven assists while sitting out the fourth quarter and J.R. Smith made a season-high eight 3-pointers, accounting for all of his 24 points, on a night when all five Cavs starters scored in double figures.
The Wizards and Wall do their best work in big game situations and tonight’s contest against King James and the Cavs is one of those events. I thought the turnovers hurt us, plagued us a little bit in the first half. Dudley was 2-of-4 from long-distance – and 5-of-7 from the floor overall – in Washington’s win over Cleveland and can get as hot as anyone in the league when he’s rolling.
James helped stake the Cavaliers to an 18-point lead by hitting all four of his 3-pointers less than four minutes into the third quarter. 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. He’s, if not the best, one or two best point guards in our league, along with Steph. “That wasn’t an easy game”. It was a great win that came largely on the back of Kyrie Irving beginning to look like Kyrie Irving again. Still, he understands this is still a process of getting back into form.
Washington would continue their fantastic play into the fourth quarter, as they would tie the game at 95 on a Nene steal and Ramon Sessions fast break dunk, bringing the Verizon Center crowd to their feet. Blatt didn’t have plans for anything like that as his team opened a six-game road swing. “And I think that was an example of that”.
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Washington couldn’t stop him, as he finished with 32 points on 14-of-22 shooting from the field in 34 minutes of play.
