Another fast break dunk from LeBron James that stretched the Cavs’ lead to 14 with under four minutes remaining seemed like the final nail in the coffin for the Sixers.
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Kyrie Irving has been on fire over the last five games for the Cavaliers, averaging 20.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 1.0 three-pointer.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (25-9): Smith’s hot touch against the Timberwolves was just the continuation of a surge that began Monday against Toronto, when he hit 8-of-14 3-pointers en route to 24 points.
“He’s been doing that for a long time”, coach David Blatt said.
Helping carry the scoring load for the Cavaliers was Iman Shumpert who contributed 23 points on 9/19 shooting (3/6 3p) off the bench and Kevin Love who had 20 points on 4/11 shooting (10-11 FT) to go along with nine boards.
J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, who Cleveland acquired nearly midway through last season, were both struggling to cope with their new identities up through the playoffs.
The 76ers were led by Jahlil Okafor (21 points) and Ish Smith (18 points, 10 assists).
James went back to his midrange jumpers and drained shots in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The LA Clippers made it nine in a row, but they needed overtime to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 114-111.
He’s a more solistic player than James, and if he’s rolling, LeBron feels he can feed others more and not try to do things himself. After averaging 12 points in a 25-game stint with the Sixers last season, Smith is up to 16 points in eight games this time around after posting a career-high 28 on Saturday. “To think we’re going to say, ‘You’re never going to play a (power forward) spot at 21 years old isn’t really fair to anybody, especially you.'”…
James scored 37 points, tied for his season high (third game like this) and his second game with 34 points or more in the Cavs last three.
The Utah Jazz had gone 6 1/2 weeks without a win away from home and they didn’t much care who was out of the Los Angeles lineup.
The argument could be made that taking a rock to the grill only made James stronger, because he absolutely devastated the Sixers.
“I actually saw on my Instagram account that I was the worst-shooting player in the NBA”, James said.
“I think it helps anytime you can play against the standard”, Brown said.
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Today’s game versus Philadelphia is the third game of a six-game road trip for the Cavaliers, in which they are also set to take on the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, and the Houston Rockets.
