The point guard scored 12 of the Cavs’ last 14 points in the first half and then poured in a franchise playoff-record 21 in the third period, including an incredible 19 in the final 4:48.
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With Cleveland in jeopardy of dropping its second game in a row after James followed an 11-point Game 3 by picking up four first-half fouls, Irving put on a breathtaking one-man show in the third quarter.
James spoke Thursday during the morning shootaround before the Cavaliers play the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The defending NBA champions won 135-102 in Game 5 to advance to the NBA Finals, where they will play the Golden State Warriors for the third consecutive year.
Great players aren’t always great.
“I don’t know”, Lue said. Same for Michael Jordan and Karl Malone or Jerry West and Bill Russell. So I’d never believed I could beat Mike.
After the game, James told reporters that he was honored to pass Jordan, who was his childhood idol. Twitter congratulation posts poured in – including one from Magic Johnson.
“Coming out of halftime I just wanted to be aggressive, lead my guys and leave it all out there on the floor”, Irving said.
Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 42 points as they take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
“I feel like we’re humble enough to know we haven’t played well at home”, he said.
“No message”, Lue said.
“This team is a insane team. It doesn’t matter who you’re going against or how you get the job done, you’re just trying to figure it out, and I think we did that”.
“I don’t have to score to make an impact on a game and that was my mindset when I started playing, if I’m not scoring how can I still make an impact on the game?”
As Cleveland faltered in the regular season, the Celtics had seized the top seed in the East.
LeBron James said closeouts are by far the most challenging games of a postseason series. “A lot of respect from myself, my teammates”, he added.
James, Irving and Love were the only three Cavs players to make double digits.
“In the third quarter, the whole game just turned around”, Terry Pluto says. He poured in 21 points, including the final 14 of the third to put the Cavs in the lead for good.
Cleveland’s 75 first half points were the most in an National Basketball Association playoff game half since 2003 and gave them an 18-point cushion. Cleveland improved to 35-5 against Eastern teams in the playoffs since 2015. Irving finished with 42 points on 15-of-22 shooting while LeBron James had 34 points with six assists. Held a pregame moment of silence for the victims of the Manchester bombing.
The Cavaliers hope to close out the series with the Celtics in Boston Thursday at 8:30 PM ET. Coach Brad Stevens said no decision had been made yet on whether Thomas would undergo an operation but he reiterated that he is out for the remainder of the playoffs. The problem is you’re giving LeBron seven free points when there’s a long history of his teams stealing one of the first two games on the road to start a playoff series.
As I watched First Take this morning, Stephen A. Smith went on his usual tangent about how Lebron played badly, was sick, and just wasn’t himself, rather than talking about Kyrie and his world class performance.
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Hip injuries in particular are tricky.
