Irving’s 39, James’ triple-double lead Cavs past 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — The Cavaliers have so many ways to beat teams, and this time it was Kyrie Irving’s turn to win a game.

Irving scored 19 of his season-high 39 points in the fourth quarter and LeBron James had a triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, leading Cleveland to a 112-108 comeback victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.

Kevin Love chipped in 25 points and 11 rebounds to help the defending champions (13-2) improve to their fourth straight win.




“When you have great players, it can come from any of us at any given moment,” Irving said. “When one of us gets it going, we always continue to go to that person. It can be anybody’s night. We’re always trusting each other. That fourth quarter was just for me to be aggressive.”

Joel Embiid led seven players in double figures with 22 points for the 76ers, who have lost three straight. Embiid also had nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

“When those guys are on like that, it’s really hard to beat them,” Embiid said.

The Cavaliers never led through the first three quarters, but Irving got hot early in the fourth to put Cleveland in front. He gave Cleveland its first lead on a layup 2:38 into the period and had 10 of the first 13 Cavaliers fourth-quarter points on a variety of jumpers and drives. His layup with 7:51 left gave Cleveland its biggest lead to that point, 90-86.

Asked what he liked about Irving’s fourth quarter, James said, “Could you not like everything?”

“Whoever has the hot hand, we want to continue to get it to him,” James said. “Kyrie understands what needs to be done in order for us to win. He showcased that today.”

Cleveland trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half. The Cavaliers got as close as 72-70 on James Jones’ 3-pointer with 3:53 left in the third quarter. But the 76ers scored nine of the next 10 points, capped by Dario Saric’s 3-pointer that made it 81-71. James had four and Love two as the Cavaliers ran off the final six points of the quarter to enter the final period down 81-77.

STITCHED UP

Love was limited to 28 minutes after receiving five stitches for a cut over his right eye suffered early in the first quarter.

SLOW START

The Cavs missed their first 14 shots, but Philadelphia couldn’t take full advantage and led just 10-2 before James’ driving layup with 6:50 left in the first quarter resulted in Cleveland’s first field goal.

VERBAL EXCHANGE

James and Embiid got into a verbal altercation late in the first quarter. Richard Jefferson was whistled for a foul on Embiid’s drive, and James questioned the call. Embiid went toward James’ direction, but officials stepped between the players. The incident drew a rise in the crowd.

James provided a couple of first-half highlights, dunking with 6:03 left in the first quarter and then following a missed free throw with a dunk with 1:17 to go in the first half. He has three triple-doubles this season.

OFF NIGHT

J.R. Smith went 0 for 11 from the field, including 0 for 7 from 3-point range.

“As a shooter you’re not going to make every shot,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Defensively, he was great like he’s been all year. His shots are going to fall. When they do, we’ll be really tough to stop.”

MORE MINUTES?

Embiid was limited to 25 minutes, eight of which came in the fourth quarter, as part of his minutes restriction that is part of his rehab plan after missing the last two seasons with a foot injury.

“You come up with some really hard decisions that maybe don’t favor me or us or whatever,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “But for the long term lens that we all have, we have to be responsible with Joel Embiid. Winning a game in the middle of November in 2016 sometimes that takes a back seat.”

Embiid didn’t play in Friday’s 105-89 loss to the Bulls and won’t play Monday night at Toronto, marking the sixth game he will miss this season.

IT MUST BE THE SHOES

James was excited about many Ohio State players wearing his shoes in Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan football game, a game in which the Cavaliers attended as a team.

“They looked good in those shoes,” James said. “It was a proud moment for me. I don’t get too happy about a lot of things, but I was happy about that.”

TIP-INS

Cavaliers: Channing Frye (personal) was not with the team. Frye’s father died Thursday. … Cleveland beat Philadelphia 102-101 on Nov. 5. … James’ 3-pointer with 5:01 left in the second period was his 1,000th as a member of the Cavaliers. … Cleveland has made at least 10 3-pointers in every game this season.

76ers: Jerryd Bayless (left wrist) didn’t play. Bayless missed the first 13 games of the season with a left wrist injury.


UP NEXT

Cavaliers: At Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

76ers: At Toronto on Monday night.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Celtics end 4-game skid, down 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — The Boston Celtics were relieved to end their losing streak. Now, they want to get on a roll heading into the playoffs.

Isaiah Thomas led six Celtics players in double figures with 26 points to help Boston snap a four-game skid with a 120-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night.

Jared Sullinger added 17 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, which swept the four-game season series against the 76ers to make it eight consecutive wins against Philadelphia. The Celtics avoided matching their longest losing streak of the season with the victory. They improved to 40-30.

“We still had some lulls, but for the most part we got some confidence back and got close to Boston Celtics basketball,” Thomas said. “Back to the winning ways as quick as you can to gain confidence and gain momentum going into the playoffs. We have to lock in these last 12 games.”

Carl Landry scored 26 points for the 76ers, who have lost five in a row and 18 of the last 19 to fall to 9-61.

“Losing is hard – period,” center Nerlens Noel said.

The possibility of Philadelphia matching the 1972-73 76ers for the worst record over an 82-game schedule is growing. Eight of Philadelphia’s 12 remaining games are against clubs who began Sunday with winning records. Seven of the 12 contests are on the road.

Their best chance for a victory may be during a four-game homestand April 2-10 that includes games against New Orleans, the Knicks and Milwaukee – all of which had losing records entering Sunday. Of the remaining opponents, the 76ers have defeated only Portland. Philadelphia routed the Trail Blazers 114-89 on Jan. 16 at home, a defeat they will try to avenge Saturday night in Portland.

Philadelphia managed to hang around for much of the third quarter, twice cutting the Celtics’ lead to six points. The final time came with 2.4 seconds left in the period on T.J. McConnell’s short, baseline jumper that made it 85-79. But Thomas raced the ball up the court and drained a 3-pointer as time expired to give Boston an 88-79 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

The 76ers got as close as four points in the final period on Landry’s dunk with 9:20 left that made it 91-87, but they wouldn’t get any closer.

“Our guys came out ready, came out focused,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “We knew it was an important game to play well. You can’t always control the results, but you can control your input into it. Guys played with good purpose.”

NOEL’S NIGHT

Philadelphia wasn’t helped by Noel fouling out with 4:49 remaining. Noel finished with four points, eight rebounds and five assists and was 2 for 8 from the field and 0 for 4 from the free-throw line.

0-FOR-17

The 76ers’ chances of beating the Celtics took a hit in the first quarter when they missed 17 straight shots on their way to a 28-16 first-quarter deficit.

“That’s hard to do,” Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said.

Philadelphia shot 19.2 percent (5-for-26) from the field in the period.

HEALTHY EATERS

The Celtics’ postgame spread for the players and staff featured a full table of fruits and vegetables, much more than normally seen for visiting teams in Philadelphia.

BALANCED SCORING

All five Celtics starters reached double-figures. Besides Thomas and Sullinger, Avery Bradley scored 20, Amir Johnson had 18 and Evan Turner netted 17. Marcus Smart came off the bench for 15 points.

TIP-INS

Celtics: A large contingent of Celtics fans was scattered throughout the Wells Fargo Center crowd of 15,103. … Boston also defeated the 76ers 112-92 on Jan. 24 in Philadelphia and twice in Boston, 84-80 on Nov. 26 and 112-95 on Oct. 28.

76ers: C Jahlil Okafor will have season-ending knee surgery on Monday. The rookie has missed the last 11 games. … C Joel Embiid returned to Qatar for treatment on his ankle. … Forwards Robert Covington (concussion) and Richaun Holmes (Achilles) each missed their fourth consecutive game. … Philadelphia opens a four-game road trip Monday night in Indiana. . Brown was issued a technical foul with 7:09 left in the second quarter.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host Orlando Monday night.

76ers: At Indiana Monday night.

source: sports.inquirer.net

King James becomes youngest to assume 25,000-point throne

After becoming the youngest player in NBA history to surpass 25,000 career points on Monday, LeBron James sat in the locker room in the Wells Fargo Center with his feet in an ice bucket, an ice bag on each knee and another ice bag on his back.

No matter the aches and pains for the Cleveland Cavaliers forward, the 13-year veteran makes it look easy.

Needing 21 points at the start of the road game against the Philadelphia 76ers to reach the milestone, James scored 22 while collecting 11 assists and nine rebounds in Cleveland's 107-100 victory.

He surpassed the mark when he dunked a lob from guard Matthew Dellavedova with 8:07 remaining and left the game for good shortly after that.

At 30 years and 307 days, James surpassed Kobe Bryant (31 years, 351 days) as the youngest to achieve the milestone.

James, who is 20th on the all-time scoring list, could not immediately put the mark in perspective.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "I haven't had an opportunity to categorise the list of things I've done."

James did say that it was great to reach the mark in a victory while playing with a group of team mates he enjoys and, he added, "in a building that loves the game of basketball."

Cavaliers coach David Blatt called it an "extremely important, extremely impressive" mark.

"To be the youngest player in the history of the game to score 25,000 points -- particularly when you're every bit the passer that you are the scorer -- is just a testament to his greatness," Blatt said.

The Philadelphia fans accorded James with a standing ovation during a timeout with 7:45 left, when an announcement was made about his achievement.

"Obviously, they're Sixer fans to death, but they know and they respect the game of basketball," James added. "To get a standing ovation reaching that milestone, it was very special."

The former Miami Heat leader said the mark was a tribute to playing with "two great organisations" and having great team mates and coaches around him. The most important thing, he said, was, "I've been able to stay healthy, relative, in my career."

Then he knocked on a wooden bench. The ice bags were still on his knees and his feet were still in the bucket.

Sixers coach Brett Brown was, of course, asked about James afterward, and he talked not so much about his scoring as his leadership and intellect.

"He sees stuff," Brown said. "He's telling us about an assist before he even passes it. It's just the whole package he brings to the table. He's very, very unusual and very unique." — Reuters