Irving, Cavaliers hold off late Celtics charge
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[December 30, 2016]
CLEVELAND -- LeBron James gifted
himself a grade of F for his birthday.
Despite falling two rebounds shy of his 46th career triple-double,
James blasted his own play as the Cleveland Cavaliers barely held on
for a 124-118 victory over the Boston Celtics after blowing an
18-point lead in the fourth quarter.
The Cavs needed 32 points from Kyrie Irving, including a pair of
driving layups in the final minute, to fend off Boston after
entering the fourth with a 101-83 lead. James had 23 points, 11
assists, eight rebounds, eight turnovers and one bad mental lapse
late in the game that kept the Celtics' hopes alive.
"I was horrible tonight," James said. "In every facet of the game, I
was just pretty bad and it's unacceptable."
James, who turns 32 on Friday, went so far as to address his
teammates following the game because of the way he played. After Jae
Crowder's 3-pointer pulled the Celtics within 113-108 with 3:26
left, James half-heartedly tapped the ball back to Irving after
receiving the inbounds pass. Avery Bradley was lingering in the area
and stole it for the easy dunk that pulled the Celtics within three.
"I just didn't see him," James said. "Definitely got to pay
attention to what's going on in the flow of the game. I was just
throwing it back in to Kyrie and he just jumped it, so if I was
paying attention to him, with Avery being the defensive-minded guy
he is, I should have seen him. Big mistake."
Irving, who also passed for 12 assists to register his fifth
double-double in his last seven games, laughed at James'
self-assessment.
"That guy is so special. He gives himself an F and he still ends up
with 23, 8 and 11," Irving said. "I understood just from the amount
of expectations that he puts on himself every single night. He took
full accountability just like anyone else in this locker room would,
but as the leader of this team, we command a lot from him. He
understands that, he wants it, he thrives in that and I think it's
good."
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Irving limped off the floor during a timeout with 53 seconds left
and watched the rest of the game from the bench with cramping. He
banged knees with James in the first half, then felt cramps in his
hamstring and calf on his final basket, which gave the Cavs a
119-116 lead.
Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said he thought Irving would be fine to
play Saturday when the Cavs visit Charlotte, but Irving wouldn't
commit to anything until he sees how he feels Friday morning.
The Celtics' bench crew led the fourth-quarter charge against the
Cavs' regulars. With a home game Friday against Miami, Celtics coach
Brad Stevens cleared his bench in the fourth, and the backups
brought the team back. He subbed his starters back in as the
Celtics' rally gained momentum.
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After James split a pair of free throws to give Cleveland a 120-118
lead, the Celtics had a chance to win it. Stevens elected not to use
his final 20-second timeout and instead ran a play that left Crowder
with an open look at a 3-pointer from the wing with 8.5 seconds
left. Crowder clanked the shot, and Richard Jefferson grabbed the
rebound to seal the win.
"I
thought it was good," Crowder said. "I had a good look at it. My
coaches had confidence in me to make that. I'll step into it a 100
more times."
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Isaiah Thomas scored 31 points and Bradley added 23 points for the
Celtics, who scored 35 in the fourth to make the game close in the
final minutes. That did little to appease Stevens, who was more
upset at Boston's lack of defense earlier in the game.
"If they have 100 points after three quarters, you don't have a real
chance to beat them," he said. "We've got to play a lot better than
that. Our guys did a great job in the comeback, but I was
disappointed in the first three quarters."
Kevin Love scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, including 11
points in the third as the Cavs built a 101-81 lead in the final
minute of the quarter before the Celtics fought back. It was
reminiscent of a game at Cleveland 10 months ago when the Cavs blew
a four-point lead in the final seven seconds and Boston stole the
win at the buzzer.
"We give them a good shot every time we see these guys," Crowder
said. "They're at the top of the Eastern Conference. It's not
wearing on us in any kind of way."
NOTES: Celtics coach Brad Stevens attended a football practice at
Ohio State while he was in Columbus for a wedding. Buckeyes
basketball coach Thad Matta set it up since Stevens was once an
assistant under Matta at Butler. Stevens' wife has a lot of family
from Cleveland, and his father went to medical school at Ohio State.
... Stevens said he watched Cavs G Kyrie Irving in high school at an
under-18 tryout. "He was ridiculous then, by far the best player on
the court," Stevens said. "The guy's always been destined to be one
of the better players around. ... On the eve of his 32nd birthday, F
LeBron James said he doesn't see many similarities between his game
and Michael Jordan's. "Our games are so different," James said. "He
was much more of a scorer, and that (age) did a lot of post work at
that time. But our games are just different. His body is different.
My body is different than his. You recognize the dominance that
someone had at that age, but there's no similarities in our game at
all."
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