Kyrie Irving took over early in the fourth with his Cavs down 19, outpacing the C’s 13-4. He then told LeBron James, “Be aggressive.” Welp, James asked for it, and he proceeded to outscore the entire Celtics team, 10-7, in the game’s last six minutes to help the Cavs come back from that huge fourth quarter deficit and win, 122-121.
“I know what he’s capable of, and everybody in the world knows what he’s capable of,” Irving said, by way of Pro Basketball Talk’s Dan Feldman. “It’s more or less, I feel like he takes his foot off the gas a little bit when he can punish guys. He knows it. He’s been in this league a long time. I’m not telling him anything he doesn’t know.
James finished the game tonight with a season-high 41 points on 16-of-27 from the field. He added seven dimes, too, and Kyrie Irving added 27 to overcome an all-around Celtics effort led by Rajon Rondo‘s 16 assists, eight rebounds and six points.
“All you’ve got to do is talk to me,” LeBron said. “And I’ll answer.”
He did. Whether it was collecting one of Kevin Love‘s patented outlet passes…
dishing to Love on the break, hitting Andy Varejao with a pocket-pass on the pick-and-roll…
blocking down on a late Rajon Rondo attempt to force a turnover late…
or getting a fourth quarter bucket after barreling through Jeff Green’s staunch defense with the game on the line, James was in full effect on the night.
The Cavs still can’t defend very well and the Celtics shot better than 54 percent in the game, but when you have talents like ‘Bron, Kyrie and Love, it covers up a lot of glaring weaknesses we’ve seen from this team in the season’s first half month.
It didn’t end up mattering this evening, but everyone will be keeping an eye on any peccadilloes that could blossom into glaring holes as the season bounces on.
(Video via Dawk Ins)
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