Kyrie Irving drops 42, powers Cavaliers to Game 4 win over Celtics
CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers said they welcomed some adversity following their first loss of the 2017 NBA playoffs on Sunday.
Not sure they wanted this much.
LeBron James went to the bench with his fourth foul in the second quarter – yes, four fouls on James in the first half – the Cavs trailed by 16 shortly after and Boston had control of the game.
Then, Kyrie Irving took over with an offensive display that bailed out the Cavs.
Irving scored a game-high and playoff career-high 42 points, pushing the Cavs to a 112-99 victory over the Celtics on Tuesday to take a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 is Thursday in Boston (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT).
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
Irving scored 33 of his points from the 6:46 mark of the second quarter – when James picked up his fourth foul – through the end of the third quarter on 13-for-16 shooting, and Cleveland outscored Boston 54-37 during that stretch.
"He saw 'Bron went out and he wanted to put the team on his shoulders, on his back and let us ride him until LeBron got back, and he did that," Cavs coach Ty Lue said.
He punctuated his effort, faking a behind the back pass and scoring on a layup for Cleveland’s final two points of the game.
Irving had 12 points in the second quarter and 21 in the third. He made nine of 10 field goal attempts in the third, including 2-for-3 on three-pointers. Most of Irving’s buckets came at the rim on a variety of clever layups with either hand.
That’s no accident. Irving spent significant time as a kid performing the Mikan Drill, a layup routine using both hands on both sides of the basket. He learned angles and developed a touch at the rim that is one of the finest in the NBA.
"He's a great finisher. He's a good player. He's one of the best point guards in the NBA," Celtics guard Avery Bradley said of Irving. "You can tell he puts in a lot of work in his game. A lot of respect from myself, my teammates."
James recovered from his rough first half and scored 28 of his 34 points in the second. Kevin Love added 17 points and 17 rebounds.
Irving, James and Love combined for 93 of Cleveland’s points.
It was the first time in James’ career that he has collected four first-half fouls, and he hasn’t had five fouls in a postseason game since the 2015 Finals.
The Celtics had a 43-33 lead before James went to the bench with his fourth foul and increased it to 49-33 on consecutive three-pointers from Jaylen Brown and Bradley, who led the Celtics with 19 points.
Boston’s early ball movement had Cleveland scrambling. They had 17 assists on 21 made field goals in the first half. On the other end of the floor, the Celtics’ defense made scoring difficult for the Cavs, who committed nine turnovers in the first two quarters.
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt
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