Kyrie Irving’s franchise record of 57 points led the Cleveland Cavaliers past the San Antonio Spurs, 128-125 in overtime, at the AT&T Center on Thursday night.
Irving’s point total was the highest by an NBA player this season.
The win broke the defending NBA champions’ six-game winning streak, which was tops in the Western Conference. Cleveland improved to 2-0 on this four-game trip.
Irving came through time after time, scoring 18 of the team’s final 24 points. Thanks to two missed free throws by Kawhi Leonard with 3.4 seconds left on the clock at the end of regulation, Irving was presented the opportunity to come through for his team as it was down three.
A baseline out-of-bounds s pass by LeBron James found Irving at the top of the key and he went right, raised up and splashed it home, sending the game into overtime. He went on to add 11 huge points in the extra five-minute period.
He couldn’t be stopped.
James supplied 31 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Tristan Thompson contributed 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Cleveland.
It played out how most envisioned it would go: two championship-caliber squads slugging it out until the final buzzer went off.
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