Mike Brown promised changes, and he delivered. The Cavaliers had a new starting lineup Saturday against Philadelphia, a new rotation and a new result: a thrilling victory.
It required three tries at a game-winner from Kyrie Irving before he finally delivered in the Cavaliers 127-125 double-overtime triumph over the 76ers at The Q on Saturday. His driving layup with 0.6 seconds left were his 39th points of the game, which came with a career-high tying 12 assists.
“Kyrie was spectacular,” Cavaliers coach Brown said. “His performance on both ends of the floor was tremendous.”
The old, familiar Irving was the savior in the end, with seven points in the second overtime period. But the game featured a new starting small forward, Alonzo Gee, and a new end-of-game lineup that featured three guards together – Irving, Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack — and provided plenty of firepower.
Waiters had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Jack chipped in 20 points, five assists and four rebounds. Waiters also contributed four steals, and Jack tallied three steals and three blocks.
That Irving would be the one with the ball in the final seconds of regulation and each overtime, however, was never a question.
“That’s the position we want him to be in,” Jack said. “He’s proven himself as being able to come through in those clutch moments. Even though he missed a couple easy ones, or ones he thought he should have made, everybody was still very much encouraging him and telling him, ‘If you get another look, take it. Don’t be bashful, don’t be shy. These are the moments we put you in and we’re right here behind you.'”
The three-guard rotation helped the Cavaliers catch up in fourth quarter after a disastrous third quarter nearly doomed them. The Sixers outscored Cleveland 37-22 in that period, sinking 62 percent of their attempts.
And the Cavaliers wouldn’t have even made it to overtime without some heroics in the fourth quarter. They needed a 20-7 run to start the period, and outscored the Sixers 32-22, overall, in that quarter. But the Sixers closed the fourth with a run of their own – 9-3 — culminating in a Thaddeus Young layup with 5.5 seconds left. Irving then missed a driving layup at the buzzer as the game went to overtime.
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