The Cleveland Cavaliers gave the Boston Celtics all they wanted for three quarters,but appeared to be fading against the odds in the fourth as they fell behind by 11 points and looked to be looking forward to a rematch at the Q on Tuesday night.Nothing could be further from the truth as the Cavaliers ripped off the final twelve points of the game and capped it off with a driving Kyrie Irving layup with under three seconds to go for a shocking 88-87 Cleveland win.
Irving led the Cavaliers with 23 points with Anderson Varejao adding 18 points and nine boards to go with immeasurable hustle.
The Cavaliers improve to 8-11 with the win.
The Celtics come to Cleveland tomorrow at seven for 70's night.
Swashbucklings
1) The Irving game winner brought to mind his early season shot that did not fall against Indiana,which allowed the Pacers to drag the game into overtime and hand the Cavaliers a loss there.
Shots will and will not drop at the end of games,but what I was impressed with was the coolness of Irving on the drive.Irving continues to show maturity and poise well beyond what anyone could have expected from a shortened college career.
2) As much as I loved Irving's night,once again the player of the night goes to Anderson Varejao,who's relentless boardwork and loose ball efforts were the main part of the comeback.
Varejao grabbed an offensive board to give Cleveland a second chance to take the lead and then after another miss,dove on the floor to outfight Boston for the ball and have the presence of mind to call timeout rather than be tied up for a jump ball.
As much as I would love the bounty that Varejao would bring on the trade marker,I think I'll just keep him.
3) Another interesting part of the comeback? The Boston "Big Three" each flubbed chances to put the game in the Beantown win column.
Ray Allen missed with a chance to increase a one point lead,Kevin Garnett grabbed a rebound of Allen's miss,but walked with the basketball and Paul Pierce missed with what could have won the game.
4) Daniel Gibson missed another game with a "stiff neck" and Anthony Parker left the game early again with back issues.The Cavalier backcourt is low on depth right now,so a frontcourt player deep on the bench could be a choice to head to Canton for a guard to bulk up the bench.
5) Mychel Thompson got off the bench with the need for minutes and scored his first four career points and contributed a key steal late in the game.
Good for Thompson.It is always a neat thing to see the guys that rarely play succeed a bit!
6) Highlight of the night goes to Alonzo Gee,who flashed across the lane and launched a tomahawk dunk in the face of Kevin Garnett and "Threw the hammer down"!
Gee finished with 14 points off the bench and continues to be my surprise player of the season.
I hope to be back later with a cleaning of an overflowing inbox!
Photo Credit:AP Photo
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