Relive Cavs" Wild Comeback and Amazing 4th Quarter!
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A scoreless two minutes, a bad turnover, and two timely Spurs shots sunk the Cavs in overtime Saturday night.
Kawhi Leonard scored a career-high 41 points to LeBron James" 29 and the Spurs defeated Cleveland 118-115 in what was obviously a compelling game, given its score, length, and the two teams competing.
The Cavs (30-12) scored one basket in the final 2:12 of overtime. Trailing by three and coming out of a timeout, James threw a pass to no one in the corner with 24.2 seconds left for his seventh turnover.
The Spurs took the lead for good on Patty Mills" 3-pointer with 1:52 to go. LaMarcus Aldridge"s jumper with 38 seconds remaining put them up 116-113.
After a layup by Kyrie Irving, James tied Leonard up for a jump ball with 13 seconds left and appeared to have won the tip (James later said Leonard won it; Love thought it was the other way around) but Love"s effort to save it from going out of bounds went straight to Leonard, who raced ahead for what should"ve been a clinching dunk.
But LaMarcus Aldridge missed two free throws with .9 seconds to go and gave the Cavs another chance. But Love"s 3-point attempt at the buzzer was no good.
Irving scored all of the Cavs" eight points in overtime and finished with 29 total. Love, playing for the first time since injuring his back in the first half against Golden State Monday, scored 13 points with 11 rebounds. Tristan Thompson added 14 points and 12 boards, and Iman Shumpert contributed 11 points.
This was Leonard"s sixth consecutive game of 30 or more points. Aldridge added 16. David Lee and Dejounte Murray, filling in for the injured Pau Gasol and Tony Parker, each scored 14 points.
The Cavs committed 18 turnovers for 19 points, the Spurs had 14 turnovers for 14 points. Just as costly, the Cavs missed 10 of 22 free-throw attempts.
This was Tyronn Lue"s 83rd game as head coach, meaning he"s coached a full season. His second full season started just like the first.
The Cavs lost the first game of Lue"s tenure against the Bulls, which was also ABC"s first Saturday night game. Things turned out OK at the end of that year.
The Cavs held the Spurs scoreless over the final 2:45 in regulation to forge overtime. James made three free throws and a 30-foot 3-point bomb to tie it. Leonard scored 12 points in the period, but missed his last five shots. After Leonard missed a jumper with 13.4 seconds left, James" step-back 3 that could"ve won it at the buzzer rattled out.
The Spurs opened the fourth quarter on a 12-1 run and the Cavs committed four turnovers over the first four minutes.
Come to think of it, Cleveland"s reserve unit -- which starts the second and fourth quarters with James -- struggled all night. The Spurs opened the second period on a 17-2 spurt. The Cavs closed periods well, up until overtime anyway. They won the final 4:42 of the second period, 14-6, and finished the third with five points in 33 seconds for a five-point lead.
James and Leonard each played 46 minutes. Irving logged 41.
NEXT: the cavs hit the road again, but for only one game against the New Orleans Pelicans Monday at 8 p.m.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/01/lebron_james_kawhi_leonard_kyr.html
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