CLEVELAND: The Cleveland Cavaliers posted a thrilling overtime win against hosts Washington Wizards 140-135 at Verizon Center on Monday.
Best game of the season gets thrown around a lot in this racket far too often, but this overtime thriller certainly placed its name in the running.
In order to get to the overtime, LeBron James banked in a three-pointer to tie the game with 0.3 seconds left. Prior to that, there were five ties and five lead changes in the fourth quarter alone, with both teams making shot after shot. For the game, there were 15 ties and 16 lead changes, with neither team ever leading by double-digits. The key for Cleveland was the three-point shooting, as they went 19-of-38, while Washington went just 12-of-29 from long distance.
The Cavaliers (35-15) have now won five of their last six games, as this might be their most impressive victory of the season. Despite fouling out in the overtime, LeBron James was the player of the game, finishing with 32 points, seven rebounds, 17 assists, two steals and two blocks. Kevin Love led the team in scoring, as he accumulated 39 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kyrie Irving scored 11 of his 23 points in the overtime, adding five assists to his tally. Tristan Thompson totalled 22 points and 12 rebounds. Cleveland will play the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday for their next game.
The Wizards (31-21) had won 17-straight home games headed into this matchup and it took a monster effort from the Cavaliers to snap that lengthy streak. Bradley Beal was Washington’s best player, as he led the team with 41 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Otto Porter was second on the team, collecting 25 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. John Wall accumulated 22 points, four rebounds and 12 assists. On deck for Washington is a road game against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
Pacers hold Westbrook
Indiana Pacers beat Oklahoma City Thunder 93-90 to stretch their winning streak to seven, their longest since the 2014-15 season. Significantly, it came against a winning team — just the second victory of that nature in the streak.
The Pacers trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, when they shot just 30 per cent from the field, but held Oklahoma City to 38 points and 30 per cent shooting in the second half, keeping their fourth straight opponent below 100 points. They scored just one field goal over the final 4:47 but still were good enough and lucky enough to extract the victory.
“I thought the first half was a wakeup call for us,” coach Nate McMillan told NBA.com. “We came out playing as if it was just another game. This team is a play-off team. They came out with playoff intensity.”
“The second half we started playing like we’re capable of playing. With playoff intensity. We started to get more rhythm, more spacing, better execution. The defence was the difference in this game tonight. That’s what we’ve been trying to get our guys to commit to all season long.”
Monday’s game began a stretch in which 10 of 12 games will be played against winning teams. The exceptions are Milwaukee and Miami, which won its 11th straight game on Monday.
The latest win improved their record to 29-22 and moved them within 1/2 game of Atlanta for fifth in the Eastern Conference, one game back of Washington in fourth and two games back of Toronto in third.
The Pacers were the league’s seventh-most accurate team from the field entering the game. Monday’s poor percentages — 38 from the field, 31 from the 3-point line and 65.5 from the foul line were not matching to that status.
Russell Westbrook missed a 3-pointer over George. Jerami Grant grabbed the long rebound, however, and fed Westbrook for another shot from directly in front of the Pacers’ bench, but he missed again with George flying at him. — Agencies
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