Cavaliers, Spurs play Game of the Year

The Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs got together Thursday night in a potential NBA Finals preview. The Cavaliers are currently the favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference with 4/7 odds to reach the Finals, per Bovada, and the Spurs have 15/4 odds to come out of the Western Conference. Only the Golden State Warriors have better odds to win the West.

Needless to say, I don’t think many people would complain if Cavs-Spurs was your Finals matchups, as the two teams engaged in the best game of the year on Thursday. When the dust settled, Kyrie Irving scored a franchise-record 57 points in a 128-125 overtime victory for Cleveland. Yes, Irving has now scored more points in a Cavaliers game than LeBron James ever has.

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The game got off to a torrid start, and never really slowed down, although San Antonio took control of the game in the third quarter and appeared to be in line for a victory in regulation. But thanks to the brilliance of Irving, as well as some missed free throws by Kawhi Leonard, the game went to overtime.

The Spurs went up by six points with 33 seconds left after Tony Parker, who had 31 points, nailed what should have been a dagger jumper. Irving quickly buried a three on the other end, but after Parker missed another jumper, Leonard came down with a clutch offensive rebound and was fouled. All he needed to do was hit one free throw. He missed both.

With Leonard leaving the door open, Irving took advantage, burying a crazy three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. The point guard wouldn’t be denied in the overtime period, scoring 11 of his 57 points in the frame. He finished shooting 20-of-32 overall, 7-of-7 from three and 10-of-10 from the line.

Irving also got some help in overtime from James, who buried two big three-pointers, including the dagger to put the Cavaliers up five with 32 seconds left. James finished with 31 points and seven assists.

Mixed into the madness was the Kevin Love situation. Through three quarters, Love had just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting. Cavaliers head coach David Blatt opted to go with James Jones down the stretch, not bringing Love back until the overtime period. This isn’t the first time the power forward has been benched during crunch time, and you have to wonder what’s going through his mind in a year where he could potentially become a free agent in the summer. He has never been on a playoff team, but he may not appreciate how he’s being used in Cleveland. It’s a fascinating situation.

Anyway, this was one hell of a basketball game between two powerhouses. The Cavaliers have turned things around after their brutal stretch from a few months ago, and the Spurs have looked more like themselves now that they’re healthy. It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see these two teams going at it in June.