Los Angeles: Guard Kyrie Irving scored eight of his team-high 25 points in overtime as the Cleveland Cavaliers came from behind to defeat the Indiana Pacers 111-106 on Monday.
Forward LeBron James added 24 points and 12 rebounds as Cleveland (35-12) stretched its winning streak to five games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Cavaliers outscored the Pacers 15-10 in overtime with Irving scoring eight, James adding four and Kevin Love sinking a key three-pointer.
Irving also had finished the game, in front of a crowd of 17,300, with three rebounds and seven assists while James chipped in with 12 rebounds and six assists. Love tallied 19 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
“It’s only one of 82, but we knew what we came here to do, and that was to take care of business,” Irving said.
“We knew it would be a hard fought game in this arena, and we were locked in.
They made a run in the third quarter, but we came back in the fourth quarter and overtime,” he added.
The Cavaliers improved to 35-12 as James gave them the much needed lead for good with 1.37 minutes remaining in the extra period before two Irving free throws pushed the Cleveland lead to 107-104 with 43 seconds to go.
Irving and James each sank two free throws during the final 13 seconds of the match as Cleveland improved to 25-2 when scoring 100 points or more and 25-3 when leading at halftime.
Forward LaMarcus Aldridge scored a season-high 28 points as the San Antonio Spurs shrugged off a lackluster second quarter and held off the Orlando Magic 107-92.
The Spurs went on a 15-2 surge over a span of 3.37 minutes that straddled the end of the third quarter.
