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Cavs hold off Celtics to seal win
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THE National Basketball Association champion Cleveland withstood a late charge from the Boston Celtics, but Cavaliers superstar LeBron James said the 124-118 victory was no thanks to him.
“I was horrible tonight,” James said. “In every facet of the game, I was just pretty bad and it’s unacceptable.”
Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 32 points and 12 assists, his fifth double-double in his last seven games.
Kevin Love also notched a double-double with 30 points and 15 rebounds.
And James himself scored 23 points with 11 assists, his eight rebounds leaving him just two boards shy of a 46th career triple-double.
But James, who turned 32 yesterday, was irked by his eight turnovers and a lackadaisical inbounds play in the fourth quarter, when the Celtics were eating away at an 18-point deficit that they managed to reduce to one point four times before the hosts finally put them away.
It was 113-108 with 3:26 to play when James took an inbounds pass and tapped the ball back to Irving. Boston’s lurking Avery Bradley pounced on the soft ball from James for a steal and a dunk.
“I just didn’t see him,” James said. “Big mistake.”
While James was chastising himself, Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook was pointing fingers at others — namely the referees — after he was ejected in the third quarter of the Thunder’s 80-114 loss to the Grizzlies in Memphis.
Westbrook was tossed with 6:41 remaining in the period after picking up two quick technical fouls for arguing with officials over whether the shot clock should have been reset for the Grizzlies.
“Honestly, it’s crazy, man,” Westbrook said. “Especially to be ejected like that when I didn’t do nothing. It was just crazy... because I feel like I don’t get the benefit of the doubt most of the time.”
Before his exit Westbrook had 21 points, five rebounds and zero assists. He also had six turnovers.
He was the Thunder’s leading scorer, but it was a less than impressive stat line for a player who is averaging a triple-double (31.7 points, 10.9 assists, 10.6 rebounds) this season.
Spanish big man Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies with 25 points. Troy Daniels added 22 and Zach Randolph chipped in with 21.
Elsewhere in the NBA on Thursday, it was: Hornets 91, Heat 82; Suns 99, Raptors 91; Jazz 100, 76ers 83; and Mavericks 101, Lakers 89.
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