The Cl
eveland Cavaliers extended their winning streak to eight games on Wednesday night with a 99-94 win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers.
However, their win-streak wasn’t kept alive with the help of LeBron James, who sat out with a sprained wrist he suffered Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons.
Instead, the Cavaliers were single-handedly carried by Kyrie Irving, James’ running mate and sidekick. So, how did he do that you might ask?
He dropped a career-high 55 points in the game, besting his previous personal record of 44 points. He shot 17-of-36 from the field, but went an incredible 11-of-19 from the three-point line. The 11 made threes were a career-high as well, if you can’t put two and two together.
The 11 threes made set a new franchise-record for the Cavs, and his 55 points were the most ever scored at The Q Arena.
Here’s a photo after Irving made his final three of the night with 6.4 seconds left to give his team the lead, that eventually would give Cleveland the victory. It was posted by his teammate Anderson Varejao to his Instagram.
It’s not much of a photo, but it was an incredible night for the fourth-year guard out of Duke.
Possibly the more entertaining and real reason I wanted to post this photo was for this video Varejao posted to Instagram in the Cavs locker room after the game. The love and appreciation for Irving by his coaches and his teammates could go a long way in helping this team become title contenders come June.
The 55 points scored by Irving are the most in the NBA this season, just topping Klay Thompson and Mo Williams, who each scored 52.
Now can all the Cavs fans stop wondering if he deserves his max contract he signed this summer? Not that there wasn’t evidence enough already, but you should be ashamed of yourself if you ever thought that.