Always something new in the realm of King James
Vintage LeBron weaves magic against Wizards
There’s always something new with LeBron James, and Monday night was no different as his Cleveland Cavaliers vanquished the Washington Wizards 140-135 in an overtime thriller.
From a gimme layup he somehow missed after admittedly traveling to the jawdropping turnaround, stepback, fadeaway 3-pointer he banked with 0.3 seconds left to force overtime, it was James at his most mercurial.
Then there was his indignant postgame reaction to a report that he’d be OK with trading Kevin Love to acquire Carmelo Anthony.
There was more involving the Cleveland captain, who produced a career-high 17 assists and 32 points before fouling out 47 seconds into the extra period.
Kyrie Irving then took over, scoring 11 of his 23 points in OT, including a tiebreaking 3 with 35 seconds left to help the Cavs edge a game that felt more like the playoffs than the regular season.
Love provided 39 points, 12 rebounds and a court-long pass that led to James’ dazzling drain from downtown at the end of regulation.
James became the first player in NBA history to rank in the top 20 in points (eighth), assists (13th) and steals (20th).
“LeBron made a heck of a shot ... the kind you probably make one in a million times,” said Wizards guard John Wall.
It put the reigning NBA champion Cavs in position to end surging Washington’s 17-game winning streak at home and seven ina row overall.
When Love shot free throws in the third quarter, a small section of spectators changed “Bron wants Melo!” — a reference to a New York Daily News report citing an unidentified source that said James is pushing the Cavs to get Anthony from the Knicks — even if it means sending Love to New York.
Asked about the story, the four-time NBA MVP replied: “It’s trash. And the guy who wrote it is trash, too, for doing so.”
For his part, Love posted a quote from Winston Churchill on his Instagram account: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.”
Bradley Beal had 41 points and eight assists for the Wizards, but missed a potential tying 3 with about five seconds left in OT.
It was a back-and-forth contest, with little runs by each team, plenty of offense, lapses on defense, a lot of complaints about the officiating by both sides and a couple of technical fouls.
“You have it circled on your schedule for a long time,” Beal said about facing the Cavs. “We were pumped for it.”
With 12.2 seconds left, and Washington up 118-117, James drove past Wall, aided by an extra step that he said“kind of threw me off of my rhythm,” and somehow flubbed a wideopen layup.
After Wall’s foul shots made it 120-117 with 3.4 ticks left, Love got the ball to Jameson a play the Cavaliers call “touchdown”.
James’ 3 went off the glass and through the net as he landed out of bounds, setting the stage for Irving to pull out the victory in OT.
Tip-ins
Cavaliers guard Iman Shumpert left the game with an ankle injury ... Wall said he felt dizzy after taking a headbutt to the mouth in the game ... The Wizards entered the game with the NBA’s best record over the past month (14-2) and looked at it as a chance to show that they could hang with Cleveland. Afterward, Wall and Beal both said they garnered some praise from James, Irving and the rest of the Cavaliers. “They all said it,” Beal said.
LeBron made a heck of a shot ... the kind you probably make one in a million times.”
John Wall, on James’ regulation-tying 3-pointer