(Copyright Dawk Ins) LeBron James Triple Double vs Pelicans (Full Highlights) (11/10/14)
Wrap-Up – The NBA season is less than two weeks old, but we hadn’t yet seen the Cavaliers’ “Big 3” all put it together on the same night. That all changed on Monday night at The Q, as the triumvirate of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love combined for 86 of Cleveland’s 118 points as the Wine and Gold pulled past the Pelicans, 118-111, to even their record at 3-3 this season. It took a while for the Cavaliers got get it going on Monday. But after New Orleans’ Ryan Anderson dropped 23 points on Cleveland before intermission, LeBron took it up on himself to jumpstart the second half – scoring Cleveland’s first nine points of the period and adding eight more before the end of the third quarter. Kyrie was almost as good in the third – notching 13 points, including 11 straight, in the period. Kevin Love saved his damage for the following quarter – drilling three three-pointers in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the fourth. When the smoke cleared, James finished with his first triple-double of the season and his Wine and Gold reincarnation – tallying 32 points, 12 boards and 10 assists (adding a steal and blocked shot just to fill out the entire boxscore). Irving finished with 32 points and nine assists of his own – going 11-for-21 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from long-distance. Love was 6-of-9 from beyond the arc – including 4-of-5 in the fourth quarter – and finished with 22 points and five boards in the win. GAME LINKS Box Score Game Photos Game Quotes Call of the Game Game Blog Turning Point – LeBron’s barrage out of the halftime locker room woke up a Cavs team that trailed by as many as a dozen points in the first stanza. But it was Kyrie’s explosion late in the period that put Cleveland over the top. The Cavaliers trailed by nine – 78-69 – with 4:38 remaining in the third period, but Irving started a one-man 9-0 run with a driving layup. When he connected on a 25-foot bomb less than two minutes later, the Cavs had tied the score at 78-apiece. Irving fed Tristan Thompson for a dunk to put the Cavs ahead to stay on Cleveland’s next possession. Scene and Heard – The Cavaliers celebrated Veteran’s Day on Monday night at The Q, welcoming members of the U.S. Military to The Q. Fans flashed red, white and blue cards during the national anthem, sung by U.S. Army soloist, SSG. Bryan Bachman. Vets and current servicemen from organizations such as the Greater Cleveland USO, Veteran Ticket Foundation, Veterans Domiciliary at Wade Park, Cleveland State University Student Veterans, 910th Airlift Wing, Greater Cleveland Coast Guard, Cleveland City School – NJROTC and Northeast Ohio Army and National Guard were in the house for Monday’s patriotic festivities. By the Numbers – 5:1 … Kyrie Irving’s turnover-to-assist ratio over the past four games – committing just a single turnover in each contest while compiling 20 helpers. Quotable – Coach David Blatt, on LeBron James’ performance … ”That guy, number 23, was pretty good. Nobody mentioned him. He did a pretty good job and everyone expects that. I don’t care that we all know he can do it. You go out there and have a triple-double and you lead your team in the moment of truth the way that he did, it’s easy to overlook that. It’s easy to overlook that guy because you come to expect it.” Up Next – The Cavaliers get a break in the schedule this week and don’t play until Friday, when they travel to Beantown to face the Celtics. After Friday’s matchup in Boston, the Wine and Gold play just one more road game the remainder of the month. On Saturday night, they welcome Al Horford and the Hawks to town on Saturday, the Nuggets the following Monday and an eagerly-anticipated matchup with the World Champion Spurs in a nationally-televised affair next Wednesday.
