Reminiscent of the shot he made to put the Cleveland Cavaliers ahead of the Golden State Warriors, with less than a minute left in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, Kyrie Irving came up big again, during Sunday's [December 25] NBA Christmas Special. With Golden State holding a one-point lead with 13.5 seconds to go in the game, Richard Jefferson inbounded the ball to the Cavs' All-Star point guard, putting the fate of the defending champs in his hands, in a thriller that was capped off when he drove the ball up court against Tristan Thompson and sunk a 13-foot turnaround fade to give Cleveland the 109-108 lead with only 3.4 seconds remaining.
Moments after Irving made the go-ahead basket, Kevin Durant attempted to return the favor, but stumbled the ground after coming into possession of the ball. It was too late for the Warriors, who after maintaining a steady lead throughout the game had crashed and burned in the final frame, to reverse course. Durant put up 36 points and Thompson contributed 24, to go with Draymond Green's 16 and Steph Curry's 15, but after extending what was a 7 point lead heading into the fourth, to a 14 point advantage with 9:34 down the stretch, the Cavs began to mount a rally on the back of six Warriors turnovers. The comeback also had much to do with Irving gaining efficiency, following a horrid three quarters in which he missed 11 of 16 attempts. Six of the 14 points he scored in the fourth quarter came with just over two minutes on the clock.
By game's end, Irving had netted 25 points, dished the ball for 10 assists and collected seven steals and six rebounds. James led the pack with 31 points, and Love added 20 to help the effort. With the win Cleveland rises to 23-6 and Golden State falls to 27-5.
Source: youtube.com
