Cleveland superstar LeBron James was not celebrating on Thursday, even after NBA champions the Cavaliers escaped with a 124-118 win over the Boston Celtics on the eve of his 32nd birthday.
James fell just two rebounds shy of his 46th career triple-double with 23 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, but eight turnovers and a serious lapse that kept the door open for the charging Celtics had James fuming over his own play.
“I was horrible tonight,” James said. “In every facet of the game, I was just pretty bad and it’s unacceptable.”
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The Cavaliers were up by 18 points heading into the fourth quarter.
After Jae Crowder’s three-pointer pulled the Celtics within 113-108 with 3 minutes, 26 seconds remaining, James listlessly tapped the ball back to Kyrie Irving after receiving an inbounds pass.
Boston’s Avery Bradley pounced for the steal and an easy dunk that pulled the Celtics within three.
“I just didn’t see him,” James said. “Definitely got to pay attention to what’s going on in the flow of the game. I was just throwing it back in to Kyrie and [Avery] just jumped it, so if I was paying attention to him, with Avery being the defensive-minded guy he is, I should have seen him. Big mistake.”
Irving scored 32 points and handed out 12 assists for his fifth double-double in his past seven games. Kevin Love scored 30 points and pulled down 15 rebounds.
Irving thought James might have been a little hard on himself.
“That guy is so special,” Irving said. “He gives himself an ‘F’ and he still ends up with 23, 8 and 11.”
Irving limped off in the final minute with what he said was a tight right hamstring.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said he thought Irving would be ready to play today in Charlotte.
Thomas led the Celtics with 31 points and Bradley added 23, but Boston coach Brad Stevens said his team’s lack of defense left them in too big of a hole.
“If they have 100 points after three quarters, you don’t have a real chance to beat them,” Stevens said. “We’ve got to play a lot better than that. Our guys did a great job in the comeback, but I was disappointed in the first three quarters.”
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