The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a spark to make Monday night’s game competitive against the New Orleans Pelicans, and that came in the form of point guard Kyrie Irving.
Irving converted 15 of his 28 attempts, including eight of his 14 three-point tries, and all 11 of his free throws on the way to a game-high 49-point performance.
Although Irving’s efforts were not enough, as the Cavaliers (30-13) suffered a 124-122 loss to the Pelicans (18-27) at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, he remains committed to winning.
“Whatever it takes,” Irving said. “Whatever it takes, honestly. Coming out at halftime, I was pretty pissed off. I’m still pissed off, but now, I can decompress, I made a few shots here and there, but other guys were making shots as well.
“‘Bron was doing an unbelievable job of orchestrating our offense and really taking the defensive challenge. When he does that, we’re tough to beat when both of us are clicking, along with Kev. We just fell a little short, but there’s definitely some things that are correctable.”
Despite the absence of four-time all-star Anthony Davis, the Pelicans scored 35 points in each of the first two quarters, and even though the Cavaliers tallied 72 after halftime, New Orleans withstood the furious rally and earned its 18th win of the season.
As a team, the Pelicans shot 49.4 percent from the field (43 of 87) and converted 16 of their 39 three-point tries (41 percent).
Jones and Holiday led the way with 36 and 33 points, respectively. Jones sunk 13 of his 18 attempts from the floor and three of his four looks from three-point range, while Holiday converted 12 of his 19 shots and four of his seven long-distance tries.
“We didn’t have no choice,” Cavaliers small forward LeBron James said.
“Listen, we’ve got what we’ve got. It was just one of those games where Kyrie had it going. For me, I wasn’t trying to force anything. I was taking what the defense gave me, got my guys involved, got some rebounds, but some games, it’s like that.”
Although Irving poured in 49 points, he would trade all of the individual success for victories, which have alluded the Cavaliers in recent weeks.
Since the start of 2017, the Cavaliers have lost five of their last seven games.
“It’s the only thing that matters at the end of the day,” Irving said.
