Irving carries Cavs past Spurs with record 57 pts

SAN ANTONIO – Kyrie Irving had a career-high 57 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a128-125 overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.

Irving had the most points in the NBA this season, topping his 55-point game against Portland on Jan. 28. He scored nine points in the final minute of regulation to force overtime.

Irving hit a 3-pointer in the face of heavy defense from Danny Green to pull Cleveland to 110-107 with 31 seconds remaining in regulation. After the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard missed two free throws with 4.3 seconds left, Irving made another 3 – this time over Leonard – to tie it at 110.

Irving made all seven of his 3-point attempts, was 20 of 32 from the field overall, and made 10 free throws without a miss.

LeBron James added 31 points in his first game at the AT&T Center since being blown out in five games by San Antonio in the NBA Finals in his last games with the Miami Heat.

Tony Parker had 31 points for San Antonio and Leonard added 24 points.

In Los Angeles, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 22 points, Andrea Bargnani added 16 and the New York Knicks snapped their five-game losing streak with just their fifth road victory of the season, 101-94, over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Alexey Shved had 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks ended a seven-game road skid against the Lakers, winning for coach Derek Fisher in the former Los Angeles point guard’s return to Staples Center.

The NBA’s worst team (13-51) calmly maintained a lead down the stretch, sweeping the season series with Los Angeles (17-47) and picking up its first road victory over a Western Conference team all season.

Jordan Hill had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who have lost six of seven.

Langston Galloway scored 12 points as the Knicks won a meeting of two NBA cornerstone franchises fallen on the hardest of times. At a combined 30-98, New York and Los Angeles have two of the NBA’s four worst records with five weeks still left in their miserable seasons.

In other results, Indiana outlasted Milwaukee, 109-103; Washington routed an undermanned Memphis, 107-87; and Utah downed Houston, 109-91.

Back in San Antonio, Irving scored 11 points in overtime, including a crossover, fadeaway 3-pointer against Boris Diaw with 1:20 remaining to give Cleveland a 122-118 lead.

James was 10 for 20 from the floor in a physical battle with Leonard, but his struggles were lessened by Irving’s wild night.

Green’s 3-pointer gave San Antonio a 104-95 lead, prompting a timeout by Cleveland and a technical on James for arguing a non-call on his earlier miss.

It was part of an emotional night for James,

James and Leonard had a physical battle on both ends of the court, with King James nodding his head and Leonard staring at him defiantly after the two exchanged a series of elbows to the chest and pushes away from the ball early in the second quarter.

Leonard later bulled his way by James to the rim, up faked and then made a floating jumper over the Cavaliers forward. James attempted to score on Leonard on the ensuing possession, but his shot near the top of the key failed to hit the rim and fell out of bounds to the delight of the raucous sellout crowd. James and Leonard were later whistled for a double foul early in the third quarter after exchanging a series of elbows and pushes. (AP)