CLEVELAND – They say bad things come in threes, thanks to a three-guard lineup of Kyrie Irving, Jarrett Jack and Dion Waiters, the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a big win.
For Irving, the third time proved to be the charm, who previously missed on opportunities to win the game in regulation and in the first overtime, scored the game-winning basket with .06 seconds to give the Cavaliers a much-needed win over the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-125.
24 hours after looking listless and completely out of sync in Philadelphia, the Cavaliers made a couple of slight tweaks to their starting lineup in starting Alonzo Gee at small forward over free-agent pickup Earl Clark, and a three guard attack of Irving, Waiters and Jack late to give Cleveland more punch on offense, and judging from Saturday’s result, head coach Mike Brown may have found something.
Including his game-winning lay-up, the sixth in his career, Irving led all scorers with 39 points, dished out 12 assists, and grabbed five rebounds in 48 minutes. Waiters scored 24 points, six assists, eight rebounds and Jack added 20 points and five assists.
Could you say the Three Musketeers? or would that be the Three Amigos?
This writer is very old-school in the fact that you need a strong backcourt to win a championship and has always been in favor of a three-guard attack.
In watching the Cavs rally to win over the Sixers, one noticed that with Irving, Jack and Waiters on the floor, it made it things more difficult for Philadelphia to defend at the top of the key and really opened up the floor in creating space for shooters on the wing.
The eye-opening development of Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao helped in making Cleveland’s three guard attack both highly effective and lethal at the same time down the stretch.
Going forward, Cavs fans should not be surprised to see more of the Wine and Gold’s Three Muskeeteers on the hardwood in Jack, Waiters and Irving in the foreseeable future.
Robert D. Cobb is the Founder/CEO/Senior Editor-In-Chief Of The Inscriber : Digital Magazine, for questions, comments and concerns email me at robert.cobb@http://198.1.111.123/~theinscr follow me on Twitter @RC_TheInscriber and follow The Inscriber : Digital Magazine on Twitter at @TheInscriber
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Cavaliers 127, 76ers 125, 2 OT