Kyrie Irving’s torrid 4th quarter leads Cavs past Wizards

Although the Wizards didn’t make it easy on the Cavaliers and certainly more hard than the Cavs have had in recent games, their inability to stop the 3-point shot or slow down James was too much for them, despite shooting 55.3% from the field and hitting 14 three-pointers at 58.3% from the field. He’s much better than that.

“Her and Zhuri, my baby girl, are my two favorite women in the world, ” James said, via NBC Washington.

Leah, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in June of 2014, wore her James jersey to the game, watched James score 34 points and then for the big treat, she visited with James and other Cavaliers, including Kyrie Irving, in the locker room after Cleveland’s 121-115 victory. “But until we turn it on defensively, we’re kidding ourselves”.

Garrett Temple scored 21 points and John Wall had 20 for the Wizards, who were playing without Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair and Drew Gooden. LeBron James is averaging 25.6 points and 5.9 assists while Kevin Love is averaging 16.4 points and 10.7 rebounds.

The Raptors rallied from 13 down in the first half to take a brief lead in the second quarter.

Smith’s 3-pointer midway through the third broke a 69-all tie.

James hit 3-pointers on four of five possessions, and the lead got to 18 at one point.

The Raptors beat the Cavs at Toronto in late November when Cleveland was missing half of its rotation.

There was little award winning about Wall’s early performance in the rematch and first meeting of the season against Irving, who missed the opening weeks of the season following knee surgery.

“Every stretch (of games) for us is huge right now”, Wall said. “Kyrie did unbelievable things”. However, James was simply unstoppable in the first three periods, and Irving more than picked up the slack in the fourth, dropping 19 in just those 12 minutes.

Jonas Valanciunas starred for the Raptors as he scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Not done yet, an Irving left-hand floater made it 106-87 with 6:54 to play, marking the beginning of the end for the Raptors.

In New Orleans, Raymond Felton scored 22 points to lead a short-handed Dallas squad that was without Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, Zaza Pachulia and Wesley Matthews after they each played 40-plus minutes in a double-overtime victory over Sacramento on Tuesday night. However, when asked about the former Texas A&M star James told the Washington media, “I think it’s more concerned for him individually”, James said when asked about the future of Manziel in Cleveland.

“The first few games were just being able to solidify myself back in the league and being an elite athlete and get around guards”, Irving said. But James believes Irving should be an All-Star regardless of the season’s sample size.

The Cleveland Cavaliers came seeking revenge when they waltzed into the nation’s capital to face the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. So that’s not even a question, and he just continues to show why he’s that.