NBA schedule and results: Kyrie Irving scores 55 in win over Blazers

What makes the scoring explosion more impressive is that it was impossible to see it coming. Irving went 0-for-7 to begin the game and was in distributor mode, notching four of his total five assists early in the first quarter. He started to heat up near the end of the first period and finished with 12 points on 11 shots. Still, nothing suggested at that point that Irving was going to go off like he did.

Then the second quarter rolled around and Irving went 5-for-5 from the floor with four three-pointers to score 16 points and go into halftime with 28 points on 16 shots, numbers that any player would kill for in an entire game.

Making this performance all the more remarkable is the fact that Irving missed his first seven shots of the game. He then proceeded to make eight of his next nine attempts to close out the first half, and he went into halftime with 28 points on 8-of-16 shooting overall and 6-of-8 from three-point range.

It was more of the same the entire second half, as Irving was essentially the entire offense. He finished shooting 17-of-36 overall, 11-of-19 from three and 10-of-10 from the free throw line. His 55 points represented nearly 56 percent of Cleveland’s points, and he also added five assists and had just three turnovers in 39 minutes.

The Hawks’ Twitter account -- an account that’s been praised here before -- has been having fun with their ultra-long win-streak: they’d been adjusting their Twitter accounts’ name with a string of W’s where the “w” in “Hawks” should be. But with their 17th-straight win Wednesday night over the Nets, their hypothetical name reached 21 letters, and Twitter only contains room for 20. So they improvised:

Cloooooose, but not quite. Gotta bump down that H in the avi to get it to line up right.

Russell Westbrook didn’t sound too impressed with New York after the loss. If nothing else, credit Westbrook for being honest. This also might be the nicest thing anyone has said about the Knicks all year.

Not quite a nutshot -- just a solid wham to the midsection. But Miller’s reaction makes it clear that it hurt.

Anthony Davis had to be helped off the court on Wednesday night after getting undercut against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter. Davis headed to the locker room with an apparent groin injury but returned in the fourth quarter.

Davis will have an MRI on Thursday, according to the team.

No LeBron? No problem. Kyrie Irving stepped up with 55 points -- a career best, and the most points by any player this season -- and this game-winner right in Nicolas Batum’s face:

He didn’t think about passing, just stepped up and fired. After a missed Damian Lillard answer and some free throws, the Cavs won 99-94.

Zach LaVine is part of the four-man field completing in the 2015 dunk contest at All-Star Weekend, joining Orlando’s Victor Oladipo, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brooklyn’s Mason Plumlee. All four players have thrown down their fair share of highlight reel dunks this season, but there’s a reason LaVine seems like the early favorite. This is it.

Here’s another reason:

LeBron came back and the Cavs started winning. So with LeBron out for tonight’s game against a very good Portland team, their seven-game losing streak is doomed, right? Not if Kyrie Irving has something to say about it:

Irving started out 0-for-7 but managed to finish with 28 points in the first half. It was more of the same in the second half. Irving drained a three to hit the 50-mark.

The loss snapped the Warriors’ six-game win streak and 17-game home win streak. It was also Golden State’s first loss this year to an Eastern Conference team and just the team’s second home loss of the season.

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquio both attended the Heat-Bucks game in Miami. Someone should have found a ring somewhere and DEMANDED that they throw on some gloves and fight.