NBA scores 2015: Kyrie Irving drops 55 with LeBron James sidelined

Irving’s 55 points were a career high, and his franchise-record 11th three-pointer gave the Cavaliers a thrilling victory over the Trail Blazers with James out of the lineup.

by Jason Patt

Jan 29, 2015, 1:00 PM UTC

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

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

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The Cavaliers entered play Wednesday night against the Trail Blazers 1-8 without LeBron James, and when it was announced that James was going to sit out with a wrist injury, it would have been easy to chalk this one up as a loss.

But Kyrie Irving was having none of that.

Irving delivered the best performance of the year by a player not named Klay Thompson, putting up a career-high 55 points in a thrilling 99-94 victory that also featured 38 points from LaMarcus Aldridge in a losing effort. Irving's 55 points were a season-high in the NBA this season, and the point guard joined James and Walt Wesley as the only players in Cavaliers history to reach the 50-point mark in a game.

Not only did Irving drop a double nickel, but his three over Nicolas Batum with 6.4 seconds left proved to be the game-winner. The game-winning three was Irving's 11th of the night, a new Cavaliers franchise record. And to top it all off, the point guard iced the game with two free throws after Damian Lillard missed a three-pointer from the corner.

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.

Only three other Cavaliers scored in double figures, with Timofey Mozgov’s 12 points the most by an non-Irving Cavalier. Kevin Love started the game hot with 10 points in the first quarter, but the scuffling power forward didn’t score a single point the rest of the game. Love missed his final 11 shots after starting 3-of-4, and he had plenty of great looks at the basket. The big man was 3-of-13 on uncontested shot attempts, per SportVU.

There were long periods of time where Love was invisible on offense, and one has to wonder if he's hurting. Since missing a win over the Clippers with a back injury on Jan. 16, Love has averaged 13.3 points while shooting 35.2 percent overall and 30.3 percent from three. He has struggled for much of the year, but that's especially bad.

What's scary, though, is that Cleveland has won eight games in a row without Love finding any sort of rhythm. James obviously made everything better when he came back from a prolonged absence two weeks ago, but the trades to bring in Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert have made the Cavaliers a deeper and more well-balanced team.

The Cavaliers of a few weeks ago probably wouldn’t have defeated a good Blazers team without James, although the Cavaliers of a few weeks ago didn’t have Irving putting up career-best performances. This truly was a game for the ages for the youngster, and it’s crazy to think he’s just 22 years old. It’s also worth noting that Lillard, Irving’s counterpart, had just 14 points on 4-of-19 shooting. This was pure domination by Irving, and now we wait and see if he’ll snag an All-Star selection.

3 other things we learned

Josh Smith is helping the Rockets: Smith took a lot of heat in Detroit, and for good reason. The guy was a terrible fit, and that's why Stan Van Gundy cut the cord when he did. An already good Rockets team took a chance on Smith, and thus far, they have been rewarded for the gamble. Smith was solid again off the bench in a 99-94 win over the Mavericks, scoring 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting in 28 minutes. He somehow went 4-of-5 from three-point range, and he had several clutch buckets to help secure the victory. The forward is shooting 44.2 percent since coming to Houston, which isn't great, but a significant improvement over his time in Detroit. Also, the Rockets have outscored opponents by 5.5 points per 100 possessions with Smith on the court, per NBA.com. This officially is a thing, and Smith will have to continue to play a big role if Dwight Howard is out for an extended period of time.

This was a bad night for the Thunder: Kevin Durant sat out a second straight game with a toe injury, and disaster struck for Oklahoma City against New York. The Thunder took home a 105-78 victory without Durant in the first meeting against the Knicks this season, but New York returned the favor with a 100-92 triumph on Wednesday despite 40 points from Russell Westbrook. This was a terrible loss the Thunder just couldn't afford as they attempt to fight back into the playoff picture. The clock is ticking for Oklahoma City, and making matters worse was Phoenix beating Washington, 106-98. The Thunder are now 3½ games behind the Suns for the final playoff spot in the West, and 1½ games behind the Pelicans. Not good.

Anthony Davis is getting an MRI on his injured groin: Davis had an injury scare when he was undercut in the third quarter of the Pelicans' loss to the Nuggets and had to be helped off the court. The big man went to the locker room with a groin injury, but he returned to a rousing round of applause in the fourth quarter. However, his return wasn't enough to spur New Orleans past Denver, and now we know that he will undergo an MRI to get a better look at the injury. Losing Davis for an extended period of time would likely be a death knell for the Pelicans, who sit at 24-22 on the season.