CLEVELAND (AP) LeBron James sang and danced while dressing at his locker to New Edition’s ”Can You Stand The Rain” following Sunday’s win.
Although the song’s theme of weathering a storm was fitting for the Cavs, James insisted the selection wasn’t intentional.
”It has nothing to do with that,” James said, alluding to some recent self-induced drama for the NBA champions. ”It’s just the groove I’m in right now.”
Kyrie Irving scored 29 points, James had 25 and 14 rebounds and Cleveland played one of its best all-around games in weeks, containing Russell Westbrook and beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 107-91.
Tristan Thompson added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavs, who have won two straight after losing six of eight amid internal turmoil sparked by James criticizing the team’s roster following a recent loss. But while not forgotten, the chaos has calmed down a bit and a quality win sure helps.
”We just want to play good basketball and tonight we did that,” James said. ”It started with the defensive end.”
Westbrook finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his 24th triple-double, but the All-Star was closely guarded by Iman Shumpert and only made 7 of 26 shots as the Thunder’s winning streak ended at three.
The Cavs focused on making everything difficult for Westbrook and succeeded.
”Russell’s seen every imaginable defense,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. ”He had some good looks, both in deep and in the free-throw line area. He had some 3s. It was a game where maybe shots didn’t go down for him, but I didn’t feel he was laboring to get shots off or he was having a difficult time getting to the rim.
”It was one of those games.”
And while the Cavs ended a drama-filled stretch with a solid win, there could be more trouble on the horizon.
All-Star forward Kevin Love is not traveling with the team on Monday to Dallas so he can undergo an MRI on his back. Love didn’t play in the second half because of back spasms that bothered him earlier this season and the Cavs want to find out what’s causing them.
Love scored one point but grabbed eight rebounds in 12 minutes before leaving with 1:50 left in the second quarter. Coach Tyronn Lue said Love’s back was acting up before the game.
Leading by 13 at halftime, the Cavs let the Thunder get back within eight before Irving put on a show with several drives to the basket.
Showing off his magnificent dribbling skills to open space and tie up defenders, Irving scored three layups in a span of 58 seconds to put Cleveland back up by 17.
James became the first player in Cavaliers history to score 20,000 points for the franchise. He came in needing six points to hit the plateau and reached it with a layup early in the second quarter.
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