Melbourne-born NBA star Kyrie Irving had 57 points on a career night as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Patty Mills and his San Antonio Spurs 128-125 in Texas.
Irving, who is no stranger to the NBA's 50-point club, inked his name in the record books with a performance that earned him the highest score of the season and the best total by a visiting player against San Antonio.
He single-handedly kept the Cavs in the game too, making a brilliant catch and shoot three-pointer off an inbounds pass in the dying seconds, to send the game to overtime.
Irving found his stroke on a night when the Cavs showed the NBA they are a serious title contender.
He made seven of seven three-pointers as well as all 10 of his free throws.
Irving may have got them to overtime, but it was he and LeBron James who dominated the play in the extra period, making shot after shot as the full-strength Spurs struggled to contain the Cavaliers on offence.
Irving credited his teammates and their ability to get him open for his big night as well as Cleveland's defence down the stretch for the win.
"All the credit goes to my teammates, they were doing a great job of screening me and keeping me open," Irving told TNT Sports.
"The defence down the stretch was huge, we got stops when we needed it.
"We were all tired going into that overtime, it was a great test for us... glad we came out of it with the win."
While Mills was on the end of the Irving three-athon, it was a good night for fellow Australians Dante Exum and Joe Ingles as their Utah Jazz upset the Houston Rockets.
Exum and Ingles chipped in 10 points apiece as the Jazz shocked the high-flying Rockets 109-91.
Exum also grabbed five boards in the win as Utah dominated the Dwight Howard-less Rockets in the paint with Rudy Gobert starring.
Jazz centre Gobert had 19 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks as the Jazz recorded their ninth victory in 11 games.
While it was a great night for the Jazz, it was one to forget for league MVP candidate James Harden, with the Rockets star scoring just 15 points and went three of 13 from the floor.
Corey Brewer led the Rockets with 25 points, and James Harden had 15.
In Indiana, the Pacers continued their charge towards the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 109-93 overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Other winners on the day were Washington, who beat the Memphis Grizzlies 107-87 and the New York Knicks who nailed fellow cellar dwellers the LA Lakers 101-94.
Share
