Kyrie Irving returned from his personal “pause” and scored 37 points in his first game with Kevin Durant and James Harden but Brooklyn’s “Big 3” couldn’t keep up with Cleveland’s Collin Sexton, who scored 42 and led the Cavaliers to a 147-135 double-overtime win on Wednesday night.
Sexton made four 3-pointers — most of them over Irving — and scored 15 points in the second OT. He dropped two 3s and fed Taurean Prince for another in a dizzying, 55-second span as Cleveland put it away.
“He played out of his mind,” said Cavs forward Cedi Osman, who scored 25. “It was amazing.”
Durant scored 38 points and Harden added 21 as Brooklyn’s trio of superstars combined for 96 points in their first game together. But it wasn’t enough to outlast Sexton, who missed Cleveland’s last five games with a sprained ankle.
Sexton will forever be linked to Irving. He was selected by Cleveland with the draft pick the Cavs got from Boston in the trade for Irving in 2017.
Like Irving, Sexton wears No. 2, and like Irving, he makes big shots.
“I definitely accepted the challenge,” Sexton said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy — because it’s Kyrie.
The Cavs had seven guys in double figures. Cedi Osman had 25.