CLEVELAND, Ohio – The last time Larry Nance Jr. saw a performance as This one was here in Cleveland. That’s when James Harden, then with the Houston Rockets, came to town and poured 55 points. For Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff, Collin Sexton’s scoring spree at the end of the game reminded him of the days he was with Harden in Houston. Taurean Prince thought of Kyrie Irving’s stunning debut in Brooklyn, where he scored 50 points.
Cleveland was the NBA’s epicenter on Wednesday night. All eyes were on the Nets. It was Irving’s first game in two weeks. The debut of the newest Big Three in the league.
But on a court that featured some of the NBA’s brightest stars – Harden, Irving and Kevin Durant – no one shone more than Sexton.
This was his arrival – coming out of obscurity playing for the knight who lived in the winery and gaining national prominence as the cornerstone of the league’s most pleasant surprise.
“I don’t pay enough attention to what the hell is going on to know his perception of the league. But I know I watch it and I don’t know what year this is for me – 17 or 18 – this is not normal. He is not a normal NBA player. He’s a dynamic top scorer, ”Bickerstaff told cleveland.com after the 147-135 overtime victory. “We have to win more games and put him in a position to close more games where people respect what he can do and what he is capable of. That is our responsibility and that is our goal. The more he does it when times are more important, I think people will gain more respect for him. “
There is no better time than Wednesday.
In his first game back after an absence of five games due to a sprained ankle. With the Cavs having a chance to crawl back to the 0.500 mark after hitting a difficult area full of injuries. In the wake of Kevin Porter Jr., considered by many to be the most naturally gifted youth in Cleveland, he was exiled for lack of professionalism. Against the Nets, the fascinating NBA super team and one of the favorites for the title. Against Irving, the guest of honor of the night who has an extensive catalog of cruel photos and whose business demand in 2017 eventually led to the arrival of Sexton – the two of them forever connected.
“I’m in Cleveland, I wear No. 2, and I wear Kyrie’s. This will be interconnected. I just have to get it. I can’t control what people say, but I can control what I do, ”admitted Sexton. “It was good to go against him tonight. I definitely accepted the challenge and knew it wouldn’t be easy. Just the simple fact that it’s Kyrie, he’s coming to you every night ready to go and tonight was a good one.
This is an understatement. Experience remarkable. Unforgettable. One of the best individual performances in the franchise’s history. A 42-point masterpiece that included 20 straight for the Cavs during a scorching stretch, 22 points combined in both overtime and 15 of the team’s 20 in the double OT, while Sexton launched kicks from across the floor.
He became the second Cavs player to score 20 consecutive points in the past two decades, joining LeBron James.
As Sexton’s 3-point bombs continued to bury Brooklyn late, Irving couldn’t help laughing and smiling. Durant shook his head. Sexton’s teammates went crazy.
“He was on fire tonight. He was unconscious. He was beside himself. He was doing all the shots. It was beautiful to watch, ”said Cedi Osman, who scored 25 points and stabilized the attack while Sexton shook off the rust. “You can see, there is a big difference in Collin’s game. Obviously last year he was (good) and this year he is even better. “
“I got to the point where I was talking nonsense before the shot even happened,” said Jarrett Allen after his Cavs debut against his former team. “I didn’t know that he had any of that in him. I heard that he was leaving Boston once, but that was another level. “
“Trust is something that children don’t lack … and for good reason,” said Nance.
With the game tied at the end of regulation, after a reversal by Irving, Cavs called for a break. There was no doubt what Bickerstaff wanted. He put the ball in Sexton’s hands, ran a little with Isaac Okoro and Osman and let Sexton face Irving one on one. Only Sexton dribbled the ball off his leg – an expensive mistake at an inopportune moment that gave Nets a chance to win the game.
Sexton was not in a bad mood or looked at the bank – a bad habit early in his career. He went back to defense and scored what appeared to be a foul against a moving Irving. The move was overturned after Steve Nash’s challenge, and the two teams gathered on the central court for a bouncing ball, which killed the rest of the clock.
Sexton had a few more difficult possessions during overtime – lost floats, layups and 3s – but his 10.7 second striker reduced Brooklyn’s lead to one.
“Young Bull, he really saved me in that move,” said Osman of his aerial ball. “It was quite a move. He kept us in the game. “
So Sexton canned a cold blooded dagger to Irving’s face with 1.2 to tie the game. This bucket, which resembled some of Irving’s last players with the Cavs, effectively sent the convincing confrontation into a second OT.
That was when Sexton exploded.
“He was exhausted,” said Bickerstaff as he laughed. “Somehow, he forced himself to shoot. You become a much better coach when you have guys who can do that. Don’t think too much or overcook. Let Collin be Collin and take us home. He was able to do that. “
Even with some of Sexton’s stumbles, Bickerstaff never thought to get away from him, not with the Nets changing everything late.
“Where we are now offensively with the bodies we have, it needs to be a focal point,” said Bickerstaff. “He can beat his man. He can put pressure on the defense. They know what game you’re going to make, they know what game you’re going to play. It was almost like a playoff game. The playoffs arrive so you can defeat your man? We are confident that Collin can beat his man. I was literally trying to put him in a position where he could go and play a one-on-one basketball game. “
So, what was Bickerstaff thinking at that point?
“The old Doug Collins clip – give the ball to Michael (Jordan) and get the f — out of the way,” explained Bickerstaff. “Just give it space to do your thing.”
Sexton did so, preventing the Cavs from wasting a 14-point lead, responding to all of the Brooklyn trio’s pitches and continuing to prove their skeptics were wrong.
In his debut year, Sexton battled the scathing comments from his own teammates about his readiness and unwarranted position that some believed to have occurred because of his vacancy in recruitment. He arrived with the reputation of a bad shot, the choice of draft that the Cavs should have negotiated to get another victorious player to chase a title in LeBron’s final season. Then there were incessant conversations about his total assistances and “natural” position.
When Sexton ended the 2019-20 season with a flurry of furious scores that put him in the company of some of the best players in the conference, he was not supposed to tell why he came at the end of the season when his opponent didn’t care, because “someone had to score” on a bad team, or because the Cavs weren’t good enough to win games, making those numbers empty – none of those factors being Sexton’s fault.
At this point, critics are running out of words.
“For some reason, and I wasn’t here at the beginning, there is a narrative about Collin,” Bickerstaff told cleveland.com. “We are very lucky to have you. I see his ability to put the ball in the basket and there are not many guys in our league who can do what he does. There are 20 guys in 480 or whatever number can do what he does. Then there is another smaller group of guys who can do what he does in times of pressure.
“The hard part for Collin is, and it’s just because of the circumstances, he didn’t have many of those moments because of the album that we had in the past. He has the ability to stand out in those moments. This is not for everyone. It just isn’t. There are dynamic scorers and great players. But not everyone can do what he does at those times. None of us are perfect, right? But Collin does not deserve the m — that is said about him. “
Very few players are able to go head to head, shot by shot with KD, Kyrie and Harden. Sexton did. Few can turn Irving’s long-awaited return to Cleveland, just the second time since he shattered the Cavaliers’ championship hopes, in a footnote. Sexton, yes.
This is not new. He’s been doing this since last December. It just happened to be the night that Sexton finally forced everyone to get up and pay attention.
And change your failed perception.
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