Kyrie Irving Returns in Cavaliers’ Rout

CLEVELAND – Cavaliers fans got their early Christmas present four minutes at a time.

All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving returned to the Cleveland lineup for the first time since Game One of the 2014-15 NBA Finals against Golden State, playing just over the first four minutes of each quarter in the Cavaliers’ 108-86 win over the hapless Philadelphia 76ers.

Irving, who fractured his left kneecap in June, played just over 17 minutes and scored 12 points on five of 12 shooting. He missed his first five shots, but an uncontested layup on a feed from LeBron James at the 8:58 mark of the second quarter broke the ice.

Later, a challenge from high school rival Kendall Marshall would get him going.

“When I got the steal I was actually on my way to the rim,” James said of Irving’s first basket of the season. “I saw Ky and he had missed his first couple of shots and I was like ‘the best way to come back is to get a layup, an easy one.’ It was only right that I was able to find him and welcome him back the best way I know how, by getting an assist.”

A huge second-quarter spurt put the game out of reach early as the Cavs (18-7) out-scored Philadelphia (1-28) 34-13 in the period. The led 55-38 at halftime and led by as many as 35 points in the third quarter.

James scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half.

“You never want to underestimate an opponent and Philly is a team that will play you hard despite their record and despite the fact that, obviously, they’re going through a particular period in time,” Cleveland coach David Blatt said. “They play you hard and you have to come out and play…you saw the beginning of the game when we were not sharp.

“We had to pick it up and had to change our way of playing and we did, to the guys’ credit. They recognized it, we kind of woke up and I liked the fact that in the third quarter we came out to finish the game.”

Matthew Dellavedova, who replaced Irving in the starting lineup during his absence, scored 20 points, hitting seven of 10 shots from the floor and four of six from beyond the 3-point arc. Dellavedova added a pair of steals and two blocked shots.

Blatt, even with all the hype surrounding Irving’s return, said he has come to expect these kinds of games from the third-year guard from St. Mary’s (California).

“I thought Matty was pretty good last year,” Blatt said. “I’m remembering 20-point games in the series against Chigago and Atlanta and Golden State in the NBA Finals. That’s playing without Kyrie and Delly doing Yeoman’s work as a starter.

“I thought he was pretty good last year and he went home this summer and really worked on his game, different elements to improve. He played a few weeks with his national team and did well. He’s a kid that always strives to get better because he’s always out there working on his game every day.

“Where he’s improved, it’s not like one element of his game he does this year that he didn’t do last year. I just think because he works so hard he gets a little bit better at everything he does.

“I don’t know if he can become a better competitor. He’s been a great competitor since the moment we got him.”

Irving really didn’t get going until the third quarter, when Marshall, a fourth-year player from the University of North Carolina whose rivalry with Irving, a former Duke Blue Devil, goes back to the 2009 high school season. Like Sunday, Irving got the best of that game as well as his St. Patrick High School team from Elizabeth, New Jersey defeated Marshall’s Arlinton, Virginia-based Bishop O’Connell, 72-52.

Early in the third quarter of Sunday’s game, Marshall called for the ball, isolated against Irving on the right wing.

“That kind of got me going,” Irving said. “He tried to iso me on the right-hand wing, that was pretty funny just going back to our high school days. I’ve known Kendall for a while now so him trying to go at me was more or less a test and me scoring the next seven points…it’s the challenges that you miss and it kind of got me going and gave me the spurt I needed.”

Kevin Love finished with 10 points for the Cavaliers. Overall, the “Big Three” of James, Irving and Love combined for 45 points. James ended the game plus-33, Love plus-10 and Irving plus-12.

Iman Shumpert, who missed the last two games with a sore groin, played 15 minutes, scoring three points and handing out four assists.

“We’re almost there,” James said. “It was great. Before the game in the hallway, we had seen so many familiar faces and having Ky back, after the six-seven-month layoff…I know he was very excited. Having Shump back and having almost a full group once Mo returns, it feels good. It feels really good.”

Narlens Noel paced Philadelphia with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Cleveland native and former Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary player JaKarr Sampson added 10 points.

The Cavaliers return to action Wednesday, hosting the New York Knicks (14-14) before jetting west for a Christmas Day showdown with the Warriors (26-1).