Thompson’s best leads Cavs past Nets

Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J.

The Cleveland Cavaliers finally got a glimpse of rookies Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson hitting on all cylinders.

Thompson scored a career-high 27 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and gave Cleveland the lead with a tip-in with 1:11 to play, and Irving added 26 points, seven assists and five rebounds as the Cavaliers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 105-100 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday night.

The performance was something Cavaliers fans have been anticipating since the club took Irving with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft last June and followed three picks later by grabbing Thompson.

“We’ll see,” Irving said when asked if this might have been the first of many big nights for the rookies. “He played really well tonight.

“Hopefully, he’ll have a lot more nights like this and contribute as well as he did tonight,” Irving said.

“He played really big for us, especially down the stretch. Him playing well, as long as me and Antwawn [Jamison], if we get all of us on, especially everyone in the starting five, we’re dangerous.”

The rookies were the difference down the stretch in sending New Jersey to its third straight loss. Thompson broke a 97-all tie with his tip-in and Irving scored the final six points for Cleveland, with the first four coming after Thompson grabbed defensive rebounds.

Thompson’s big performance came just one night after he was limited to seven points and six rebounds in almost 35 minutes in his first career start. No. 2 was a lot better.