CLEVELAND — On a night when Kyrie Irving and Cavaliers fans showed each other love at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the game-winning shot Max Strus heaved from beyond half court stole Northeast Ohio's heart.
The Cavs overcame the 75 points Irving and Luka Doncic combined to score thanks to Strus swishing a 59-foot shot with time expired for a wild 121-119 victory Tuesday.
"It's not the first time that any of us have seen Max Strus hit tough shots in tough games," Irving said. "He's a big-game player. I think that's why Cleveland signed him. He's a good spacer, he's high IQ and he's played a lot of high-level games, so you've got to give him credit for that. But I could have gone without him making that half-court shot."
Irving said he had never lost on a half-court shot, but prevailing in such dramatic fashion gave Strus a flashback to when he hit a three-quarter-court shot for Division II Lewis University on Jan. 16, 2016.
"I think it was No. 1 on ESPN," Strus said.
Five months after Strus' improbable shot in college, Irving made an iconic 3-pointer for the 2015-16 Cavs with the NBA championship hanging in the balance.
Strus' latest unforgettable highlight is going in the NBA's record books. According to ESPN Stats and Info, the starting small forward's 59-foot shot is the second-longest buzzer beater in the league during the 3-point era, which began with the 1979-80 season.
"When you have a guy like Strus, anything is possible," Cavs center Jarrett Allen said.
The half-court shot is only part of the minor miracle Strus performed.
After the Cavs fell behind 110-100 when Irving made a layup with 3:57 left, Strus caught fire. From 3:42 to 2:35 left, he made four consecutive 3-pointers. The Cavs ended the game on a 21-9 run, with Strus hitting five 3-pointers and All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell making two more. As a team, the Cavs finished 20 of 40 on 3-pointers.
"[Strus] never quitting is his leadership style," Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "And when he came in and sparked the way he did, and kept going, kept going, everybody else followed suit."
Strus said he thought the half-court shot would be good when he released it. He joked someone had to step up and take the shot with Mitchell on the sideline at the time.
"You dream of a shot like that," Mitchell said. "So for him to get that after what he did for us the whole fourth quarter, man, it's only fitting.
"He's always locked in and focused. And for him to come out there and win us that game, it's huge."
Mitchell scored a team-high 31 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field (7 of 11 on 3-pointers). Strus added 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting (7 of 10 on 3s). The Cavs (38-19) earned a 2-0 regular-season sweep of the Mavericks (33-25).
The Mavs went ahead 119-118 when forward P.J. Washington Jr. made a layup with 2.6 seconds left to play.
Then Strus threw an inbounds pass to forward Evan Mobley . Mobley tossed the ball back to Strus, who took one dribble and fired away while Doncic tried to swat the ball.
A moment later, Strus found himself under a pile of overjoyed Cavs teammates.
"It was fun," Strus said. "I've been telling you guys all year we've got a really good group of guys. We celebrate each other, we enjoy each other's success and it's contagious. It's a lot of fun and helps us win games when we're all close like that."
There were 25 lead changes in the game, and Irving said its back-and-forth nature made him feel as if a title were at stake.
Of course, Irving played a monumental role in the Cavs winning their only championship. His clutch 3-pointer helped lift the LeBron James-led Cavs to a 93-89 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, ending a nearly 52-year title drought among Cleveland's major professional sports teams.
"Ten years from now, we'll all be getting back together, having some wine together, having some beer and really celebrating our banner," Irving said. "Every time I come in this building, I look up at that banner, and it just brings me back to all those emotions.
"I'm just grateful for my time here, and I really want to get that across to Cavs fans, the Cavs organization. I'm truly grateful that I had the opportunity to grow up here and look back on my time and be really happy, be really proud."
Mitchell grew up a fan of James and the Cavs, so he's appreciated and respected Irving for years.
"He brought the city a championship," Mitchell said. "I feel like him, [Kevin] Love and 'Bron should all have their jerseys retired [by the Cavs]."
Irving said receiving such an honor "would be very meaningful."
On Dec. 26, 2022, Irving returned to Cleveland as a member of the Brooklyn Nets and scored 32 points as the Cavs fell 125-117. In Irving's first meeting with the Cavs since then, the eight-time All-Star guard scored 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting, including 5 of 8 from deep.
Cavs vs. Dallas Mavericks: More on how the Cavaliers won a thriller capped by a half-court heave from Max Strus
The one-year anniversary of the Mavericks acquiring Irving in a trade with the Nets was on Feb. 6.
The No. 1 overall draft pick by the Cavs in 2011, Irving has yet to reach an NBA Finals since his Cleveland divorce. With Irving and five-time All-Star point guard Doncic, the Mavericks have title aspirations. Doncic torched the Cavs for a game-high 45 points on 17-of-29 shooting (6 of 11 on 3-pointers).
"Ky's one of the best players to ever play the game, and I think we're very lucky to have him on our side," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. "I know there was a lot of speculation that it wasn't going to work, but you can see that Luka and Ky are playing at a very high level right now.
"[Irving is] at peace, I think, with his career. He wants to win, and he's doing everything to help us on a nightly basis to win. He wants to win the championship."
Watch Max Strus' half-court shot: Cavaliers pull off a game-winning shot to sink the Mavs at the buzzer
Plenty of Cleveland sports fans would probably like to remind Kidd the Cavs could have won more than one ring by now if Irving hadn't requested a trade in 2017. He wanted to escape James' shadow, leading the Cavs to deal him to the Boston Celtics .
"It wasn't anything that I had against the fans or organization," Irving said. "It just was my time to figure out myself, and I look back on that, and I have to deal with that decision that I made to ask for a trade. But that's the only part of this that I believe will be talked about a little bit more than I would like.
"What I like to focus on is just what we accomplished. It propelled me into the next phase of my career, and I've only gotten better because of my time here."
Now at 31 years old, Irving said he's grateful for "Cleveland really loving me through my mistakes."
Irving received applause from the home crowd during pregame player introductions and cheers when the Cavs displayed a welcome back message on their video boards during a timeout with 6:36 left in the first quarter. Irving responded to the latter by making a heart shape with his hands.
"It's beautiful," Irving said. "Shout-out to all the Cavs fans. I don't want to just say Cavs fans, but all of Ohio — 2016 is forever. I don't think anyone's touching that historical moment, but if someone does, God bless them.
"I just genuinely cherish all the relationships that I've had in my career, and it started in Cleveland. This was a franchise that was yearning for an NBA championship, had a lot of emotions all throughout that time and we accomplished it."
No one can ever take Irving's historic Cavs shot away from him, but Strus was Cleveland's hero on Tuesday night.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kyrie Irving opens up about Cavs after Max Strus' half-court shot
