LeBron James, Cavs kill time in rout by playing water-bottle challenge

ByOhm Youngmisuk ESPN logo
Thursday, December 8, 2016

NEW YORK -- With the Knicks providing little resistance, some of the Cavaliers resorted to playing the water-bottle challenge to kill time on the bench Wednesday night during the closing moments of Cleveland's126-94 win.

Cameras caught LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and other Cavs flipping a water bottle and trying to land it upright while the Cavs were up by 31 with less than a minute to go at Madison Square Garden.

Irving successfully nailed a flip, but it wasn't caught on camera. The video that went viral showed a few Cavs players failing miserably. At one point, James tossed the bottle forward and it landed on the court. James sprawled out to quickly grab the bottle while play went to the opposite end of the court.

"It's just a social media craze," Irving said, tongue firmly in cheek. "The water bottle is just like -- if you land it, you are just like a legend."

"I was just trying to follow in the kids' footsteps and really just put my mark on the water-bottle challenge, man," Irving added, in reference to online videos of epic bottle flips. "It was awesome. But hey, move on."

The water-bottle challenge capped off what was truly a laugher. The Cavs led by 30 in the third quarter.

James was asked after the blowout about how important it is to have fun, like the Cavs did at the end of Wednesday's game.

"I always have fun," James said. "The game of basketball is always fun for me. Obviously, when you lose a game, you feel a certain way about it, you think about what you could have done better. But the game of basketball is fun, and for me ... [when] I start showing up and I am not having fun no more, then I won't be sitting talking to you guys postgame."

Information from ESPN's Dave McMenamin was used in this report.

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