The Madness of March hit with full force on multiple fronts Thursday.
On the same night Gonzaga junior guard Julian Strawther hit a game-winning shot to send the Bulldogs to the Elite Eight, and Kansas State guard Markquis Nowell connected with forward Keyontae Johnson on a clutch alley-oop in Madison Square Garden, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro made sure those in attendance at the Barclays Center did not miss out on the chaos that can only be seen in March basketball.
Okoro sank a confident shot from the left corner after a find from Cavs guard Caris LeVert from across the half court, putting the Cavs up by two on the Brooklyn Nets’ home floor. Cleveland would take a 116-114 victory over the Nets, giving the Cavs a 3-1 advantage over Brooklyn on the season while pushing the Nets down to seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
The night’s Junkyard Dog Chain winner took to Twitter to celebrate with his 38,000 followers and beyond.
“Best Feeling Ever,” the 22-year-old forward wrote in a Thursday tweet.
Isaac Okoro recalled the moments after LeVert ran after the ball following two missed put-back layups from Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell and a botched defensive board by the Nets in a postgame press conference.
“First, I saw Don miss those layups and I’m just standing,” Okoro said. “I’m shocked. Then the ball goes out to Caris. I’m just running to the corner, going to my spot. LeVert trusted me, threw me the ball, and once it left my hand, I knew it was going in.”
Isaac Okoro, who hit a clutch 3-point Cavs shot against the New Orleans Pelicans in January, said there was a lot of pressure to the shot, but he practiced shots from the corner “each and every day.”
“I’m going to keep being confident in it,” Okoro added. “My teammates are going keep trusting me and passing me the ball in the corner and I’ll keep taking it.”