LeBron James and Tyronn Lue heaped praise on Kyle Korver after the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled level in their NBA Eastern Conference finals series with the Boston Celtics.
James poured in 44 points as the Cavs triumphed 111-102 in game four on Monday, maintaining the record of every game in the series being won by the home team.
Yet Cleveland's biggest star was eager to highlight the contribution of fellow veteran Korver, who contributed 14 points and played a key role defending Jaylen Brown.
"I've loved Kyle ever since we made the trade to get him here [in 2017]," said James in a post-match news conference. I have no idea how Griff [former Cavaliers GM David Griffin] was able to pull that off still to this day.
"He's just a true professional. There are not many of us '03 class guys still around and I feel like we're just cut from a different cloth, because we've just been around for so long and we have this work ethic and you see him every single day just putting the work in, putting his mind and body into it."
Breaking into a smile, James added: "How old is Jaylen Brown, 21? So, he's guarding Jaylen Brown, one of the most athletic wings we have in our league, 21 years old. Jaylen could fall on the ground 10 times and probably spring up just like he'd never even fell. I don't really like Kyle falling too much like that...but listen, he's doing whatever he can to try to help us win, with the blocks, the strips, obviously his shot-making is very key for our team as well, but it's just the intangibles that he's doing for us defensively."
Cavaliers coach Lue feigned surprise when a reporter mentioned Korver's age.
"He's 37 now? God...I've been playing him too many minutes," said a laughing Lue. "We need him, though. We need him.
"I just can't say enough about him. The veteran guys we've had that have come through...they know what it takes and understand what it takes to win."
