Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown has admitted that his side found it difficult to deal with Kyrie Irving in the loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Irving missed potential game-winning shots towards the end of the fourth quarter and late in the first period of overtime before scoring a layup with 0.6 seconds left to record a 127-125 victory in double overtime.

"Kyrie is just incredibly elusive and skilled," he told reporters. "We tried to bring our big players out to corral him and try and double-[team], but you really can't corral him and keep in front of him.

"He is such an unusual player to guard, you don't see too many like him in the NBA. Kevin Durant is one of the few other ones."

Irving scored a season-high 39 points in the game.