Kyrie Irving‘s night against the San Antonio Spurs was legendary. Many of us are struggling at work today because we stayed up to watch what was an instant classic. 57 points including the game tying shot at the buzzer of regulation. Dominating overtime. All against the San Antonio Spurs a team that was up for the game, played Tim Duncan 42 minutes, and who have been a role.
How impressive:
Kyrie Irving's 57 points are
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 13, 2015
* The most scored by a LeBron James' teammate
* The most scored against a Gregg Popovich-coached team
Been covering NBA for 30 years; #Spurs-#Cavs is Top 5 regular season game I've seen; didn't cover but saw DET 186, DEN 184 -- still my No. 1
— Mike Monroe (@Monroe_SA) March 13, 2015
The Spurs contested 30 of Kyrie Irving's 32 shots on the night. Didn't matter (he hit 19 of them).
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) March 13, 2015
Fun things you discover at 3:45 EDT: Kyrie & LeBron scored as many points (88) as Leonard, Splitter, Green, Parker & Ginobili combined.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) March 13, 2015
Cavs now 13-1 in last 14 games vs. Western Conference. Loss was in OT in Houston, a game Kyrie missed with injury.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) March 13, 2015
But you knew most of that. These last two tweets are the ones I want to focus on the most:
Nights like this r why LeBron is in Cleve, D Wade cant do what Kyrie is doing tonight. That's old D Wade. Not the guy in Mia now
— Andre Knott (@DreKnott) March 13, 2015
Kyrie clearly read the @EthanJSkolnick interview with Pat Riley where he made it sound like LeBron made the wrong move. He's 22, folks.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) March 13, 2015
You see, LeBron James made a decision to come to Cleveland because it was coming home but let’s be clear: He wasn’t coming home if the Cavs didn’t have talent. Kyrie Irving was that talent. While LBJ knew that Kevin Love may be attainable in a trade, Irving was the one sure thing he was coming home to.
And boy did he make the right choice. While we could argue that Chris Bosh, with his length, defense and ever expanding offensive game, would be a better fit than Kevin Love, no one can argue Irving versus DWade. Not only can Irving take over off the dribble on his own, maybe even better than Wade in his prime, but his great jump shot allows him to catch and shoot off of LeBron’s drives. Wade never had that.
Irving is the first player since Kobe Bryant to have 55 or more points in two games in a single season. He joins Kobe and Michael Jordan in the last 25 years as players who have accomplished that. Not only that but Irving still had 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 rebounds and only 2 turnovers. He shot 63% from the field including 7-7 from 3 point range and a perfect 10 for 10 from the foul line. That is a complete game on both ends of the floor, even if Tony Parker (guarded by multiple defenders) had 31 points and 6 assists.
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Dan Gilbert and David Griffin have also shown an aggressive nature in building a roster around James, Irving and Love. Unlike Miami where aging veterans or young rookies were the cast, the Cavs have given their Big 3 a perfect set of compliments. Timofey Mozgov and J.R. Smith give the Big 3 starters who play their roles well and can dominate at different times. Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert are young, energetic players off the bench who can impact the game in ways the Heat never did. Besides Smith, the Cavs core around LeBron, Irving, Love, Thompson, Mozgov and Shumpert, are all still ascending in their development. Wade is descending and Bosh has peaked.
Last night was all about Kyrie Irving but it proved, once again, that LeBron James is pretty smart at this basketball thing. Oh yeah, he is also really good at playing it as well. Ho hum, he had 31 points 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
Do you hear that noise? I think that is the rest of the NBA being very worried.
What do you think of the pair of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James?