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Time for Kyrie Irving to Unleash His Anger

By Jared Kungle

December 25, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) during the fourth quarter in a NBA basketball game on Christmas against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Cavaliers 89-83. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
December 25, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) during the fourth quarter in a NBA basketball game on Christmas against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Cavaliers 89-83. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kyrie Irving missed almost all of the NBA Finals last year. What does he do this year?

It may have taken a year, but it is finally time for Kyrie Irving to unleash his pent up rage from last year’s NBA Finals loss.

Despite having tendinitis in his left knee entering game one of the 2015 NBA Finals, Irving entered the series on a mission. The Cavaliers were already without former all-star Kevin Love, so Irving knew he had to step up–and that’s exactly what he did.

In his one (and only) finals appearance, Irving erupted for 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, including arguably the best play of his young career, a clutch block in the closing seconds of regulation on Stephen Curry.

Following game-saving block, LeBron James missed a fallaway jumper in the face of Andre Iguodola; and Iman Shumpert missed a desperation heave after grabbing the offensive rebound, resulting in overtime.

After a Harrison Barnes three-pointer to give the Warriors a seven point lead with two minutes left in the game, Irving went for a step-back and collided with Warriors guard Klay Thompson, falling to the floor and eventually limping off the court.

It was obvious Irving wasn’t happy, slamming his jersey on the ground in the locker room. “It’s disappointing and frustrating because I felt amazing,” Irving said after the game, via NBA.com. “This is just a setback that I kind of have to take with a grain of salt.”

It took until Dec. 19th for Irving to announce his return via his twitter. During the summer, there was plenty of built up anger from the 24-year-old.

The anger has carried all the way through the playoffs into the NBA Finals, where the Cavaliers are set to play the Warriors once again.

“There’s still some rage, obviously, but it’s more controlled,” Irving told cleveland.com. “Just really balanced coming into this Finals because we have everyone we’re supposed to have. That feels really good. There’s a lot of luck for both teams to stay as healthy. Steph goes down a little bit, missing a piece. But for us both teams have been relatively healthy.”

With the Cavaliers finally fully healthy, it’s time for them to put up or shut up. After the LeBron-led Cavaliers fell short to the Warriors last year, the common narrative throughout Cleveland was the Cavs could have beaten Golden State with a healthy lineup.

One way for the Cavs to prove this to be true is through Irving. After struggling to find his shot during the regular season, where he averaged a career-low 18.5 points, Irving has really picked things up during the postseason, averaging 24.3 points and 5.1 assists on 48 percent from the field and 46 percent from deep.

It won’t be easy, as Irving will be forced to work against whomever he is guarding, whether it be Curry or Thompson. For Irving, it’s not about stopping the first-ever unanimous MVP, instead, it’s about contesting his shots and hoping they don’t fall.

“You just try to make it tough as much as possible,” Irving said of the defensive plan via cleveland.com. “He’s going to get to certain spots on the floor. They do a great job of running some continuity plays that allow him to not stay stagnant at all. He’s going to come off a lot of pick and rolls, a lot of pindowns. It takes a total team effort to contain him as well as Klay and other guys.”

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In the Cavaliers last match-up against Golden State on Jan. 18th, Curry was getting whatever shot he wanted, scoring 35 points in three quarters en route to a 132-98 annihilation of the Cavaliers.

Granted, the Cavaliers are a much different basketball team compared to January, but they must have short-term memory, which Irving has proven to be true. “In January? I don’t remember it,” Irving said when asked how different the Cavs are from January.

Now that a year has passed, Irving has grown as a player, and the Cavaliers have grown as a basketball team. The former number one overall pick finally has the opportunity to release his years worth of anger on the team that shattered the Cavaliers Finals dream last season.