King James Gospel
Fansided

Cleveland Cavaliers Flashback Friday: Kyrie Says Bye Bye To Detroit

By Dan Gilinsky

Mar 25, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) reacts after a play during the second half against the Washington Wizards at Quicken Loans Arena. The Wizards won 127-115. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) reacts after a play during the second half against the Washington Wizards at Quicken Loans Arena. The Wizards won 127-115. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

With the Cleveland Cavaliers in a first round closeout scenario in an upcoming Game 4, I decided to rewind to Kyrie Irving jawing at a hostile crowd in Detroit when the Cavs eliminated the Pistons last year.

The Cleveland Cavaliers just came back from being down by 26 points in Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers on the road. According to Michael Marot of the Associated Press, that was the greatest second-half comeback in the history of the NBA Playoffs. With Game 4 of the first round on Sunday, I decided to talk about one of the best closers in the Association in Kyrie Irving.

MUST READ: 7 Lessons We Learned in Game 3

That takes nothing away from LeBron, who was ridiculous last night.

So back to Uncle Drew against the Detroit Pistons. Even though the Pistons were an 8-seed, they played hard. The Cavs had to work each game to get W’s, and it wasn’t an easy sweep. At the end of the day though, they had a pretty good player in Kyrie making plays in crunch time. Uncle Drew was hot in every game, as he led the Cavs in scoring in the series with 27.5 points per game. That was while shooting 47.1% from three, and with a true shooting rate of 58.5%.

That was while being guarded by a great defender in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope most of each game. Nonetheless, Irving was his typical self and the handle was on display as always. In Game 4, he was at his best when the Cavs needed it to get the closeout.

Irving had 31 points to lead all scorers on 48.0% shooting from the field, which included four triples. The last one was the biggest shot of the series. With the Cavs up just one with 43 seconds left in the game, he hit a dagger three to take a 100-96 lead.

Cleveland ended up getting the sweep with a 100-98 victory, and Kyrie had this to say to the chirping Detroit fans after a defensive stop when Reggie Jackson flopped:

Bye-Bye was right. Hopefully the Cavs can take care of business and get the sweep this time as well. I have a feeling Uncle Drew will come out firing in Game 4, after not being his usual self in Game 3.

Related Story: Cavs Pull Off The Postseason's Greatest Comeback

I wonder what he’ll say this time, especially to Lance Stephenson.