He played with increased effort...at times. Kyrie's a little weird in that he seems to coast on 80% of defensive possessions, then go all-out on the other 20%. The 20% usually come when he's upset for some reason, like when he misses a shot or turns it over. And on those 20% of possessions he gets loads of steals and even blocks, and generally causes havoc and is a valuable defender in spite of overgambling and getting beat sometimes. He gives us glimpses of how good he could be defensively if he embraced that part of the game. On the 80% of defensive possessions where he's regular Kyrie, though, he's just as lackadaisical as ever.
I was hoping LeBron would set a good example for how to maintain a steady defensive effort throughout the game, but that obviously didn't happen. Blatt has a big job on his hands if LeBron isn't going to set a good tone on defense, because other than Andy, Delly, and maybe Shawn, no one is going to put in consistent effort on defense if LeBron's standing around not in a stance, not showing urgency in rotations, not closing out to shooters, etc.
