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Kyrie Irving

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Fantastic Godfather, well said.

In the first season when James was gone, and I first saw Kyrie's game, me and my buddy were like "is this not the guy that we needed the entire fucking time?

This wasn't Mo Williams, he had AI like finishing ability, with that Chauncey Billups like 3pt jumper.

I always thought Irving's 3pt prowess would be a dream next to LBJ. I kept thinking, LeBron has never played with a ball handler like this on any level in his entire basketball career.

Miami was awkward, their physicality on defense, and athletic intensity in transition was their core competency.

Chris Bosh really helped bridge that gap, because Wade and James were not exactly complementary. In Irving and James, we now have a true complementary pairing, and once Love assumes the Chris Bosh' shots, and keeps getting us 15 boards a night, we'll be just fine.

What you are seeing godfather is the result of a natural pairing. What you aren't seeing yet is the true chemistry, the 6th sense of basketball, knowing exactly when guys will be in their spots. That's coming. This isn't a fluke.

 
I got to admit, I think Kevin Love is a little better all around player, but I'm under the belief that Kyrie is the second guy on this team. And maybe he needs to be the second guy too.

Really, it speaks to his demeanor more than anything. I kinda like it too, he's not shy. And honestly, you need stars that won't be shy when playing with LeBron.

You can't just defer to LeBron all the time, otherwise you'll have more of what you see in the finals. LeBron having to do it all, and others strictly relied on him.

Is anyone else surprised by how quick Kyrie and LeBron are actually fitting in with one another? Since that bad game in Utah, they seem to have really found their stride with each other.

Both are getting their points, both are still getting others involved, even each other. And we still got a long way to go.

I can't be more happy that these two obviously can play with each other. And it's going to get better too.

I think it's safe to say that LeBron and Kyrie will be doing the lion's share of the ball handling, which will mean they will likely be the two biggest contributors to the team offensively. I am glad both seem to be willing to increase their distribution, Kyrie attacking the basket to drop the ball underneath has been a very efficient play, and it's been much better than seeing him try to fight up a shot against triple coverage.
 
kyrie still has some hero-ball moments in the game, but i think the cavs have to live with that as long as he commits to moving the ball and playing hard defense. he's a great offensive talent and he was scoring against rondo and bradley. he needs to just to learn when to make the right pass and when to make the shot, he's still young and he'll probably get it.

I'm still waiting for everyone to realize that it's a good thing Kyrie can do that. His 12 points in 2:11 last night were "hero ball" that got us back in the game and turned a 19 point game into a 9 point game.

That's what superstars are supposed to do for your team.
 
I think folks walked into the season with a preconceived notion that Kevin Love was going to be doing exactly what he did in Minnesota, where he had a pass-first point guard and an entire offense built around getting him as many looks as possible; regardless if that meant winning or losing.

That's not happening.
 
I think folks walked into the season with a preconceived notion that Kevin Love was going to be doing exactly what he did in Minnesota, where he had a pass-first point guard and an entire offense built around getting him as many looks as possible; regardless if that meant winning or losing.

That's not happening.
I was going to start a thread asking who will be this years whipping boy? Last year we had quite a few, but I think Jarrett Jack took the cake. We all know who gouri's whipping boy is :chuckle:
 
I'm glad that Kyrie challenged LeBron to be more aggressive and it was about damn time too. Kyrie is arguably the best natural scoring PG in the league, it's debatable with Rose and Westbrook in the mix as well. He can go off whenever he wants. LeBron is an efficient scorer, but sometimes he needs someone or something to reminds him to be more aggressive. The more aggressive LeBron plays, the quicker the team will come out firing right out of the gate like they did tonight. Kyrie is taking the role of Wade and reminding LeBron that he needs to be more dominate on the offensive end. Hopefully, Kyrie and Blatt will continue to push him to stay aggressive all season long.
 
Last three games for Kyrie:

26.3 points on 54.3% FG, 90.0% FT, 52.4% 3PT
6.3 assists
4.0 rebounds
2.0 steals
0.3 turnovers

And, he's doing this alongside a dominating LeBron James. It isn't always easy for a young, talented player to figure out how to be effective alongside a dominating presence. Kyrie and LeBron fit like a glove right now... and Kyrie's defense has actually been pretty damn good so far.

I never thought that James and Wade really maximized their offensive potential at the same time on the same court. Sure, they'd have some really nice stretches together over those four years, but where both were playing the best basketball of their respective careers at the same time in the same game?

I think Kyrie and LeBron are quickly approaching that difficult achievement already and we're just eight games in.

Very impressive. And very scary for the rest of the league.
 
Of all the players, Kyrie has made the most improvement. Not perfect, but his willingness to defer and defend is encouraging. The crazy thing is, he doesn't need much time to "get his". He can differ for two or three quarters, then in 12 minutes score 16. He's becoming a great player.
 
A lot of people were yelling at Kyrie a week and a half ago. It's amazing how much can turnaround in that time.
That was pretty predictable though. Anyone who was freaking out about Kyrie after Utah/Portland wasn't seeing the forest for the trees and I say that knowing full well that he could and likely will go through another rough shooting patch at some point or may have a couple consecutive games where he doesn't always make the smartest basketball plays.

The thing is, this situation we now have with the Cavs was never about one game or one series of games or even one season. It's about the opportunity that we have here over a series of seasons (which may last a lot longer than most people realize now). Kyrie is 22 years old. We can sit here and say that he's used youth as a crutch and excuse for too long, but it's a very valid excuse. Most guys that young and that inexperienced can't touch Kyrie when he's playing even an average game for him.

Over the last three games, he has been stellar and not just on one end of the floor, imo. For where he is right now in his overall development as a player, it would be hard to ask for much more. And, like I said, he's doing it while also taking nothing away from LeBron's dominance while also allowing Love and the others to shine over extended minutes and intermittently during his own "takeovers."

The best thing? There's nothing he's doing over the last three games that can't be replicated over a season or a series of seasons. Will he do it EVERY night in EVERY game? Unlikely. Could he do it most nights and continue evolving and developing even more chemistry? I'm banking on the answer being a resounding "yes."

Forest through the trees, guys.


This is the forest...

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