Kyrie Irving

[amil99]

One thing I can say is he's making those freakish circus layups at a rate I haven seen since his his rookie year and 1st half of his 2nd season. I can already think of about 20 or more of his "wtf, how did that go in" layups and its only been 8 game

 

[Kouki]

Quoted for the gif

That should be our offense in a nutshell, every possession, maybe perhaps the risky backdoor pass which I think we do too much of sometimes. Kyrie/Dion drives baseline and there are three options...corner three (Joe Harris in that play), opposite wing (LeBron), or big in the paint as defense collapses (AV). Then a combination of swinging the ball and attacking the defense immediately without hesitation = open buckets all night. Beautiful.

 

[RedBlackAttack]

Quoted for the gif

That should be our offense in a nutshell, every possession, maybe perhaps the risky backdoor pass which I think we do too much of sometimes. Kyrie/Dion drives baseline and there are three options...corner three (Joe Harris in that play), opposite wing (LeBron), or big in the paint as defense collapses (AV). Then a combination of swinging the ball and attacking the defense immediately without hesitation = open buckets all night. Beautiful.

Dare I say, it was Spurs-like execution. If we can create those kinds of possessions on even a semi-regular basis, the offense will be impossible to stop... because LeBron, Kyrie and Love are going to score a good portion of the time when things break down just on sheer talent and skill alone.

Obviously we have a ways to go before we can compare our ball movement to that of the Spurs, but our offense has even more upside because of the individual talent. Things could get scary really quickly for the rest of the league if we keep developing the offense/chemistry at this rate. Watching them last night versus the first four games... it looks like a different team.

 

[MirORich]

Kyrie is understanding how important it is to have everyone on the team feeling involved and comfortable from the get go and he has been much more a playmaker in the first quarter. He's getting the value in that and knows that he can literally get his 20+ in two little 3 minute spurts later in the game plus whatever comes naturally to him from the offense flowing or when LeBron is the initiator. I really think his deference and activity as a facilitator and playmaker in the 1st quarter is one of the key reasons that the offense is flowing so much better of late.

 

[CHIMOCHIS]

The champ has taught The young guy well

 

[RedBlackAttack]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHjiqD0J1J0

 

[CosmoKramer]

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?

Probably not, but that's mostly because they both already had some of the greatest individual playoff performances of all-time when they teamed up. John Hollinger called Wade's '06 Finals (35/8/4 with 3.7 blocks/steals a game) the best individual postseason in the history of the sport, and in the 2009 ECF LeBron averaged 39/8/8 with 2.4 blocks/steals a game against Orlando.

That being said, it's almost impossible for the two of them to both play the best basketball of their careers when you consider how great they already were.

LeBron and Wade had their moments together, with both averaging 25 a night across the 2011 playoffs, but the best they played together probably came in the 2012 playoffs when Bosh went down against the Pacers. Wade and LeBron proceeded to dominate the next three games to overcome a 2-1 deficit. Wade finished the series averaging a 26/6/3 with 2.6 blocks/steals while LeBron averaged a ridiculous 30/11/6 with 3.4 blocks/steals a game.

We've seen glimpses of Kyrie & LeBron playing extremely well together already, completely agree it's scary to think how how much better they'll be with more chemistry.

 

[Cavsfan1985]

The best part is Irving fits better. That 3 ball is deadly. Is Irving better then Wade at his prime, not close yet, but as a fit next to LJ he will be better when all said and done.

 

[RedBlackAttack]

The best part is Irving fits better. That 3 ball is deadly. Is Irving better then Wade at his prime, not close yet, but as a fit next to LJ he will be better when all said and done.

And that was the point. LeBron and Wade always looked redundant offensively. Eventually, Wade conceded to the better player and accepted a lesser role in the offense, but they never quite figured out how to maximize both guys at the same time on the same floor.

I think there were some who feared (and maybe still do) that the same thing would happen with Kyrie on this Cavs team. This team is a lot less scary if LeBron and Kyrie are just alternating running the offense and standing around when they don't have the ball than they are if both can play at the highest level simultaneously.

What we have seen in the last three games are both guys being great simultaneously and that is key for this team. The thing that made the LeBron/Wade Heat teams so difficult to beat was their hedging and trapping, aggressive defensive philosophy. Offensively, they relied a lot on just out-talenting the opponent.

With the way this Cavs team is currently structured, we can't lean on the defense to just shut people out. We need these guys to all be on the same page on the other end. Huge steps have already been taken to get there.

After his sluggish start, Kyrie's numbers are beginning to reflect his high level of play too. He's now over 40% from three, which is generally considered the high water mark that separates the very good shooters from the elite ones. His FG% is approaching 46 and his TS% is at the higest of his career... and he's averaging nearly 23 a game, to go with a nearly 5-to-1 assist to TO ratio.

That is heady stuff when you consider the way LBJ is also dominating.

 

[Cavsfan1985]

The one play you could not run with LJ and Wade is the pick and pop, as neither player is an elite jump shooter. This also forces the pick man to hedge or go over the screen which opens the lane for LJ to drive. I mean once this teams figures it out, Love and Irving are so good next to LJ is they can all come out and shoot.

 

[brownsbuck6]

Kyrie saying the team came out with great intensity in the interview I'm watching.. while both LeBron and coach Blatt says we did not. The disconnect he has really is concerning at times. I just don't get how he could have such a polar opposite opinion about something like that.

 

[Pioneer10]

I wonder if he can bulk up a little bit so he can guard more 2 guards? Just can't defend PG's very well and it's compounded by our our lack of rim protection. Denver attacked the Cavs exactly like we thought teams would do in the off-season put Kyrie and Love into pick and roll defense and you roll the dice.

If I was Blatt I wish we would post up Irving more. Irving is a very good post player and one way to slow a guy down on offense is to force him to play defense and post defense can be very taxing

 

[Cassity14]

I agree with the theory behind posting him up, but the Cavs already have other guys to post up who serve that traditional role. LeBron and Love are more efficient guys to run a set through with their back to the basket. Doing so with Irving only further limits the ball movement this team is lacking in losses.

Something to look at later in the season when the basic offensive identity has been established and becomes consistent? Sure. I just don't think now is the time to practice posting up Irving.

 

[Just Checkin]

Really though the post ups kinda bog down the ball movement and makes the team a bit easier to defend.

I'd like to see more creative ways to attack inside that would at least keep the flow of the offense at a certain pace outside of post setups.

 

[Pioneer10]

Offense is much less of a concern then defense. Plus posting up is something we don't do enough of: we tend to get away from Love and Lebron in the post.

Regardless the main point is not to make offense more efficient but to make opposing PG's, particularly ones who Irving has a height advantage, work on the defensive end. The more energy they expend defending the less they'll have to blow by our shoddy PnR defense.