Game 28 | Atlanta @ Cleveland | Thursday December 26, 2013 7:00 PM EST

[godfather]

If you want to single out Irving, that's just absolutely stupid. In fact, you are just a blow hard hater. My gosh, there's enough bad to go around for the entire team. Some of those shots weren't bad at all! Every shot he misses, whether its down the stretch, or not, shouldn't be looked as if Kyrie is selfish. Because he didn't make the shot. Just stop, you sound like an idiot if you're going to nitpick like that. He scored 40 tonight, over 50% shooting. That's not something to bitch about.

If you want to be critical of his turnovers, and being a bit careless that's fine. And Ben is right, the floor spacing is pretty crappy. It's hard for Kyrie have to go ISO a lot, when there's no one the outside to hit a shot consistently.

Kyrie played well. He played well on both ends, but he, like most of the team were horrible taking care of the ball tonight. They all sucked at it. It wasn't just a Kyrie problem, the entire team was awful tonight in that aspect.

 

[Stark]

Jon Leuer would look real nice on this team right about now.

 

[redscoon]

Hey, only 4 more years on Mike's contract. The end is in sight.

 

[6kiss]

If you want to single out Irving, that's just absolutely stupid. In fact, you just blow hard hater. My gosh, there's enough bad to go around for the entire team. Some of those shots weren't bad at all! Every shot he misses, whether its down the stretch, or not, shouldn't be looked as if Kyrie is selfish. Because he didn't make the shot. Just stop, you sound like an idiot if you're going to nitpick. He scored 40 tonight, over 50% shooting. That's not something to bitch about.

If you want to be critical of critical of his turnovers, and being a bit careless that's fine. And Ben is right, the floor spacing is pretty crappy. It's hard for Kyrie have to go ISO a lot, when there's no one the outside to hit a shot consistently.

Kyrie played well. He played well on both ends, but he, like most of the team were horrible taking care of the ball. It was just a Kyrie problem, the entire team was awful tonight in that aspect.

I was waiting for you to say something about his game. Its incredible people are knocking it. 40 points on over 50% shooting. Some shots were questionable yes, we know that. Hes young and even vets take some silly shots but the guy played out of his mind and hes a big reason why we even had a chance. Ive been critical all year on Kyrie, im not riding his nuts, im not some stupid troll like people are calling me. I thought Kyrie played a good game today, he showed a ton of heart in which people have been bashing him all year long and people still find ways to complain.

 

[Tlyons]

Is there a way we haven't lost?

 

[Cassity14]

Dion played very well. I felt that Thompson did as well. I think a lot of what Thompson couldn't do on the glass is attributed to how far out Millsap was playing on most possessions. Unlike a lot of players, Thompson puts boxing out ahead of jumping at the ball when it comes to defensive rebounding. I could be wrong.

Sure Andy pulled them in well, but he usually pulled down rebounds contested by one other player. I'd think Thompson had a lot to do with that. Again, I could be wrong.

Dion had it going in the 4th and then pretty much didn't see the ball. When Kyrie kicked to him on that open 3, Dion had no legs because he literally hadn't touched the ball in like 15-20 minutes real time. That's unacceptable. Reminded me of watching Mo go off in spurts and then only see the ball on an occasional kick out. How often did Teague pull that stunt? Hardly ever, when it came time for Korver to take a good shot, he had his rhythm. They didn't all go down, but they all came out of his hand great. Dion's jumper was off as soon as he let go.

Varejao had been knocking down his 12 foot jumper consistently, yet even though the driver was being collapsed upon over and over, Andy didn't get to shoot a single jumper late in the game? Was he just magically not open? I doubt it.

Kyrie's solution to being collapsed upon by 4 defenders was to launch jumpers so that he only had to deal with 1-2 defenders. Awful. Sure, he made some. That's great.

Nick Young and JR Smith make some too. Should they do nothing but play isolation down the stretch when they're near 50% for the game?

All of this came while Kyrie's man drove past him AT WILL. If Kyrie is the clutch, determined winner we want him to be, he doesn't switch that last possession. Period.

And somehow, some way, this will be Grant and/or Brown's fault. Did I really see posts questioning Brown's playcalling down the stretch? You think he's telling Kyrie to jack up contested shots? You couldn't see what play was called because it never developed. Kyrie's first view of daylight resulted in him taking a shot.

Hint: He probably would have preferred the same ball movement and body movement the Cavs used all game prior to Kyrie checking in at the end of the 4th. Just a hunch. That comic is old and overused.

I think a lot of us saw this team making a small move in the standings this year because we expected Kyrie to have a 3rd year pretty similar to what Curry did last year, Rose did when he (undeservedly) won MVP, Chris Paul did in year 3, etc. Kyrie's IQ seems to have regressed. His ego is huge, and it's getting in the team's way.

Sure, we can point to not having a quality small forward Anthony Bennett's horrendous start, but those are cop outs. The Bulls in Rose's third season finished with the best record starting Keith Bogans at shooting guard. Delly's strong play and the lack of injuries as a whole are pleasant surprises that in my mind, negate at least a portion of these cop outs.

This team hasn't advanced much because Irving hasn't. I see it that way. I don't buy into Dion vs Kyrie because it shouldn't be a debate. Kyrie is supposedly a superstar. The fact that there's a debate between the 2 is indicative of Kyrie's inability to advance this season.

Rant over.

 

[Tornicade]

If you want to single out Irving, that's just absolutely stupid. In fact, you are just a blow hard hater. My gosh, there's enough bad to go around for the entire team. Some of those shots weren't bad at all! Every shot he misses, whether its down the stretch, or not, shouldn't be looked as if Kyrie is selfish. Because he didn't make the shot. Just stop, you sound like an idiot if you're going to nitpick. He scored 40 tonight, over 50% shooting. That's not something to bitch about.

If you want to be critical of critical of his turnovers, and being a bit careless that's fine. And Ben is right, the floor spacing is pretty crappy. It's hard for Kyrie have to go ISO a lot, when there's no one the outside to hit a shot consistently.

Kyrie played well. He played well on both ends, but he, like most of the team were horrible taking care of the ball. It was just a Kyrie problem, the entire team was awful tonight in that aspect.

I dont think its singling out kyrie but the guy can score 100 points. if he loses he is just as culpable as anyone else.


I like Kyrie. I think he is a great player but he can be better in alot of areas that impact the game just as negatively as his elite scoring positively impact the game.

 

[Obawan12]

No Alonzo Gee tonight. Regardless of the outcome that's a huge step forward for this team.

 

[Tornicade]

anyone else wonder if Kyrie waived off of teague cause he didnt ant to be on espn with teague hitting the GW over him ?

 

[godfather]

Kyrie played really well, he just was a little careless with the ball. That's my only complaint. I had no problem with his shot selection. That one where he lost the player, went to the hole, that was a great shot. He just happen to miss it. In OT he was on fire. WTF, hero ball? Get out of here with that crap. Our best player is hot, and people are complaining about whether or not he's trying to play hero ball? He's trying to win the damn game, for this shitty team on the floor.

I just love the "he doesn't give a shit" when he's in fact, playing like he does give a shit. Whether its right, or wrong, to put that on Kyrie like its all about him is stupid. The kid was playing his ass off defensively tonight. I thought played well, I just would have liked him, and the rest of the team not be so careless with the basketball. They gave the Hawks that game. They did, they played very careless and gave a very average team a win in their building. Cavs clearly out played them, but gave them the game.

 

[6kiss]

I dont think its singling out kyrie but the guy can score 100 points. if he loses he is just as culpable as anyone else.


I like Kyrie. I think he is a great player but he can be better in alot of areas that impact the game just as negatively as his elite scoring positively impact the game.

Maybe not you, but a lot of people are singling him out for this loss. And no one is gonna disagree that he can get better in different things at the end of games but this team is in shambles and hes finding anyway possible to win games. Its unfortunate we lost this one. Our defense lost this game, not Kyrie taking over.

 

[Surge]

Not Kyries fault. He's the only reason people outside Cleveland know we have an NBA team.

He played well, not great. Good support from TT and Dion. There is just such a drop off in talent after the first 2 or 3 guys on our roster, it's insane.

 

[godfather]

I dont think its singling out kyrie but the guy can score 100 points. if he loses he is just as culpable as anyone else.


I like Kyrie. I think he is a great player but he can be better in alot of areas that impact the game just as negatively as his elite scoring positively impact the game.

He wasn't perfect, none were tonight. But he at least played with more fire than we've seen. That's what I want. I questioned Kyrie's fire a times. Not always his energy of playing hard, but that little extra. He had that tonight. Tonight he played like he wants to be a superstar. Will it continue? I don't know, I hope.

I thought he shot the ball fine, took good shots. Passed the ball fine. Wasn't playing selfish, he just got careless at times. There's a difference between being careless, too aggressive, and being selfish. He was the former at times, not the latter. Kyrie was not playing to win for himself. Just because he takes shots during critical moments, doesn't mean he's trying to play by himself.

He had some good looks, some just didn't go.

 

[kookoo]

I think the biggest issue was late game rebounding and boxing out. They got too many chances off offensive rebounds.

 

[Cassity14]

The Cavs took a timeout with 4:56 left in regulation. From then until the end of regulation, Kyrie had 2 turnovers and shot 0/4 without recording an assist.

In the first overtime, Kyrie shot 1/5 with 2 assists, 1 turnover, and going 2/2 at the line.

In the second overtime, Kyrie got hot, and shot 3/4 with 1 turnover.

So, from the 5 minute mark onward, Kyrie shot 4/14, recorded 2 assists, and turned the ball over 4 times. As some, including myself, would argue, this game shouldn't have gone to OT. The Cavs were up 7 with 6 minutes remaining.

Jeff Teague finished the game with 34 points, 14 assists, and shot 14/24. Not Damian Lillard, Jeff Teague.

These, to me, are statements that evidence that Kyrie did not play the type of basketball that his coach, teammates, or most fans would like to see him play down the stretch tonight.