Kyrie Irving is what he is – and in Game 3 that was exactly what Cleveland needed
By Jared Wade
Kyrie Irving is not the perfect point guard — but he looked like the perfect player in Game 3, so that will have to do.
The most important game of Kyrie Irving’s NBA career came on Wednesday. The Cleveland Cavaliers, the only team he has starred for since high school really, were trailing the 73-win juggernaut 0-2 in the NBA Finals. They needed a win and to regain some confidence.
In the first quarter, he dominated.
Kyrie scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, matching the Golden State Warriors total by himself as the Cavs rushed out to a 33-16 lead. He played all but five seconds of the opening period, hitting pull-up jumpers after slick dribble moves, eluding Steph Curry on a deft backdoor cut for a layup, driving to the hoop for a crafty finish, and sticking 3s confidently out of the pick-and-roll.
By the time he starting raining triples down on the opposition, he had more points than the Warriors — 13 versus 10 — as his team took a 20-point lead
It may not have been the best quarter of Irving’s life, but when you add in the stage and the stakes, it’s hard to say he’s ever been greater than he was in those 11 minutes and 55 seconds.
And it stood out even more for all the criticism he personally took for his early Game 2 struggles. Irving missed 9 of the 14 shots he took in a 33-point loss, scoring just 10 points. Worse than his poor shooting was the Cleveland offense overall. Neither he nor LeBron James were able to lead a functioning attack, with poor possession after poor possession cratering the team’s chances to stay in this series.
That failing can’t be overlooked — he is the team’s point guard and the offense it ran was not befitting a preseason game let alone the Finals. Game 1 was little better, with Cleveland managing just 89 points against a team where 99 is usually not even close to enough.
But there can be no redemption without a letdown. Whatever happens the rest of the way, Kyrie’s 30-point, 8-assist outing in Game 3 proved that he is an elite point guard in the NBA and that those trying to pile dirt on his grave earlier in the week were being shortsighted.
He also was a big factor on the defensive end.
While Steph Curry’s Game 3 struggles were downright inexplicable, really, Tyronn Lue’s strategy to keep the MVP uncomfortable worked wonders. Irving spent the whole first half staying as close to Steph as possible, foregoing all help responsibilities to stay glued to Curry even when he was 40 feet away from the ball on the weakside. The extra attention has been a Finals-long plan, but it Kyrie seemed to ramp it up even further in Game 3, using his arms and strength to fight through screens and stay on Steph’s hip.
Irving will never be a great defender, but this is a simple order that he can carry out. Having just one simple — albeit very difficult mission — takes some of the thinking out of the game, and can allow Kyrie to focus fully on defensive effort and offensive execution. And the amount of energy he was expending in the first quarter made his ability to drop 16 points on the other end all the more impressive. This was a true two-way performance from a player who has been chastised for being a scorer only.
And even if he is only a scorer, so what?
Until his two-game struggle to start the Finals, Kyrie had been unbelievable in the playoffs. He dropped 30 in the closeout game against the Toronto Raptors and added 27 in the critical Game 1 of that series. Overall in the playoffs, he is averaging 27.5 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting, including an identical 47.1 shooting from behind the arc.
He deserves a lot of criticism for the way the Cavs offense was run in Games 1 and 2 of the Finals. He is far from the only one, however, and few teams play well in Oracle Arena.
All postseason, Kyrie has been scoring and shooting just as well as the MVP. And now is showing that he can be the key cog that shuts down Steph in the Finals.
Kyrie may not be the true point some critics want and he may not be Gary Payton in his prime while checking ball-handlers. But he just essentially won a Finals game single-handedly in the first quarter against arguably the best team ever.
Critics will have to settle for that.
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