Kyrie Irving`s 2015-2016 regular season campaign wasn’t his strongest. But in his second trip to the playoffs, the flashy Cavalier point guard has turned the corner with his heads up and aggressive play.
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For the first two rounds, the point guard matchup has been quite competitive, with Reggie Jackson and Jeff Teague offering resistance to Irving. Against these two, Kyrie Irving has been remarkable and he continued the onslaught in the Eastern Conference Finals opener against Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors.
In Chris Fedor`s recent article for Cleveland.com, Irving`s defense was heralded by backcourt mate J.R. Smith.
I mean, everybody knows LeBron is a good two-way player but I don’t think Kyrie gets enough credit. He did an unbelievable job the last three series on two pretty good point guards and now the starting All-Star in the All-Star game.
The word “defense” isn’t usually connected to Kyrie Irving. Though he has shown flashes of his potential on that end of the court, there still needs to be some consistency.
But in Game 1, Irving played a major part in limiting Kyle Lowry to eight points on 4-of-14 shooting.
Lowry entered the series on a torrid two-game streak of at least 35 points. He also torched the Cavs in the regular season as he averaged 31 points and 8.3 assists in three games.
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But if there’s one thing we have learned from Cleveland’s sweep of the first two rounds, it’s how different a locked-in Cavs squad is. They have all the momentum in the world, and Kyrie Irving is at the forefront of the attack.