Once again, Kyrie Irving did it in the fourth quarter for the Cleveland Cavaliers. As the Cavs outlasted the Nets in an eventual 105-100 victory, your ’11/12 Rookie of the Year scored 14 of his 26 in the final stanza, including his team’s last six, the shot that made it a two-possession game, etc. Neither of Kyrie’s fourth-quarter plays that impressed me most resulted in any of his four buckets, though… rather a turnover and a missed layup.
Watch as Irving puts Gerald Wallace on skates with a triple move consisting of a ball fake, a crossover and a hesitation… then watch as he blows by a long, athletic defender in Gerald Green with a transition crossover that would have had most players tripping over their own feet… then watch as he hits Deron Williams with a little right-to-left cross before scoring the aforementioned go-ahead bucket. Yes, he did all of that on three consecutive possessions in the final two minutes of a tight game. Now just watch…
That’s a questionable carrying call. I haven’t bothered to try and pause the video at the perfect moment to see if his hand ever moves underneath the ball, but it appears to be on the side of the ball to me. Either way, that was a Francis-on-Hudson-esque combination of ankle-snapping maneuvers. As for the full-speed cross he put on Gerald Green… speaking from experience (I’ve tried such things in rinky-dink pickup games), that move wasn’t as easy as he made it look. To maintain balance and control of the ball after whipping it from side to side while moving that fast… that’s not your run-of-the-mill change of direction. That was a special move.
The little cross he put on Deron was nice too, but the moves he busted on those previous possessions… my lord. A carry and a clunk or a floater and a dunk, that entire sequence was spectacular as they come.
As for the 26-point game and the 14-point fourth quarter, that type of sh!t has become the norm for Kyrie. As soon as he gets some additional experience and a few more quality teammates around him he’s going to be doing it even more frequently. I think he’s already one of the league’s toughest players to stop in an isolation situation. Build a competitive team around the kid and he’s going to haunt the Eastern Conference for years to come.
Also, shout out to Tristan Thompson. Cleveland’s other rookie led the inside attack with a career-high 27 points as well as 12 rebounds. The Cavs destroyed the Nets in the paint and on the glass, and Thompson was the main factor. He ripped some impressive offensive boards in traffic and took them right back up for slam dunks. His performance in this game reminded me of the show Kenneth Faried put on against the Celtics just a night or two ago.