The NBA Has A Kyrie Irving Problem Once Again

The NBA Has A Kyrie Irving Problem Once Again

You know what I mean so I was kind of ribbing him a little bit you think you talking to a high school kid you just came out of high school kid came out of college came out High School you came out of high SCH play you played two

Games you played two games you are high school you just gradu what are you talking about but uh you he’s been extremely impressive here at Camp there’s been some confusing players in NBA history up to this point I think Draymond Green is a good example of the word confusing no one actually

Understands Ben Simmons Christian Wood is a guy who goes under the radar in the confusing scale but when we look at these guys not one of them compares to the level of confusing Kyrie Irving is at and just what we thought Kyrie’s career was slowing down he’s back Kyrie

Irving is here again and he’s still really good at the sport of basketball right now this is what Kyrie Irving’s season’s looking like he’s averaging 25.3 points per game two points higher than his career average of 23 and2 to go along with that he’s averaging exactly five rebounds and then 5.3 assists

His shooting splits are Elite as well too he’s shooting 47.3% from the field 41 from deep and 89.3 from the line all three of these splits are actually up from his career averages too I mean they’re basically the same as career averages just like 0.1 or point2 up except three-point shooting where he’s

Averaging 2% higher but always when we think Kyrie Irving is done he bounces right back and to be completely honest I’m one of the people who thought he was cooked I mean in the month of December Kyrie played three games in those three games he averaged 15.7 points 3.3

Rebounds and 3.7 assists it was a slow start to the season for Kyrie Irving of course but he was confident he was going to be able to turn it around I mean he wasn’t fully healthy coming into the season either yeah I mean we could say

That for sure um I think is is really for me internally just trusting my body and uh not necessarily paying attention to anyone’s expectations but my own and just being honest with myself like I didn’t come into the season the way I wanted to just the amount of time that I

Took off and I knew that the start of the season was going to be a healthy challenge and you know I was said it the other night in 12 years I never took 30 days 40 days off before the season and um didn’t necessarily have the um kind

Of the familiarity with the rhythm of the game and hadn’t played games missed preseason and we could throw out all those those reasons or excuses but I I think for me I’m I’m really just proud of myself for just being able to get in better shape uh few spurts throughout

The game you know four minute spurts three minute spurts where I can put six points seven points 8 points 10 points 12 points uh usually uh just aren’t happening and I got to live with that as a as a professional and as a competitor and continue to push myself on the off

Day so well if what Kyrie is saying is true it makes sense cuz he dominated the next month of basketball remember I said in December he averaged 15 3 and three well in January he already tripled the amount of games he played the month before and we just passed a halfway mark

Of the month yesterday well so far in these games he’s averaging 29.6 points per game 7.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists if there’s one thing Kyrie’s been able to do his whole career that would be him being able to score in the iso usually better than anyone else most seasons and

Although he isn’t the highest scorer in the iso in the NBA this season he is the most efficient look at these guys these are the nine guys who have the highest percentage of their plays as ice isos so Harden number one inw number two Luca number three most of these guys plays

Are isos but the second number is points per possession in the iso and as you can see Kyrie at number seven averages the most points per possession in his ISO situations and if you get Kyrie in the isolation there’s a good chance he’s going to score on you well I’m not

Einstein I can’t calculate the exact chance he’s going to score on you but there’s a better chance he scores in you than anyone else does statistically but because of this ability to score in the ice so some of the NBA’s best guards at list Kyrie when they’re asked who the

Hardest players in the NBA to guard are yeah uh who’s the toughest player to guard in your opinion best player it’s between it’s between [Laughter] it’s what the hell we got and step bro you said who it’s between Kai and Steph yeah valid step because don’t stop running around

Bro yeah he gets you tired like bro he don’t stop and the minute you I think about Steph is like the minute you up like it’s like all right bet got you and then uh Tyrie bro like counter upon counter upon counter I’ve contested some of Kyrie’s

Jump shots and we’ve locked hands wow and that shit’s hit nothing but net K got K got counters to everything bro everything bro he one of the most skilled basketball players to ever play this game though I swear I want to look at some of the stuff Kyrie has been

Doing this month though in the second game of the month the Mavs had a game against the Blazers Kyrie in this one 29 Points nine rebounds five assist he shot 52% from the field which included 50 from Deep Luca and this one had 41 points and that included him shooting

57% from three they each had four threes this game and this is one of the crazier stats I’ve seen from the whole season when Luca catches the ball from Kyrie and shoots a three he’s hitting them at a 48% Mark when Kyrie catches the ball

Off a Luca pass and shoots a three he’s hitting them at a 46.7 mark this du has completely turned it around this season because both of them draw so much attention to themselves when the ball’s in their hands it makes life for everyone else so much easier and they’re

Both knockdown Shooters so if they get open looks they’re going to hit them at a good rate but it isn’t just the two of them one of their teammates Grant Williams talked about how much easier it is to get looks when you’re on the floor

With Kyrie and Luca um Luka and Kyrie do a phenomenal job of drawing attention and my job on this team is just not being able to be spaced and knock those shots down every single time and I kind of get Crush myself sometimes cuz 50% is

Still not good enough to me um I have to be able to um even step up even more and tonight was one of those nights that you know just they just felt for me so I have continue to stay prepared you know give my extra shots in every single day

And not take these you know blessings lightly CU you know these two superstars are special they do a phenomenal job every single night they take the highs and the lows from the media from everyone in the world and they have to balance that and balance their

Commitment to the team so um those two guys will will always support and they always have our backs on the court and they make it a lot easier for us so um my job is to make it easier for them would you say it’s the most open shots of your career so

Far um I feel like you know I’ve definitely been very very open on this team I I do have to shout out those guys back in Boston they did a phenomenal a job too so you know it’s interesting because um those you know being around these special players you really have an

Opportunity to make a mark and lead and I’m fortunate to be able to be at this position in Dallas that I’ve got a little more opportunities so I’m just trying to make the most out of it great Williams I hate to break it to I really

Do but 50% is Elite they’re not really going to get better than that but when I talk about Kyrie and Luca setting each other up especially when they shoot like they did in this Blazers game chy Bops the Blazers coach talked about how impossible it is to guard the Mavericks

On defense when they’re doing this and he’s seen it you know and he he’s he has an answer for everything you throw at him but that don’t mean you don’t throw it at him you know you got to just try every single night you just want to compete against him and then Kyrie

Obviously presents a different challenge you know it’s just what his one-on-one uh him being able to get where he wants to go and he is just an incredible scorer but um yeah they they put us some some tough spots you know and then when it’s not them two they got shooting all

Over the floor so they just got a very good team man very good balanced team that we’re going to have to just compete and make multiple efforts all over the place and and and uh try to rebound and run following that game against the Blazers the Mavs actually had backs to

Backs against them again another W and again another really efficient game from Kyrie 24 points nine rebounds five assists on 55% shooting in this game he shot eight for 11 on two-pointers that’s 72% and here’s two things we think often about Kyrie one he’s washed up two his

Min’s automatic well the first one wouldn’t be true but the second one would be cuz if you look at his mid-range percentages for each year in his career in 2023 he shot the second highest of his career at 53% that’s only a percent lower than his

Best at 2021 and he’s still hitting his mid-range jumpers at a stupidly efficient rate something a lot of people think the opposite of but although that’s really impressive that’s not the reason I bring up the Blazers game when I was researching for this video I was going through some videos about players

Talking about Kyrie and I found about a million clips of players saying Kyrie was their welcome to the NBA moment or that they couldn’t guard Kyrie one of the guys was probably the Blazer’s best player anony Simons you can skip this if you want but I thought it was cool

Here’s about 90 seconds of players talking about G Kyrie for the first time my second year out of guard Kyrie okay man that was an experience he said an experience he’s not over physical he just make a lot of tough shots and I’m like I’m like I’m I’m there right right

Right making it like over me easily and I’m just like this is the NBA great offense always going to over overpower great defense if he retired right now he’s a legend 100% one of the best best I’ve ever he’s one of the best ever Lac him up who’s been your toughest

Matchup my pops in the background he looking at me he know who it is who is it it’s it was Kyrie I ain’t going to lie I ain’t going to lie he was the one probably where I was like yo I a I ain’t got no answer for I was looking at my

Pops in the crowd like I was like yo I don’t I don’t know what to do a lot of dudes you know they’re go-to moves you know like he has so many counters that it’s like when you stop one he’s come with another when you stop that one he

Come with another so that’s the toughest player I had to guard and life probably will be forever one guy that you watched on TV that is 100 times better in person oh oh yeah was crazy right no it’s crazy it was the craziest thing I’d ever seen it

Was beautiful like there there was a couple times where I got up in my seat I was about to stand up after the and I I had to calm down it was ridiculous when Kyrie first came into League I was in the Western Conference and Kyrie missed

A bunch of games yeah so I only played against Kyrie like one time double team I only played against Kyrie one time I think he when I showed up he was when I uh when I got to Cleveland he was in his third year yeah he was in his

Third year so it was like and so you know he missed a couple times so I played against him like one time so when I got to the Cavs and I started watching him and remember he was coming back from injury so he wasn’t really playing great

The first like 40 games of the season so like I’m sitting there start you remember that year that 16 and I was sitting there watching this kid I’m like does everybody know this kid can do this Stu following those Blazers games the Mavs had a match up versus the Minnesota

Timber wolves the timber wolves are the best offensive team in the NBA this season but this is a game where Kyrie’s ridiculous streak started this game H 35 points eight rebounds five assist Shot 14 for 27 from the field 6 for8 from deep and one for one from the line

Another insanely efficient game from him and this is one game that came right down to the wire and Kyrie completely took over in the fourth hitting a game time three and the lead taking three back to back I know this comes from last season but I just thought it was a

Really crazy stat and want to show it in the fourth quarter last season Kyrie led the NBA in total points he had 551 in 58 games played that checks out to 9.5 points per game Fox and d r rozan I’m not even going to do the math four cuz

They both played 12 games more and had less points but Giannis who did play less games if you do the math for his it’s 8 and 1 half per quarter LeBron’s is 8.4 so Kyrie was the best fourth quarter scorer last season consistently really stepped up when it mattered but

This game against the Wolves it wasn’t just Kyrie Luca had 34 for himself too and Jason kid spoke out after the game and he talked about how Kyrie and luuka just aren’t trying to do everything for themselves they trust each other at this point Minnesota here when he went off in the fourth

Quarter um you know I think uh again Kai was great luuka was great those guys set the tone um not just on the offensive end but the defensive end and then I thought the trust um for one another um to not just take turns down the stretch

But to make plays for for their teammates and um again Kai makes two big threes uh one off of a dp’s assist um he’s in the corner heck of a catch or heck of a pass um big Big Time shot um but I thought the group being down six

You know um was was a was a great test of character and trust and those guys did a great job of of hanging together and finding a way to win the Mavs were rolling at this point and although they did lose their next game they bounced

Right back after that this was a game versus the New York Knicks and no Luca donic people expected the Mavs to lose but Kyrie did his thing and took over 44 points 10 assist he shot 15 for 26 from the field 6 for 10 from theep and eight

For nine from the line with this game Kyrie is now one of the only two Mavericks ever to have a game with 40 points and 10 assists the other guy who did it I’ll let you guess okay ready if you guess Sheen l in you’d be correct

Joking it’s Luca he done this 17 times stupid but the thing that amazes me more than anything is the efficiency I mean 57 60 89 splits and a lot of these are in the iso which is the crazier part and when you think of Kyrie you probably

Think of dribble dri cross jumper well you’d be right and right now Kyrie second in the NBA in self-created shot making this is right behind only Kevin Durant and honestly if you watch basketball you probably could have guessed it’s top five Durant Kyrie fox D rozan and Curry definitely all guys you

Think of when you think of elite shot creation but me personally when I think of my favorite games to watch in the NBA I think of a guy like Curry or Dame someone who could take a step back from the logo and knock it down with ease but

Dame himself as well as a lot of other players have said that Kyrie has the best looking game of all time I just love the way Kyrie play I love I just love the way his game look you know ridiculous he ridiculous Dave he ridiculous with them handles man that’s

Ridiculous how he do it it’s his handles but it’s just the way he move and how he can play the game like he got the most beautiful game ever like just the way it looked the English The Arc how can finish with either hand at the at the

Rim is just crazy it’s because it’s not athleticism it’s skill you know what I mean like he’s not a bu Rim hanging in the just like it’s craftiness and touch and feel you know what I mean it’s just a knack for doing it and it’s it’s a

Gift you know you can tell he worked on it but he had the gift to begin with so right after the game Kyrie went off against the Knicks the Mavs had another R versus the Pelicans and although they did lose in this one Kyrie continued his

Nice run he’s been on with 33 points but then they had another one against the Pelicans right after this and then here Kyrie picked things up even further 42 points seven rebounds seven assists and here’s a cool stat Kyrie knows 35 career 40-point games that’s the seventh most

By any point guard in NBA history the only guys ahead of him Deigo Steph Curry Damen Lillard Russell Westbrook Nate tiny archall and Luca donic pretty Elite company and it’s also pretty crazy that Luca’s here the guy’s 24 years old but speaking of Luca he was out for a few

Games and that’s when Kyrie had a step up and I know we think of Kyrie as a team killer sometimes someone you don’t want in your locker room but on the court it’s a different story Kyrie is the only player in NBA history to have 40o games with three different teammates

In a game in 2016 him and LeBron had 41 each last year when Kyrie had 40 Luca had 42 and this game against the Pelicans when Kyrie had 42 Tim hardwood junr at 41 so if you take away all the locker room and media stuff Kyrie is

Definitely guy you want on the floor next to another scorer cuz he’s going to do what he has to do but he’s also going to allow your other top scor to get his buckets as well and Willie Green said the only thing you can do when you’re playing them is pray

Pray um Kyrie I had you know when I was coaching with golden state we played Cleveland in the finals a number of times and I had a chance to watch him up close and personal he one of the best uh finishers um you know sometimes you you

Feel like he has his shot is blocked and he figures out a way to maneuver and finish and uh he he’s a f fantastic basketball player um you just got to make it tough on him he’s going to catch the ball where he wants to he’s going to

Get shots you got to try to take it out of his hands as much as you can and make every shot tough but he’s one of the best I’ve seen but when we talk about the Kyrie and Luca Duo they were the only Duo to do something special this

Time well actually seventh Duo they were the seventh teammate Duo ever to have 30 points five rebounds have five assists and five threes made in a game honestly if you’re a defender in this game what you even do you need like Ron AR test and kawh lonard to stop the Mavs when

These two have it going like this but Kyrie actually spoke about Luca before he said that he makes the game so much easier to play out there a lot of the focus is on Luka donic and it allows Kyrie to do his thing much easier uh I

Mean it’s it’s been easy toh grow with luuka because of how intelligent he is as a as a playmaker as a offensive threat um you know we we had so much pressure on our we put so much pressure on on ourselves um last season you we’re screaming to each other Championship

Championship and it’s easy to set those goals but you got to be realistic and uh we just didn’t have the group to do it and uh we didn’t uh stay consistent enough to put ourselves in position to make the playoffs and we had to take accountability for that and a lot of the

Um view was going to be on me and Luca and how well we fit uh I think that was more of a a media push than anything and just focusing on how we were going to um work out but I think we’re we’re showing flashes every single game of what we’re

Capable of and we got off to a great start this season uh we’re playing against some good teams but now when we’re play against the better teams we just got to be able to put it together uh both ends of the floor and uh expect

Better from one another and I got to be better alongside him and U I know that time’s coming and um just again just continue to put in work I mean it makes sense why playing with Luca would be much easier more open looks for you and

Right now the Mavericks are 24 and 18 they’re the seventh season SE in the Western Conference and as I mentioned Kyrie has been through a lot he’s one of the most controversial players ever and recently he was asked after all this why is he still motivated and his answer is

The same as a lot of other players he just wants to win a championship at the end of the day that’s an interesting question cuz I was just talking to my dad about this like a week back just what’s the motivation um for me it’s uh to win at the highest level that’s

Always been uh the goal setting mentality that I’ve had um every team I played on I’ve strive to be the best player I can be um while also helping encourage the younger players that are around me helping exemplify some leadership and um you know also accepting that failure is going to be

Part of this business um and I can’t worry about the opinions can’t worry about uh you know weeks gone by where things may not go well it’s just about staying the course staying on the path and being human um you know this basketball game is um you know incredibly entertaining uh but yet

There’s so many nuances and details that go go on behind the scenes to even and be ready to play so my motivations continue to leave off the court healthy encourage the young guys and went at the highest level and we know what the highest level is I don’t have to say I

Don’t want jinx our team but you know what we’re going after so um for me that’s that’s what gets me up every day and that passion that I’ve had since I was playing in my backyard uh by myself no one else was around counting down 5 4

3 2 1 and those are the moments I I remember when I step out on the court every single time is you know that space where I got to have an emotional Outlet uh understand how important this game is and how much impact I can have off the

Court and have fun with it at the end of the day after this insane Row from Kyrie the M’s most recent game was the game against the Lakers and that was the end of the 30-point streak for him he only finished with 12 points but something

Really funny came out of this game a Twitter account posted Kyrie’s Run’s been on Leon Bell replied saying I could play a B on this right now and then all this then he tweeted the Mavericks play tomorrow now just watch I’m going prove it to the world I can slow down

Kyrie I’m betting the over I don’t care what the number is well the under definitely hit with 12 and then he tweeted told you my bad Kyrie I just had to make a point wasn’t your fault so we can just blame this game on Le’Veon Bell honestly but really Kyrie is one guy

That gets hated on constantly and with all this pressure Lucas said that there’s always pressure if you don’t score 40 they’re going to hate I don’t know did I don’t know if you saw his comments the other night but he you know when he was talking about he he feels

Pressure he’s going to scale it back a little bit um you know what do you think about Kyrie you know acknowledgement that he’s feeling pressure perform here uh there’s always pressure I mean uh you know basketball wise uh the amount of you know contract we get there’s always

Pressure uh people expect you to to be I don’t know have 40 points every game and if you don’t have they’re going attack so you’re so bad something like that so there there’s always pressure but uh I mean I would tell him you know just just enjoy you do this for fun

Uh it’s basketball uh since kid probably I mean like me I always wanted to play basketball I a can make money out of it and living it’s it’s a it’s always a pressure you know there’s always going to be haters but I just enjoy being and playing basketball that would be my

Advice now I don’t know what’s going to happen with the MS for the rest of the season we all know Luca dones is going to play Luca dones basketball I’d really like to see Kyrie continue to play like this well not the Lakers game but the

Five games before that but I need to see the Mavericks make the playoff this season not making the playoffs last season was terrible and a lot of people forgot about these guys because of that rightfully so though so if the M get into the playoffs you know Luca and

Kyrie always step up but this team is still constructed really weird in my opinion so it’ll be interesting to see I’ll keep you guys updated that’s what I got today though I got a new video coming soon pretty sure it’s going to be my best video yet

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