CLEVELAND -- Just as he tweeted on Saturday afternoon, Cleveland Cavaliers all-star point guard Kyrie Irving is back in the starting lineup.
After six months on the shelf because a fractured kneecap that he suffered in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Irving scored 12 points on five-of-12 shooting from the field, including a two-of-two mark from three-point range in a 108-86 win over the Philadelphia 76ers at Quicken Loans Arena Sunday.
In addition to the points, Irving added four assists, one rebound and two steals in 17 minutes of play, and the Cavaliers (18-7) were a plus-16 when he was on the floor against the 76ers (1-28).
"It felt great just to finally get back out there," Irving said. "It was a long, long road, but to finally get out there with my teammates was a pleasure.
"Obviously, the first game back, we weren't trying to push it too hard. It was going out there to see how it felt, staying on the bike and staying ready when my number was called every first four minutes of every quarter, just being ready to play. That's where I am right now. That's where my minutes lie, and hopefully, I continue to progress and feel better."
Irving was knocked out of the postseason because of a non-contact injury that revealed itself to be a fractured left kneecap, a break that required surgery and six months of rehabilitation in order to be ready for Sunday's game.
After struggling early and missing his first four attempts from the field against the 76ers, Irving caught a pass from small forward LeBron James and made a layup, which put the Cavaliers in front of Philadelphia, 29-26, with 8:58 to play in the first half.
"The first layup going out there, one of my patented layups, I just go out there and miss it," Irving said. "It wasn't written in the cards for me to make my first five shots, but I kept being aggressive. In my four-minute spans that I'm playing under my minute restrictions, I want to be aggressive for this team."
James added, "When I got the steal, I was actually on my way to the rim. I saw Ky and he had missed his first couple shots. I was like, 'The best way to come back is to get a layup, get an easy one,' and it was only right that I was able to find him and welcome him back the best way I can, by giving him an assist."
Irving had his best professional season prior to the fractured kneecap, as he scored 1,628 points, corralled 237 rebounds, handed out 389 assists, stole 114 passes, blocked 20 shots and converted 46.8 percent of his field goals, to go along with his 41.5 shooting percentage from three-point range. The points, steals and three-point percentage were all single-season career highs for Irving.
During his first trip to the postseason, Irving played in just 13 games before being shut down for the year because of the fractured kneecap.
He scored 247 points, handed out 50 assists, stole 17 passes, blocked 11 shots and pulled down 47 rebounds in 464 minutes of play despite missing not only five games in The Finals, but also a pair of contests in the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Cavaliers swept their way past the Atlanta Hawks.
And now that Irving is healthy again, the Cavaliers are looking for continued improvement out of him as the regular season goes on.
"It feels good just getting this one out the way and now, we play against New York and we play against the Warriors on Christmas, so hopefully, we can continue to progress and continue to feel better," Irving said. "I'm just taking it one day at a time, continue to do work on my off days and in practice and continue to get better."
Cavaliers coach David Blatt added, "You could see that the team has been anxious and wants to see Kyrie out there playing again, giving us the things that he can give us and just being on the floor again. That's a guy that had such a great season for us last year, was a big part of what we ultimately did and where we got to, and he had a serious injury, not an easy one. He went through a serious surgery and went through a long, long process of rehabilitating.
"You see a guy like that every day just fighting his way back and working hard, going through stages, and I think the guys just felt good seeing him out there professionally, and also, on a human level. I know I did. I was just truly happy to see him out on the basketball floor seeing him doing what he loves to do, and that was great."
