Kyrie Irving knows when it is time to raise his level of play to meet the challenges of a given situation, and the postseason is that type of mark on the schedule when the fifth-year point guard takes his talents to another level.
In leading the Cavaliers to a 3-0 lead over the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Irving has averaged 26.3 points, 4.7 assists, shot 52.2 percent from three-point range and 46.8 percent from the field, all of which equaled or far exceeded his level of production during the regular season.
“We know what to expect,” Irving said. “We execute the game plan and we are executing at a really high level on both ends of the floor. Now, we may have some mishaps, but we come in, we look each other in the eye and we communicate, and we move onto the next play. That’s just what it’s about, being professionals and being the three leaders on the team, we just have to continue to play at a high level that we’re playing at.”
Irving’s increased production in the postseason is a by-product of the effort he has put into his craft since a late-season loss to the Chicago Bulls in a game where a win would have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and given the Cavaliers the opportunity to rest their starters in the final two games of the regular season.
However, the Cavaliers had to beat the Atlanta Hawks two days after the loss to the Bulls, a game in which Irving missed 12 shots and committed four turnovers.
“I still remember it,” Irving said. “Obviously, it’s still fresh in my memory, but that game was really a launching point for me moving onto the next page and knowing what’s ahead for us and knowing how much preparation we need to have going into the postseason.
“That game really stuck in my head and it really meant something. To have the confidence of the guys next to me and continue to expect greatness out of me, every, single game, they want me to play at a high level, so I just wanted to give them that.”
Through the first three games against the Pistons, Irving converted 12 of his 23 three-point shots, which was one of the last things to come back to his game after he returned from a fractured kneecap in late December.
“It’s crazy thinking about the games and when I first started back playing and coming off my injury how many guys were going under my pick and rolls,” Irving said. “It was more or less a disrespect thing for me, but I wasn’t shooting it particularly well, the percentage didn’t say I was shooting it well. I really didn’t care. It was going to come. I shot 32 percent, and now, we’re in a season that really matters. That’s where my main focus is at.
“I’m not going to ever stop shooting or being who I am. These guys want me to shoot. If they’re going under my pick and rolls, I think it’s a disrespect not only to me, but to our team. They have to live with something I guess. It’s just continuing to prepare, prepare, prepare and trust my shot. The regular season didn’t matter. This is the season that really matters. I just want to continue to feed off these guys and when they pass me the ball, be ready to shoot.”
Good thing for the Cavaliers too that Irving is not going to stop shooting, as he hit a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left on the shot clock late in the fourth quarter that turned a five-point lead into an insurmountable eight-point advantage.
“It was a great play drawn by T-Lue, great just in the time and in the moment,” Irving said. “I believe we had what? A minute to draw up the play? Point-seven, when you have the talent that we have on this basketball team, we don’t necessarily panic in those types of situations.
“Execution is all that matters, and we go out and we set the hardest screens in that moment. That moment is the only thing that matters, and whoever gets the shot, we want him to shoot it confidently and we all believe in it. Luckily, I got the shot off, and it went in.”
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue added, “Kyrie was just being Kyrie. We’ve seen it before. We see it all the time, but I think defensively, he was great. He was locked in, but offensively, I thought he was real precise with what he wanted to do, where he wanted to go on the court with the basketball, and he also made some great passes, some great plays too. Outside of that big three he made at the end of the shot clock, I just thought overall, he played under control and was aggressive in attacking the basket, and also, making the right play.”
