On Sunday December 20th 2015 Kyrie Irving made his debut this short NBA season vs the lowly Philadelphia 76ers who at the time were 1-28. I probably shouldn’t shout that too loud as I’m a Lakers fan and that solo victory came against Kobe an co. That’s another discussion this one is in regards to the return of the Cleveland Cavaliers all star often injured starting point guard. Many feel had it not been for the injury bug attacking Cleveland last year, King James would have 3 chips instead of two.
By now everyone is familiar with the chatter surrounding the 2014/2015 NBA playoffs. Kevin Love sustained a shoulder injury in the first round of the playoffs vs the feisty Boston Celtics. Fast forward the Cavaliers first NBA finals appearance since 2007. Game one, despite 23 points from Kyrie Irving and a great defensive play on the regular season MVP Steph Curry to force overtime, the cavaliers lost. Even tougher than the 0-1 deficit was the fact Kyrie wouldn’t play the rest of the series with a fractured knee cap. Kyrie has a history of weird injuries ranging from toes to wrist but this one came at a most inopportune time.
The eventual loss to the Warriors (with good reason fair or not to the champs) brought allot of “what ifs” from nba fans especially from Northeast Ohio. What if Kyrie or Kevin were healthy? What if even one of those players was able to help Lebron out in the finals? With Lebron going all “super saiyan” in the finals even a sub par performance from either guy could’ve drastically changed things. We will never know. We will however get to see if Kyrie can alter things this season.
Currently averaging 13ppg with restricted minutes Cleveland has a certain swagger as of late, almost as if the season has just began in their eyes. The handles do appear to still be on ice and you can attribute the low field goal percentage to the limited minutes and rust. Everything seems to be falling into place with plenty of time to get their chemistry back for a deep playoff run. Fingers crossed we get a healthy Uncle drew throughout the playoffs!
