Kyrie Irving’s Return Sparks Resurgence For Cleveland Cavaliers

As teams like the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs seem to be separating from the pack, the Cleveland Cavaliers look to remind the NBA that they are formidable contenders with a healthy Big Three.

Heading into the 2015 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers had already lost Kevin Love, a huge piece to their championship puzzle, for the entire postseason after suffering a shoulder injury in in the first-round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics. Still, the hope was that LeBron James and a beaten-up Kyrie Irving could lead the Cavaliers to their first championship in franchise history.

Game 1 needed overtime to decide who would take an early hold on the series, but with 2:22 left, Irving attempted a behind-the-back move and collapsed grabbing his knee. Later, it was revealed he fractured his left kneecap and would be out a minimum of three months. The rest was history as the Warriors went on to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy as champions.

As the 2015-16 season approached, the Cavaliers were favorites to win the East once again. However, for the start to the season they would be without Irving’s services as he continued to rehab his knee. Through the first 24 games, the Cavaliers put together a 17-7 overall record and first place in the Eastern Conference.

Irving made his season debut against the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 20, but as expected, head coach David Blatt wanted to ease the three-time NBA All-Star back into the lineup and manage his minutes effectively. He went on to play the next three of five games following the Philadelphia game, sitting out against Portland and Denver to rest.

The coaching staff seemed to have made it clear that they didn’t want Irving to have any chance of re-injuring his knee because of too many minutes. It was evident Blatt was being extremely cautious with the entire process. A few games later, the old Kyrie Irving is starting to appear more and more, which has the Cavaliers firing on all cylinders.

Cleveland traveled to the nation’s capital to take on the Wizards in their first game of a six-game road trip. The headlines before the game consisted mainly of John Wall and Irving squaring off for the first time this season.

Wall had recently made his opinions known about Irving receiving more All-Star votes than him despite only playing in three games prior to the interview, “It’s a joke,” Wall said according to CSN Mid-Atlantic. “I played like [expletive] the first month and a half but I still was averaging like 16 and eight. That’s not bad numbers.”

The final buzzer sounded and Cleveland had defeated Washington by a score of 121-115. Irving exploded for 32 points on 14-of-22 shooting to prove once again that he is one of the best point guards in the NBA. Irving supplied the crowd with an array of ball-handling moves, finished by a twisting layup as each limb of his body seemed to be going in different directions.

With Irving in the lineup, the Cavaliers are 7-1 — with their only loss coming against Golden State on Christmas Day. His return and high-level of play hasn’t only helped with gaining confidence in his game, it’s also spreading throughout the team–and one player in particular.

J.R. Smith benefitting from Irving’s presence

Before Irving’s return, Smith was really the only consistent scoring threat the Cavaliers had in the frontcourt. Matthew Dellavedova and Mo Williams filled in as point guards in Irving’s absence and while they both have the ability to score, their main focus was getting guys like Smith, James, and Kevin Love the ball for scoring opportunities.

Now that Irving is at the helm, opposing defenses have to be mindful that he can score any time he touches the ball. As a result, his presence demands much of the defense’s attention, which means more open shots for everyone else, and Smith has taken complete advantage.

Prior to Irving’s return, Smith was averaging 11.4 points per game and shooting 35.6 percent from three. In the eight games that Irving has played in, Smith is averaging 15.2 points per game, shooting 50.8 percent from three.

The past three games, Smith has posted 24, 25, and 27-point performances to help keep their current six-game winning streak alive.

Smith can be one of the most deadly three-point assassins in the NBA when he gets going. James told ESPN his thoughts on Smith never being invited to the three-point contest during All-Star Weekend, “I think I might need to start making that petition. Us being the No. 1 team in the East, him shooting the ball the way he’s been shooting it, we need to try to get as many guys to All-Star as possible. Guys know in the league he’s an unbelievable 3-point shooter and he deserves an invite.”

Iso situations

Irving’s skill set also allows Cleveland to take advantage of isolation situations offensively. Against Washington, the trio of Irving, James and Smith took turns going on their own scoring runs throughout the game. James hit four threes in a row to open up the second-half, and Irving waited for the fourth quarter to go on a 10-0 run of his own to bury the Wizards once and for all.

Moving forward, the Cavaliers know when they can depend on isolations and when they should refer to the sets. But with playmakers like James and Irving, isos could be the better option in the majority of situations.

“There’s a fine line, when you play isolation ball and it’s inefficient, then you need to figure out some else,” James told the media after the win in Washington. “We’re very efficient iso guys, and we’re able to keep everyone in tune at the same time we’re able to get our own and that’s what we were able to do tonight.”

It’s bad news for the rest of the NBA if the Cavaliers can ride this momentum and stay injury-free. Even with elite defensive teams such as Golden State and San Antonio, it would be difficult to consistently shut down a Cavaliers offense that is playing how they are now.

In accordance with Irving’s future, Blatt continues to temper expectations. But if Irving keeps playing as well as he has the past three games, those high expectations will become back to being routine as the Cavaliers look to gain a firm grasp on the Eastern Conference.

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“Those are two pretty big performances (referring to games vs Toronto and at Washington) after being out for so long, it’s only reasonable to expect that he’s gonna go through a process and still have days where he’s better and days when he’s gonna have some signs that he was out,” Blatt told the media following the win in Washington. “But it sure didn’t look like that tonight.”