Ranking the 15 best performances in the NBA this season

13. Kyrie Irving debuts in Brooklyn with a bang (10/23/19)

Upon making their signings official, everyone was curious as to what the newly-minted tandem of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant could mean to the Brooklyn Nets‘ championship aspirations.

Before that process could begin, Irving would have to fly solo while Durant rehabbed his torn Achilles for the duration of the coming season, taking on a leadership role that hasn’t always worked in his favor.

Yet for all the criticism Irving had thrown at him amid a tumultuous 2018-19 season in Boston — fair or not — it became so easy to forget the reason his shoulders were tasked with that responsibility to begin with as one of the game’s premier talents.

While fans may have been interested to see how he’d lead Brooklyn off the court, Irving made sure to use his Nets debut as a blunt reminder of how he could contribute on it.

In the season and home opener against Minnesota, he became only the 21st player in NBA history to record 50 points without a turnover in a single game.

Kyrie shot 17-of-33 from while contributing eight rebounds, seven assists and seven 3-pointers in a narrow one-point defeat, narrowly missing a game-winner at the buzzer in overtime.

Injuries limited him to just 20 games before he was shut down for the reason. Brooklyn’s 8-12 record in those games did little to quell the concerns that seemed to have followed him from Boston.

If only for a day, however, Irving looked the part of superstar scorer that helped cement a spot among the game’s elite. After his reputation took a hit the season prior, it was a much-needed performance, even if it came in defeat.