Kyrie Irving news: An artist with the basketball, but why is he so hard to stop?
- Tyler Vaysman
- 15 March 2022
Kyrie Irving easily has one of, if not the greatest, handles of all time in the history of the NBA, which just makes it so hard for opposing players to defend.
Irving knows exactly how to get his defenders off balance, slip through cracks, and change speeds with the basketball in his hands to either pull up from anywhere on the court or finish at the rim.
Simply put, he's an artist with the basketball in his hands.
Because of all of those abilities, Irving found himself as one of the only players to average 25+ points per game on 50/40/90 shooting splits.
Irving started out his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, as he eventually teamed up with LeBron James once LeBron decided to come home.
They formed one of the deadliest duos in NBA history, as both led the Cavs to their first-ever NBA championship in 2016 against the Golden State Warriors. Kyrie hit the game-winning 3-pointer in Game 7 of that series, as they took down a team that had the best record in NBA history at 73-9.
Irving's performance throughout that entire Finals garnered him some serious MVP consideration, as he averaged 27.1 points on nearly 47 percent shooting to go along with 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game throughout that series. However, LeBron had a Finals performance of a lifetime, so that he couldn't be denied.
Local Kid Comes Home
Irving eventually moved onto the Boston Celtics after his time in Cleveland, but after just two seasons in Boston, Irving decided to come home and play for the Brooklyn Nets and team up with his best friend in Kevin Durant.
Irving grew up in West Orange, NJ, as the Nets were playing in New Jersey when Irving was growing up.
It didn't take long for Nets fans to fall in love with Irving, as Irving dropped 50 points in his Nets debut.
While Irving has always performed extremely well on the court, there has been some controversy surrounding him ever since he came to the Nets, with the primary issue being his inability to partake in home games due to his vaccination status.
While it's disappointing that this is how it's played out up to this point, Irving has still shown a strong commitment to his team by playing hard each and every possession during games he's available and taking teammates such as Bruce Brown and Cam Thomas under his wing.
Perception may say that Irving is selfish, but Irving has done a ton of great humanitarian work, which includes providing access to clean water to people in a small village in Pakistan, purchasing a home for George Floyd's family, paying off the tuition for several HBCU students as well as many other things.
All in all, Irving is a gifted basketball player and a good-hearted person. Let's just hope he can return to the court full-time one way or another and put all of this behind him.
