Irvings first step with a bum knee still >>> 90% of point guards in the league

[CavaliersFTW]

:bowdown:

[Suguru101]

How did he look, physically? Was his stamina OK? Speed? Quickness?

[dubeta]

Could he have made the league in the 60's??

[CavaliersFTW]

How did he look, physically? Was his stamina OK? Speed? Quickness?
Personally I feel he should have rested... only looks about 50% at best

I'm hoping if we win tonight though the 9 days he'll get will bump him up to at least 90% he's gonna need everything he's got against Curry and NBA fans deserve to watch that matchup at it's potential best. Both of those guys are game changing cold blooded murderers when they're dialed in :bowdown:

[navy]

His first step isnt that good to be honest. He doesnt get by people with pure speed especially now. He just positions his body well and has a great handle.

[r15mohd]

i think the only reason he even played was to test out the knee brace and whether he'd be comfy or not using it during the finals...but he was descent, not super-explosive as he normally is but he still got to the ring, basically, at-will

[CavaliersFTW]

His first step isnt that good to be honest. He doesnt get by people with pure speed especially now. He just positions his body well and has a great handle.
What do you mean it isn't that good? Basically nobody can stay in front of him ever see anyone stay chest to chest with him one on one?

[navy]

What do you mean it isn't that good? Basically nobody can stay in front of him ever see anyone stay chest to chest with him one on one?
Like I said, what I consider a great first step is taking a step past a person when the person has some distance away from you but your so quick they cant stop you. Irving doesn't do that. He positions his body well so they cant recover(chest to chest) or he uses his crazy handle and people get lost in dribble.

[Taller than CP3]

20% Kyrie > 100% Teague

:bowdown:

[RedBlackAttack]

I actually think the one area of his game still clearly being impacted by his leg issues is his first step. The explosiveness still isn't there. He is crafty enough to still get to the basket occasionally, but I think people forget just how explosive this guy is when he's fully healthy.

As good a defender as Iman Shumpert has shown to be in these playoffs, a healthy Kyrie can explode right around him if the help doesn't come quick enough.

http://i.giphy.com/yoJC2joSVtEtojQ5pe.gif

This is a guy who was blowing by Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard regularly when they played the Spurs earlier this year.

Tonight, he had a hard time shaking loose of Teague who is an OK defender, but nothing on the tier of those guys. Most of his points came from getting loose on screens or just being crafty around the basket.

I'm hoping over the next eight days, his explosive first and second steps start to return. We're going to need him, although I don't believe Curry is as good a defender as Teague. Problem is, he'll have to work a lot harder on the other end.

[el gringos]

Personally I feel he should have rested... only looks about 50% at best

I'm hoping if we win tonight though the 9 days he'll get will bump him up to at least 90% he's gonna need everything he's got against Curry and NBA fans deserve to watch that matchup at it's potential best. Both of those guys are game changing cold blooded murderers when they're dialed in :bowdown:
Yeah why did they play him at all. That was an added rest right there that might have made a difference. Not like there was any chance of losing the series. There was almost no chance of losing the game. They had already destroyed the hawks mental state

[RedBlackAttack]

Yeah why did they play him at all. That was an added rest right there that might have made a difference. Not like there was any chance of losing the series. There was almost no chance of losing the game. They had already destroyed the hawks mental state
I'm sure it was a rhythm/confidence thing. Ever since Kyrie hurt his knee, his confidence has looked shaky at best. He looked unsure of himself, as if the injury was going to worsen at any moment. That is a tough mental hurdle to overcome, especially for basketball players and knees.

The Cavs flat-out said when the announcement was made that he was playing tonight that part of the reason was to get his confidence back. And, I think they succeeded in doing that. He still wasn't the dominant offensive force that he is at even 80-90%, but he was still pretty damn good. Being able to go out there and put up 16 points on 50+% shooting, 5 assists and 4 rebounding in just 21 minutes is definitely enough to get your confidence back up.

The other thing is rhythm. Kyrie has always been an incredible rhythm player. He'll have games where he goes 4-17 for 12 points, but then he'll rattle off multiple 30+ point games in a row and you wonder who that guy was that was invisible that one night not that long ago. He was better about that this year, as he learned to play so well off of LeBron, but it's still there.... especially when it comes to his jumpshot.

At the end of the day, I think they figured the chance to get his confidence right and get him some rhythm in an intense atmosphere against one of the better PGs in the NBA was worth the risk of him re-injuring something.

Turned out they were right. There were no setbacks and he looked good, relative to where he was last week. Now, these eight days off are going to be critical, because instead of playing at 70%, he's going to need to be at 90 or 100% against Golden State.