Kyrie Irving: "inner rage" over constant criticism of his game helps him stay focused

[RedBlackAttack]

This was part of the Q&A during Cavs' media day. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_LmQGNg2U

Transcript:

"For me after The Shot -- which is crazy to think it has its own title and you have The Block, The Shot and The Stop -- so, all three of those things were a progression ... without those three plays happening, I wouldn't be sitting here as an NBA Champion. I'm truly thankful for it.

"Life has changed, for sure, but the thing that resonates with me the most is playing well on the biggest stage -- The Finals. I played pretty crappy the first two games and everyone is kinda trying to make the decision of what I should be as a player, what I need to be doing out there and all these 'so called' experts were saying this. Everyone that was internal was looking me eye-to-eye and telling me to be myself. You don't need to be something else. Don't try to be a 10-11 assist guy in The Finals. It was all that.

"Once I kind of accepted (tuning out) the noise and accepted the moment, everything was fine from there. The biggest thing for me is, after that, I was waiting for more questions. I was waiting for more questions like, 'What about you shooting on this possession or what do you think about doing this (instead) ... And, I was so defensive I didn't really celebrate right after we won. I just hugged my dad and hugged my sister and my dad's looking at me like 'What's wrong.'

"I told him, 'I'm waiting for someone to come up to me and say something about what (I did wrong) during the game. So, I'm glad I still have that edge. I still have it today and I will carry it on into the season. That rage and the inner-desire to win and being known as a winner is something I will always try to achieve with all my great teammates."

I expect a big year from Kyrie, injuries notwithstanding. He looks to be in the best condition of his career. He proved a lot of people wrong when he showed that, as the games got more important and in the moments where some shrink and some raise their game, he rose to a level not even his biggest fans expected.

I do think it was partly his hitting his stride right at the correct time after slowly coming back from that serious injury and a serious need to prove all of the doubters wrong. I'm looking at you, Haralabos Voulgaris, Tom Haberstroh and the rest of the analytic geeks who enjoy pouring over numbers rather than watching games.

[RedBlackAttack]

More:

Kyrie Irving still has the same edge, even after the best and longest year of his life

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- One year ago, during Cleveland Cavaliers media day, Kyrie Irving spoke about playing with rage.

The internal boiling started during Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals, as he fractured his left kneecap, which robbed him of his first chance on the NBA Finals stage.

It's something he had dreamt about since he was a young kid practicing a variety of shots in his New Jersey driveway against a chipped backboard while using his father's car lights to illuminate the basket. And thanks to a nasty collision with Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson, Irving was forced to watch the short-handed Cavaliers lose the NBA title and was staring at months of rehab.

The loss stung. Irving believed health was the primary difference between the two teams.

He was also angry about missing the beginning of training camp and the first few months of the regular season. Instead of working on his game, Irving's summer was spent recovering, learning to walk, jump and play basketball again.

The rage was understandable, even for a young star with his own signature shoe and an extraordinary resume.

Flash forward to Monday afternoon, about three months after the Cavs hoisted the NBA championship trophy, completing a historic comeback punctuated by Irving's defining moment, and a month since Irving became a first-time Olympic gold medalist. It would be logical to think the internal fire that fueled him during the 2015-16 campaign would have burned out.

Not quite.

"I'm glad I still have that edge and still have it today," Irving said. "I will carry on into the season. That rage that I talked about last year and inner desire to win and being a winner is something I strive to be with all my great teammates."

But where does it stem from?

According to Irving, it starts with the constant criticism he has received, much of it coming during the Finals.

"Played pretty crappy the first two games and everyone made their decision on who I should be as a player, what I should be doing out there and all these so-called experts were saying this," Irving said. "Everyone internal was telling me and looking at me eye-to-eye and telling me to just be myself. There was nothing else to be. 'There was no one else you need to be, you don't need to try to be a 10-assist or 11-assist guy in the Finals.' It was all that. Once I accepted the noise and accepted the moment, everything was fine from there."

Even after head coach Tyronn Lue implored Irving to be aggressive, to take advantage of his brilliant one-on-one skills, Irving had a tough time ignoring the chatter. He heard it and wanted to prove his detractors wrong.

His shot selection. His score-first mentality. Whether he had the skill set to make his teammates better. It was all questioned.

In the Finals, Irving was under siege after defensive lapses and iso-centric offense.

"I was waiting for more questions about, 'What about you shooting on this possession?' Or, 'What about you doing this or that?' I was done," Irving admitted. "I was so defensive that I didn't celebrate right after we won. I just hugged my dad and my sister. My dad is looking at me like, 'What's wrong?' I'm telling him, 'I'm waiting for someone to come up and say something to me about what happened during the game.'"

But there wasn't much left to say. Irving shined in the Finals, getting the better of his counterpart Stephen Curry, and hitting The Shot over the league MVP.

Irving finally had the validation he always coveted.

There's still plenty of motivation this season and it appears Irving still has a chip on his shoulder. However, he was able to escape the spotlight for a brief time this off-season and appreciate his numerous accomplishments.

"I just had to refocus and reprioritize," Irving said. "I say it so truthfully I did not expect this to happen this quick. Dating back to last year to the Finals we make it there but the magnitude and platform is a little different. This year we have everyone healthy throughout the whole entire playoffs. A few nicks and bruises but it was a different situation. Whether it played out win or lose, there was definitely going to be a time where I had to step back and that's what I did this past summer. Enjoying my off-season for two weeks and then gearing back up and then going to the Olympics and doing that and then coming back and resting for another two or three weeks, just have to take a step back emotionally and physically and realize what just took place."

Irving found solace while re-watching the games on TV and sending Snapchats to his teammates. He especially enjoyed reliving The Shot.

"The chills that I got, my stomach dropping, knowing that the basket is going to go in but knowing exactly how I felt emotionally during game," Irving said. "I know they're running it on NBA TV consistently, Game 1 through 7, so I watched all those. As you can see, it still gets me excited thinking about it.

"It's a huge moment for not only Cleveland, but families and friends. A lot of guys -- R.J. (Richard Jefferson) hadn't been back to the Finals since he was in New Jersey his first and second year and you think about Dahntay Jones going to the Western Conference Finals, you're thinking about 'Bron and all the guys we have on this team -- we've all had some sort of bump in the road that stopped us from getting our goal and we were all brought together for a reason and we made it happen so that's what I take away from it."

It was a short off-season for the Cavaliers. Training camp starts Tuesday. The time for reflection is over. After all, the Cavs have a title to defend, another chance to make history.

"There are going to be so many more challenges, so many different obstacles that we're going to have to face this year as a ball club," LeBron James said. "We have to be mentally focused, mentally prepared for it all."

For Irving, that shouldn't be too tough. He cleared plenty of mental hurdles last season. He's more mature, with a better understanding of what's required for the Cavs to reach their zenith.

"So 2015 through '16 was pretty good," he said. "And 2017, just higher expectations, had to re-prioritize and kind of take a step back and see the places where I can get better. Hopefully I still have a higher ceiling to go."

It will be tough for him to top last year. He became a father, a champion and Olympic gold medalist. He hit the biggest shot in franchise history and grew into a more complete, comfortable player while also becoming, in his words, an even better man.

But he's ready to tackle this latest challenge and will be doing it with the same passion he used last season, something that has Lue grinning when thinking about what lies ahead for the 24-year-old budding superstar.

"His ceiling is very high," Lue said. "The thing I always talk about with him is he has no offensive weaknesses. He can post the basketball, he can pull up off the dribble, he can shoot behind a screen, floaters, he can finish over bigs and a 90-percent free-throw shooter. Having a guy like him is great because you can give him the ball and he can go 'get out of the way' and he can go to the basket. The Game 7 3-point shot, that's who Kyrie is. He wants to come out every night and destroy his opponent."

[Bankaii]

I don't think there's better fit in the league for Kyrie than Lebron.
Lebron handles running the offense and basically being point forward, and that allows Kyrie to be who he is, a scoring machine and clutch assassin.
Now they they both know their roles Kyrie will be great next year, if he can stay healthy.

Love is the only one that's still questionable.

[CTbasketball92]

Other than seeing Westbrook lead OKC to 55+ wins somehow, there's nothing I want more than to see Kyrie make All NBA second team this year. His midrange game is elite and his 3ball should be back above 38%, and he should be fresh enough. Can't wait. Hope he plays adequate defense, though. If he does that, he has zero meaningful weaknesses.

[SCdac]

Big tings agwan for Kyrie ... In a selfish way I wish the Spurs could package Tony Parker/1st round picks/and some for him but I know it aint happening ... I digress but no doubt his work ethic, level of skill, and clutchness in big games will keep the Cavs contenders

[DukeDelonte13]

Other than seeing Westbrook lead OKC to 55+ wins somehow, there's nothing I want more than to see Kyrie make All NBA second team this year. His midrange game is elite and his 3ball should be back above 38%, and he should be fresh enough. Can't wait. Hope he plays adequate defense, though. If he does that, he has zero meaningful weaknesses.

I agree with this prediction. Fully healthy this year.

[TheWinningFam]

Kyrie and lebron that shaq and kobe 2.0

[Spurs m8]

Kyrie is a sick c*nt and will finish his career higher on the GOAT list than Steph, 100%

[TommyGriffin]

Kyrie is a sick c*nt and will finish his career higher on the GOAT list than Steph, 100%

Kawhi m8's inner rage helps him keep focused when hes posting on ISH.

[Spurs m8]

Kawhi m8's inner rage helps him keep focused when hes posting on ISH.

Better to let ya rage out on the net than IRL a lot of the time.

Especially at work haahah

Im 2.75 hours off finishing work early (its 12:45pm Thursday here) and kicking off a 3 day weekend and the AFL grand final is on Saturday, I'm f*ckin stoked today tbh

Will be home blazing soon!

[Smoke117]

He has a lot of holes in his game...so criticism is only natural.

[ShawkFactory]

Good.

I've criticized his game before. Never his talent.

Without getting into too much detail because I'm pressed for time: I know you're a huge fan of his (as you should be) but he's had people pick apart his game and the flaws of it, and sometimes it's absolutely been warranted. When his shot isn't falling he's been rendered ineffective A LOT in his career. When things aren't working for him on a particular night he hasn't shown the ability to scrap and claw and impact the game in other ways. The finals were a little bit of a different story and I'm hoping he can carry that over so that his capabilities are reflected in his performance over an extended period of time.

I know he's still young, but with great talent comes great scrutiny. Think of what guys like Lebron and Kobe were going through at 23/24. And how they were as players. Kyrie may not be quite in that level but if he's anything close he'll have to deal with this type of thing.

Good on him for using it as fuel.

[tpols]

kyrie likely peaked last year in the playoffs .. i doubt he does anything better than last year's finals, imo. still was really great though

[Spurs m8]

kyrie likely peaked last year in the playoffs .. i doubt he does anything better than last year's finals, imo. still was really great though

LOL Garbage

Stephs career peaked in OKC.

Kyries is just getting going.

Steph wishes he was a shade of Kyrie at 24 years old.

[CTbasketball92]

*ominous piano key* "That's how it starts ... the mostly unjustified criticism ... the untimely injuries and the subsequent feeling of powerlessness ... that turns a non-playoff contender ... [into] Champion ..." (Jafar's Voice)

* a barrage of bullets destroy the remains of a desolate basketball court as spectators chant, and a miraculous Yellow man proclaimed by some as a "False God" descends to greet an unshaken mortal. The Yellow man from the sky rightfully believes his supernatural abilitiy will ensure his victory, but the dark guardian of efficient mid-2000's iso-ball says the banana man has another thing coming.*

"Tell me, do you Choke," the shadowy, phantom like dribbler err ... I mean, guardian, says to the omnipotent yellow man. " You will ..."

*Drums intensify and crescendo*

Title Rises

Kyrie Irving Vs. Stephen Curry: Kyrie's Better