Kyrie Irving Is On Some Larry Bird Shit

Listen any time you do something as a member of the Boston Celtics that is mentioned in the same sentence as Larry Bird, it’s a big deal. No two ways about it. You get into that rarified air and you know you’ve done something special. Personally I find it insane that nobody has had multiple 35/10 games in the same season in nearly 30 years. How is that possible? So right off the bat that’s already impressive as hell. Then you factor in what Kyrie’s  38/11 did for the Celtics tonight and it makes it all the more sweet. That performance carried them in a way that ensured they would not suffer yet another horrific loss to a really bad team immediately following a gigantic win. Sure they gave up 110 to a team that can’t score, but shit happens. This was their chance to show that they wouldn’t have another letdown performance, and while this certainly made us stress more than we should have, at the end of the day Kyrie put the team on his back and closed it out. Just like he did against TOR a few days ago, just like he has on numerous occasions.

While we’re on the subject, a quick look at Kyrie’s last 5 give us a 22/4.4/8.0 average with 56/39% shooting line. He’s now 7 for his last 12 from deep, and backing up 27/5/18 with 38/7/11 is certainly no joke. You could tell right from the start his mindset was to be aggressive, as 8 of his 14 FGM came inside the paint. He finally got to the line a little with 6 FTA by being much better playing to contact, and when things got tight and this team needed someone to make play after play, Kyrie accepted that challenge. His late game execution over the last handful of games has been so incredible it makes you wonder what might be. That’s the role he’s going to have to fill on this team, especially with how inconsistent the Celtics can be shooting the basketball. The one thing we know we can rely on is Kyrie rising to the occasion on a consistent basis. That’s a nice luxury.

Now do I expect him to be pulling off all this Larry Bird type trickery all the time? No, but as someone who has talked about wanting to make an impact historically with this franchise, I would say having performances that bring you into Larry Bird territory is always a good place to start. The way he’s playing right now it makes you think maybe he can catch Larry’s 5, but then you realize maybe that’s just the Kool Aid talking and maybe we should just appreciate what we’re watching.

P.S.

No brainer, had to include this