2015 NFL draft and free agency for the Browns with Lane Adkins – WFNY Podcast – 2015-04-20
April 21, 2015Kyrie Irving: This is the greatest feeling in the world
April 21, 2015Happy Tuesday WFNY!
As long as we don’t talk about what happened with the Cleveland Indians last night, it will remain a happy Tuesday. We still have another week until the NFL draft, so perhaps we can talk football a little more next week. But the Cleveland Cavaliers have another playoff game tonight, so that is certainly something a little more exciting that I would rather talk about to lead off WWW this morning.
It was an absolute blast to watch playoff basketball again in Cleveland. I think almost all neutral sports fans seem to agree that the NHL Playoffs are the best playoffs in professional sports, and I would probably agree. But I place the NBA Playoffs a very close second. Look, I love the NFL playoffs for sure, but those are just one game matchups. The baseball playoffs offer a feeling of tradition and history that I love, but while the baseball playoffs do have series, every game feels so different due to the changing pitching matchups.
Basketball is different. The teams mostly start the same players and use the same players off the bench for the whole series. The teams go head to head over a maximum of seven games and the players grow to learn each other’s tendencies, which fosters feelings of frustration, resentment, and sports hatred. LeBron James mentioned that Game 1’s tend to be more of a feeling out game, and that was the case for the Cavaliers and Celtics in Game 1 on Sunday. The Celtics came out aggressive and played extremely well, but the Cavaliers indeed seemed like they were playing a little more reserved and absorbing the blow while feeling them out. Once the Cavaliers made a couple adjustments and got a little more comfortable, they took the game over and won a relatively easy first game.
It was a nice start. But the best start of all was the start of Kyrie Irving’s postseason career. Kyrie obviously had a monster Game 1, but is anyone really surprised? We had a bit of a lively discussion internally at WFNY yesterday about this. I was dumbfounded by how many “Oh wow, I guess the playoffs really aren’t too big for Kyrie Irving” type statements I saw and heard on Sunday and Monday.
I want to begin by drawing attention to a comment left by long-time Blawg Pound Champion, Harv, on last Friday’s WWW:
Believe Kyrie is going to get off in the playoffs as firmly I’ve believed anything in Cleve sports. Big game performance seems to be in his DNA, from the explosion against SA to international games MVP to all-star awards when everyone in the world is watching to his continually asking teammates “is this like the playoffs?”
Harv absolutely nailed this, and I don’t understand why there would have been any other opinion or expectation for Kyrie Irving. I could not have been less surprised to see Kyrie dominate the game offensively like he did. This is what Kyrie Irving was born to do. Throughout his entire NBA career, he has elevated his game in his biggest moments. Whether it be all of his huge fourth quarter heroics, his game winning shots, his FIBA MVP, his All-Star Game MVP, his Rising Stars MVP, his three point shooting title, etc. I still remember Kyrie challenging a then-healthy Kobe Bryant to a game of one-on-one back in 2012 after his rookie year when Kyrie was still a young, inexperienced player. The game never actually happened (Kobe would tear his achilles in the next season), but Kobe is one of the most psychotic competitors in sports. And Kyrie didn’t back down at all. Kyrie has the same brutal killer instinct that Kobe has.
So I found it a little annoying to see so many people feign surprise at Kyrie’s performance and act like it was somehow news-worthy to point out that the playoffs didn’t seem to be too big for Kyrie. Make no mistake about this. There is going to come a time in the very near future when Kyrie Irving will surpass LeBron James as the best player on this team.
This is a huge reason why LeBron came back to Cleveland. LeBron knows he’s at the point now where most players begin the slow, initial part of their decline. But that’s ok. He can be a facilitator for many years to come, even when he gets to the point that he can no longer get to the rim at will1. As long as Kyrie and LeBron are getting along and able to co-exist, this has all the makings of a beautiful, long-term basketball partnership.
Whereas in the past Kyrie was surrounded by players with similar skillsets who provided only redundancy in the offense, Kyrie now finally is playing next to players who perfectly complement Kyrie’s game. LeBron is able to set up Kyrie, Kevin Love is able to work inside-out, JR Smith is always ready for an outside shot and can space the floor.
This offense isn’t always pretty. Sometime bad habits creep in and they can get a little iso heavy. But the last time we watched the Cavaliers in the playoffs, it was the LeBron James show, and we just had to pray every game that someone else would step up. Not this time. This time around, the Cavaliers feel like a more complete team. I remember last time around always watching LeBron sit at the postseason podium by himself. It was a stark contrast from watching Durant and Westbrook up there together, or the big three in Boston. It was such a relief to see the Cavaliers big three all sitting at the podium together after game one. It’s the perfect image that sets up what the Cavaliers are trying to accomplish.
It was only Game 1 of Series 1. Anything can change and you never want to look ahead in the playoffs (although the Bulls are making it tough not to). But this was a good start. Not just for Kyrie, but for the team as a whole. One down, fifteen more to go.
*****
A coach’s life is a lonely life
I heard that saying somewhere once, I don’t remember who said it. But it probably applies more to David Blatt than any other coach around right now. When Blatt went to Europe to play and eventually coach, he didn’t just go there to visit. He settled down there. He met his wife there. His kids were born and raised in Israel. Now Blatt is a visitor here in the US. Because his kids still had school and lives in Israel, his wife and kids stayed behind. David Blatt was here alone.
It had to be a lonely, emotional season for Blatt. From dealing with the early season struggles, to all the swirling talk about the Cavaliers undermining his authority, to a less than ringing public endorsement from LeBron James, to Brian Windhorst portraying Blatt as a paper doll of a head coach. There’s no way it was easy to not have his family around to support him through all of that noise. But he never let it get the best of him.
Sure, Blatt was frequently short with the media. He probably could have handled a few things better. But for the most part, he held his head up, demonstrated leadership, and slowly won over his players. Nobody outside the team can say for sure what the dynamic currently is with David Blatt and his team, but there’s no question that the feeling around the team has changed dramatically for the better. There’s a tangible difference in the way LeBron James talks about Blatt today compared to four months ago.
So it was great to see the joyous emotion David Blatt showed at his postgame press conference when he announced that his daughters had come to Cleveland to watch this game, their first time seeing their dad coach in the NBA. For those who don’t know, Blatt had a bit of a tough upbringing. His father left when he was young, leaving his mother to raise him by herself. You know the decision to come to America and leave his family behind wasn’t easy. It was only natural, then, to see the pride and happiness beaming on Blatt’s face at the presser. It was a moving moment and I was really happy for Coach Blatt to have that moment with his family.
*****
New Music of the Week
Not a ton of good releases this week, but there a couple worth noting. I am really enjoying the new self-titled album from seminal British punk band Wire. But my favorite album of the week is Passion Pit’s new release, “Kindred”.
I’ve talked about Passion Pit before on a past WFNY music podcast with Craig Lyndall. The indie pop band from Baltimore is fronted by Michael Angelakos, who is a fascinating figure. The son of accomplished musicians, he was born with music pouring through his blood. He creates some of the most unique pop arrangements combining synth layers with sampled loops, piano, and other instrumentation.
After a rather deep bout with depression, Angelakos leaned on Passion Pit as a band more than just a solo project for 2012’s masterpiece, “Gossamer”. Now, the band is back more or less picking up right where they left off. Kindred may not have the same level of highpoints as Gossamer had, but I think you could make an argument for Kindred as the more consistent album from start to finish. I really love this album, and I hope you guys do as well.
*****
That’s been my time. I hope every single one of you has the absolute best week!
- Let me clear about this….there is nothing to indicate LeBron is getting even close to the point where he’s no longer the complete dominant player that he’s always been. The part of LeBron’s career that I’m referring to here is probably still three or four years away [↩]
8 Comments
Fracking Indians…
Amen on Blatt. Hopefully if they win he gets the credit he deserves.
Kyrie is the anti-Mo Williams.
(Sees Harv across the bar. Nods. Continues on.)
He’s Bizarro Mo. He’s Bizarmo.
Puzzled why Aviles was the best option at CF
Holt remains the best option defensively in CF (including Bourn).
Figures, the day I’m too jammed to get online and check WWW is the day I get some Andrew love. Thanks, brother (sayeth the blind squirrel).
Last fall I saw and briefly met Blatt downtown at a public event. Just in the way he engaged a total stranger I came away thinking what a thoroughly decent (and smart) human being he is. Have tried not to comment too much about him since then because I think I lost my objectivity that day. Whenever he’s looked alone – that day, on the bench while his assistants talk to each other – remind myself that this is a Jewish guy who went from Israel to coach the Russian national team in a tournament that meant something to that country, and all that implies to those who know something about Russia. He’s a tough guy in his own way, he’ll be fine here if he gets the chance to settle in.