CLEVELAND -- Kyrie Irving -- you know, the guy with the NBA championship, Olympic gold medal, three All-Star Game appearances, an All-Star MVP, Rookie of the Year award and two 55-plus-point performances to his name, all at the tender age of 24 -- was back on the court Saturday night.
The significance of Irving’s 21-point, six-rebound, 12-assist, three-steal game in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 119-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, other than the fact that the assists tied a career high, was the seven days that preceded it. That’s because Irving -- healthy and smack-dab in the opening act of his prime -- took a week off, at Cavs coach Tyronn Lue’s behest, to rest.
Was he 100 percent OK with that decision?
“Yep,” Irving said, flatly, after the Lakers game.
That’s not how Lue tells it.
“Our biggest thing is trying to keep Kyrie healthy,” said Lue, not needing to remind reporters of the fractured kneecap Irving suffered during the 2015 NBA Finals or the ligament injury to his right big toe he suffered in college. “There’s going to be times where he’s going to be mad at me or mad at the training staff; that’s part of it. The biggest thing is we’re trying to prepare ourselves for the playoffs.”
Irving was mad, or at the very least headstrong, last season when Lue wanted to sit him out of the season finale. It came after the star guard vowed to not miss any more games when the calendar hit 2016 to make up for lost time while he was rehabbing his knee to begin the campaign.
As much as Lue allowed that Irving still bucked against his choice to rest him after he admitted to having “tired legs” in an atypical 11-point, 4-for-13 shooting night against Charlotte last Saturday, Irving seems to be seeing the big picture.
“Think about I hadn’t played basketball in seven months when I said that,” Irving explained of his declaration last December that he didn’t plan to miss any more games come January. “I’ve been playing basketball for going on more than a year now. In the amount of games and minutes I’ve logged in that short period of time of coming off knee surgery, for me, it’s just about being smart and not running into that wall completely. I’m able to push through anything, and my mind commands my body; at the same time, it’s still about being smart.”
It’s smart, and also a strong show of restraint from Irving. Particularly in the face of that type of body-maintenance program being ridiculed by everyone from certain media pundits to former players such as Allen Iverson.
“I would never, ever, ever sit out a game if something wasn’t broke,” Iverson said Friday before the Lakers played the Philadelphia 76ers. “I knew you all would want to see me."
Even Irving’s teammate, J.R. Smith, said how hard it would be for him to accept being told he had to sit when he was totally healthy at 24 years of age.
“Am I me, or am I somebody else?” Smith said when asked how he would have handled it. “If I’m me and I’m an All-Star, I’m mad as hell, honestly. That’s just me though. I like to play every game. One of my goals since I started my career was to try to play 82. Younger stages it’s easier to do that. I was on a team that won 18 games as opposed to a team that won the Finals and championship, so different circumstances, I guess.”
For the Cavs, it’s about maximizing the opportunity when they choose to go in a different direction from the norm. Sure, Lue took full responsibility for the move and willingly accepted any blame that came from it to shield his players, but then his players have to use that time wisely to make the decision worthwhile. Which Irving did, apparently.
“I used those days to full capability,” Irving said. “Just stayed with my strength-and-conditioning coach when the team went on the road, just getting treatment, staying in the gym trying to stay as sharp as possible, but at the same time realizing that the amount of pounding I was trying to stay off my legs was the most important thing. Two days, two-and-a-half days in between, not so much basketball, more or less weight-room stuff.”
Lue said he noticed more “pop” in Irving when he returned to practice following the break, and his output in the Lakers game was clearly better than what he did in the Hornets game the previous time he played.
The coach says he’ll “probably” pull Irving again this season to rest him. And if that does happen? “If we ever come to that point again, I’m going to put myself in the best position in order for myself and the team,” Irving said.
There was some compromise on Irving’s part. But not about everything. One of his assists came when he had what looked to be a wide-open layup, yet he passed it out to Richard Jefferson for 3 instead.
“I was mad,” Lue said of Irving’s choice. “But R.J. made it, so good pass.”
When told about Lue’s reaction, Irving simply said, “That’s fine,” somewhat dismissively.
Lue got Irving to ultimately buy into his greater vision, which is more important than harnessing that instinct on the Jefferson pass, anyway.
“He can get mad at times, because you’re young and you want to play,” Lue said. “You’ve got to understand the task at hand and what we’re focused on and what our mission is. He understands that now, and we just got to keep moving forward.”
