I will be the first to admit, I thought Kyrie Irving was in for a rude awakening in his post-LeBron world after his divorce with the Cavaliers this summer.
As of November 21, I couldn’t be more wrong.
Irving looks every bit the role of mega star that can carry a team to championship contention with pure talent and will and he is willing the Celtics to one of the most impressive winning streaks in some time.
The Celtics extended their winning streak to 16 games on Monday night after coming back from another double-digit deficit to beat the Mavericks 110-102 in overtime.
Irving had his best night as a Celtic yet and one of the better games for a Celtics player in the past 30 years.
Masked Kyrie Irving vs. Dallas
47 points
16/22 FGs
5/7 3PTs
10/11 FTs
6 assists
+21 pic.twitter.com/6I7iv19kid— Celtics Junkies (@CelticsJunkies) November 21, 2017
Shooting over 70% on more than 20 shots has only happened 16 other times in NBA history and Irving is the first Celtic to score 40 or more points on 70% shooting or better since Larry Legend himself in 1866.
His shooting over the past two games has hearkened back to another hall of fame Celtic from the 1980s as well…
Kyrie Irving:
Joins Kevin McHale (1985) as only #Celtics players with 75+ points and 75% FG over a two game span. (via @EliasSports) pic.twitter.com/qMAV5LfRzG
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) November 21, 2017
If you need any more proof that Irving has been historically good this season, especially in the clutch, here you go…
Kyrie Irving in Clutch Time this season (with league rank):
Points: 53 (2nd)
FG: 18 (1st)
Assists: 8 (2nd)
Turnovers: 0 (1st)
Minutes: 30 (20th)
Plus/Minus: +29Not sure anything can rival what IT did in 4th last year. But Kyrie’s been very good. pic.twitter.com/rBIYXdEF5O
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) November 17, 2017
While James Harden, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo are playing out of this world to start this season, it is hard to pick anyone other than Kyrie Irving as your (very) early season MVP.
