We've Never Seen This Version Of Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving is well known for being one of the most dynamic scorers across the league, and with the Mavs offense primarily being run through Luka Doncic, many people thought Irving would take up the similar role he had in Cleveland, where he would be the perfect co-star who adds a massive scoring punch. But so far against the Thunder, Irving hasn't been putting up ridiculous scoring numbers. However, he's still finding ways to affect the game in a multitude of different ways. Now offensively, I think Irving has been having his biggest impact as a playmaker. One of Kyrie's biggest strengths is his ability to put the ball down and put pressure on the rim, and OKC's off-ball defenders have been really aggressive in shifting towards the ball and taking away any easy look at the rim, but that in return opens up these kickout threes. You'll see Jalen Williams here lightly picking up Irving full court, and as Irving explodes into this right-hand drive, notice how these three off-ball defenders collapse into the paint, which opens up this corner three. When playing in pick and roll, the Thunder have also been throwing these aggressive blitzes at Irving, and Kyrie's been consistently making the simple play and giving his teammates advantages to attack. I like this dime here, where again OKC is going to blitz him off his screen, and Irving has his strength to step through and deliver this pass to Gafford below the rim. And if OKC has tried to run any traditional coverage against Irving, he's pretty much mastered every pass out of pick and roll, being able to whip these one-hand pocket passes, plus being able to pick apart the defense two passes away. Watch him here take one dribble off his screen, then use his eyes to sell this pass to the roller, but then he whips the ball behind him to Derek Jones for the three. Dallas has also been using Irving to initiate their offense. Because Kyrie is a real outside shooting threat, he forces his man to step up and guard him out beyond the three, which then gives his teammates more space to screen and cut. Notice how Jalen Williams here is picking up Kyrie at the logo, which gives Luka plenty of to work off this pin down screen, to then attack into this open space. Now of course Irving throughout this series has been finding spots to score, and I think he's been doing his most consistent work in the midrange, where Kyrie has a variety of different pull ups and floaters with both hands. Now in previous videos, we've gone over how physical Irving is with the ball, and how he uses that strength to bump and work his way to spots, to then create space for these in between looks. And he's been doing the same thing against the Thunder, where he loves to use these sharp driving lines, to then attack the defense's body and separate out into his shot. You'll see him here do nothing super advanced off the dribble, he's just gonna drop down into this right hand drive, then veer into the defense's body, and he steps back off his right foot, and lands on balance for this picture perfect fadeaway. Now Irving's gonna hit the same move going left, and watch him again lower his shoulder and dribble through contact, then he's gonna stop on a dime planting that right foot, and he creates plenty of airspace to rise up. This play here is pretty crazy, where Irving's gonna put Ludor in the post, and he bumps him back into the paint like he's a mismatch, to then set up this turnaround towards the middle. And then on top of all those different pull ups, Kyrie also has a really dynamic floater game, watch him here put the ball down low to knife through traffic, then he stops on 2 and gets to this floater at the free throw line. And Irving can also get into these runners really quickly, you'll see him here working off his screen, and watch him stop to initiate contact with Dorf behind him, to then gather and explode up into this floater. Another really important element to Kyrie's in between scoring, is gonna be his balance and stability, being able to quickly drop down and get to his spots, to then rise up for a stable shot. This move and shot here is tough, where Irving on the break is gonna refuse to screen by going behind, then he pushes the ball out past the help side, and as he knifes through, notice how Chet Holgram here rotates his hips to meet Irving at the rim. So in response, Kyrie is gonna slam the brakes by getting to this jump stop, to then rise up for this vertical pull up. And then what really ties all these skills together from Irving's ball handling, strength and balance, is gonna be his patience. Irving never allows the defense to speed him up, he's always protecting the ball, scanning the floor, and using all his tools to get to his spots. You'll see him here isolating against Jalen Williams, and as Irving is sizing him up, notice how he stays relaxed with the ball, and Kyrie first tries to attack towards the middle, but when Dordt slides down to close off this drive, Irving's gonna simply spin back towards his right, and when he gets Jalen's hips squared up with the baseline, Irving's gonna spin back to his left and sink this tough fadeaway. Now Irving throughout this series has also been shooting the ball pretty well from three, and similar to his midrange game, Kyrie can generate these looks in a variety of ways. Being able to punish drop coverage out of pick and roll with these wonderful pull ups, while also having the footwork to play off the ball, the Mavs on this play are just gonna have him work off the simple cross screen, and Irving is more than comfortable blasting off the screen to then settle his feet for a balance jumper. And Kyrie with the ball is also great at leveraging his downhill scoring to push the defense back, which then gives him space to rise up. Watch him here take two aggressive dribbles off the screen, and that by itself is enough to get Chet off balance, giving Irving a window to rise up. Now the next thing we have to look at is Irving's defense. Kyrie has been a monster on ball defender, both having the foot speed and strength to keep the offense in front, plus the quick hands to find these small openings to poke the ball through. You'll see Williams here initially get the outside driving angle, but as he picks up into his finish, Irving's able to extend out and find a window to poke the ball through. We can see the same thing here, where Kyrie is again able to slide and keep himself attached to the offense. And as soon as the ball gets exposed, Irving's gonna swipe down and force a turnover. And one small detail is that Irving always has his hands up to avoid fouling, and he only swipes down when the ball is completely exposed. And Kyrie's also been having a massive effect playing off the ball. I love this play here, where OKC is running the split action off the ball, and Irving's gonna switch out to deny SGA, and he's able to stay glued to him, and force another turnover, which then turns into easy points for the Mavs. Now Irving overall has always been a pretty underrated defender, but right now I think he's taking it to a different level, and I think Irving physically has the tools to be a really good backcourt defender. And right now I don't think we've ever seen Kyrie have this much of an impact on both sides of the ball. I think his playmaking and overall reads is at an all time high, and defensively he's been super engaged both on and off the ball. And then on top of all that, Irving is still an elite 3 level scorer, who has the ability to turn it on and carry your offense, as well as close out games. I think if Irving continues to have this much of an impact for the rest of this series, we're probably gonna see the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals. 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