Game 5 of the 2016 Finals on Monday, June 13th will forever go down in lore as one of the greatest performances by two teammates in NBA history.
Kyrie Irving and LeBron James both scored 41 points, becoming the first duo to each score 40 or more on the same team in a game in NBA Finals history.
Prior to the game, anyone who has followed LeBron throughout his career knew he had the ability to put up numbers like that somewhere deep inside him.
LeBron had not unleashed that mode yet in this postseason, but leading up to tip-off, pundits and writers were hoping he would play that aggressive style and take over the game in a must-win do-or-die situation.
It was an amazing game from LeBron, but no one could say they never imagined him doing that.
What Kyrie did was flat out unbelievable.
Yes, we know Irving is one of the best point guards and best scorers in the league.
We’ve seen him score 57 against the Spurs in a regular season game. We’ve seen him score 55 against Portland in a regular season game.
But this?
Irving dominated in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, scoring 18 points in the first half (which seemed quiet compared to LeBron,) 11 points in the third quarter, and 12 points in the final 12 minutes of the game, reminding everyone why he earned the nickname, Mr. 4th Quarter.
So many circumstances made this even more impressive than just a “typical” 41-point game.
A 40-point game on any night is fantastic, but given the stakes, the situation, and the location, this has to go down as one of the best individual games in NBA Finals history, even putting what LeBron did to the side.
It was an elimination game, where the team needed its stars to step up. Had Irving scored 30, most people would say he did enough to contribute. But since he and LeBron were really feeling it, they put the team on their backs and put on a show.
Not only was it an elimination game, but playing on the road in a hostile environment, against the team that beat the Cavs in the Finals one year ago, makes it an even more dramatic scene. Last year, Irving had to watch LeBron try to fight off the Warriors virtually by himself, and though LeBron put on a valiant performance for six games, Irving could not help his brother.
It had to be so hard to watch. Monday night, Irving showed LeBron that this is the reason he has been here all along.
Let’s take it one step further, though. Kyrie put on this epic performance while being matched up against the back-to-back MVP, who just won the award unanimously, leading the league in scoring with 30 points per game in the regular season. Steph Curry is widely considered the best player in the league. But he wasn’t even the best player on his team in Game 5, let alone the best player on the court.
Irving outshining Curry on his home floor in a close out game raised the eyebrows of every basketball fan. Kyrie put the world on notice that he is a true superstar and he is here to stay.
The 24-year-old has played great in almost every game this postseason. He is averaging 25.3 points per game in the playoffs, tied with LeBron as the team leader in scoring.
Irving has now scored 30 or more in three straight games in the Finals. The Cavs won two of those three.
This is a guy who has only played in six NBA Finals games in his career.
Say what you will about Curry on Golden State. He has a deeper team around him and when the Cavs load up on him defensively it puts some of the other guys in a position to succeed, but the bottom line is that Curry has not had a great series.
He had one great game, scoring 38 on the road in Game 4.
Irving answered that game by countering with the 41-point performance of his own in Oakland.
If you just look at the scoring numbers, it’s not hard to argue that Irving has had a better series than Curry. But frankly, whether Cavs fans want to admit it or not, if Curry’s team wins four out of seven, he’ll be happier than if his stat line looked better in a losing effort.
Game 6 is another opportunity for Irving to show the world what he is capable of on the biggest stage.
Ever since Irving left Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals with a knee-injury, he has been waiting for this moment. All throughout the six months of rehab, the grueling regular season where many questioned why the team wasn’t clicking on all cylinders, and even the first three rounds of the Playoffs, which everyone knew was just delaying the inevitable; everything Irving has done in the last year has led up to this.
If we go back in time just six weeks, which feels like forever ago, there was a game where Kyrie put the nail in the coffin of the Detroit Pistons.
On April 24, Irving scored 31 points at the Palace of Auburn Hills, taking over the game late in the fourth quarter, scoring seven points in the final eight minutes of action to lead his team to a 100-98 victory to sweep the Pistons and end the series.
There was one play in particular, where Irving knocked down a dagger from three-point range, with 42 seconds left to make it a four-point game.
It was that moment where I felt that one day we would look back on that game as the beginning of Irving’s rise to superstar status in the league. Not to say that he reached it with that game, but it was the beginning of an epic playoff run.
For the most part, Irving has been consistently putting up 20, 25, and 30 point performances through this entire postseason.
When it was against the East, many people may have understated how significant it was because of the level of competition and what was at stake.
But now there is no denying, Irving has elevated to a new plateau of stardom, and for those of us who have followed his career since 2011, when he was just learning his way around the league under coaches Byron Scott, Mike Brown, playing with guys like Dion Waiters and Alonzo Gee; for the true Cavs fans who have stayed loyal through the good and the bad, last night was an especially rewarding sight to see.
Many knew and saw the potential in Kyrie from the day he set foot in a Cavaliers uniform. Last night, he truly revealed what he can become. And there is so much more on the horizon.
Let’s see what’s in store for Game 6.
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