The Rise of Kyrie Irving

Since his lone year at Duke, Kyrie Irving has always had high NBA expectations. He was drafted first overall in 2011 and made strides to put together a successful rookie campaign, earning him Rookie of the Year. Despite his fantastic performance the Cavaliers struggled to 21-45 record and went unnoticed for most of the season. Coming in to this season the expectations for the Cavs weren't much higher, but the excitement for Irving's second season is what kept the fan base buzzing. Cavs fans and the rest of the NBA held their collective breaths when Irving broke his right hand after slapping it against a padded wall out of frustration in a mid-July practice. But fear not he was healthy for the season opener and got of to a hot start to the 2012-2013 season, averaging 22.9 points and 5.6 assists thru the first ten games. He would miss the next three weeks do to an index finger injury, but returned in the middle of December. His month averages since his return have been 22.5 points and 5.5 assists in 11 December games, 25.8 points and 5.4 assists in 14 January games, and 21.6 points and 6.2 assists in nine February games (Stats as of 2/24/13).

2013 Rise of Stardom
Despite Kyrie's solid first ten games the Cavs limped to a 2-8 record. In his absence they didnt fare any better going 2-9. In Irving's first game back from injury he lit the Lakers up for 28 points on 11-21 shooting, 4-6 from three with 11 assists to lead his Cavaliers to their fifth win of the season. After fracturing a facial bone in a hard fall against the Bucks, Irving donned a black, batman-esque, protective mask against the Knicks where he would have a career high 41 points, making 15 of 25 shots, 5-8 from three. Not only did this give the media a cool Batman image of Kyrie, but he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 points in Madison Square Garden. Up to this point Irving has had a sensational sophomore season posting 23.5 points and 5.7 assists per game and with a PER of 22.73. He rightly earned his first NBA All-Star selection, a second appearance in the Rising Stars Challenge, and a first appearnce in the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest.

2013 All-Star Weekend

Based on stats and the "it" factor Kyrie Irving should be a household name, but with the Cavaliers struggles and irrelevancy the average fan wouldn't have been aware. All-Star weekend was the perfect stage for Kyrie to have his coming out party, and boy did he have one! In a weekend that had Irving involved in each of the three days was perfect.

In the Rising Stars Challenge he posted 32 points on 14 of 20 shooting, 4-8 from three, with six rebounds and six assists in defeat. He was the Team Shaq leading scorer and would have got the MVP if not for Kenneth Faried's 40 point, 10 rebound performance. He also had the highlight of the night by breaking the ankles of Brandon Knight on a nasty crossover.

In the Foot Locker Three Point Contest Irving amazed with a score of 18 (11-15 on the last three racks with 2 money balls) in the team round, which was good enough to advance to the finals. In the finals he bettered his first round score by posting a contest-high 23 points in his final round, earning him this year's Three Point crown. Irving's championship winning round consisted of making all five shots on the first rack, four out of five on the second rack, a perfect third rack, hitting three of five on each of the last two racks, and hitting his first three money balls.

Irving wrapped up his break out weekend with his first appearance in the All-Star Game. In 25 minutes off the bench he had a very impressive 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Kyrie Irivng picked the perfect time to assert himself as one of the premier young stars in the NBA by answering to the biggest weekend of the regular season's bright lights. He impressed and amazed throughout each event of the weekend to get his name out there for the average NBA fan. i think its safe to say the Cavaliers are finally free of the dark shadow cast be Lebron's decision and can fully turn forward to the Kyrie Irving era. His All-Star weekend will be one to be remembered but also is one that gives Cleveland fans hope for the future of their and Kyrie's Cavaliers.  













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